Based on the book series by Peter Brown, DreamWorks Animation’s latest film “The Wild Robot” presents audiences with a vibrant wilderness setting, inhabited by creatures from beavers to geese to even a large robot determined to help everyone in her path. Though this juxtaposition makes for great comedy, it is also a uniquely beautiful story of love and family.
The film tells the story of automaton Rozzum-7134 (also called “Roz”) who crashes onto an unknown island with no knowledge of where she is or how she got there. The only thing she knows is the prime directive in her programming: to help people.
Although there are no humans around, she tries her best to learn the culture of the local animals. After the difficult process of acclimating to her surroundings, Roz takes on the task of raising the orphaned gosling Brightbill and ensuring he will be able to migrate with the rest of the geese once winter comes.
What ensues is a truly emotionally powerful narrative. Though interspersed with plenty of gags that one might expect from a modern child-friendly movie, the core story throughout the film centers on Roz’s growing relationship with Brightbill and the other animals on the island.
Her quest to raise him is not without its difficulties, but none of the developments feel cliché or unnatural. They all stem from real believable places within all of the characters given their motivations and situations. Even a somewhat predictable level of distrust that Brightbill gains after learning a dark truth about Roz feels like an earned emotional beat that carries the story forward rather than holding things back like it would in a lesser narrative.
As the film progresses, many genuinely touching moments make “The Wild Robot” one of the most heart-wrenching movies to come out of DreamWorks. Through the tackling of themes such as family, abandonment, community and individuality, both the highs and lows of the emotion will deeply resonate with viewers. The events never delve deeply into tragedy, but moments of both loss and triumph are present and immensely profound.
DreamWorks has become a studio known for its failures as much as its successes. For every spectacular piece of work the studio releases, it often seems like five more obnoxious movies are present. However, “The Wild Robot,” is certainly one of the highest points in the studio’s entire filmography. For a powerful film that can be enjoyed by anybody, there has truly been nothing like it within the past year.
