Movie Thoughts: The Wild Robot (2024)

• Released: September 8, 2024
  
• Directed by: Chris Sanders
  
• Running time: 1h 42min
• Rating 4/5

Synopsis

A robot named Roz gets stranded on an island which is abandoned by humans but thriving with animal life. She befriends a fox named Fink and adopts a gosling, whom she names Brightbill. But when Brightbill grows up, he starts to wonder where he truly belongs.

My Thoughts

Yeah, okay, pretty much everything everyone is saying about this movie checks out. Heartfelt? Check. Beautiful visual style? Check. Lovely soundtrack? Check. Great characters and character development and relationships? Check times three. Well-animated? Check.  

Overall this is just a very good movie. I wouldn't say Dreamwork's best (that title still goes to The Prince of Egypt in my opinion), but it's definitely up there with some of their greatest works. This movie deserves to be seen and remembered as a classic.

I'm also glad that once again my bias against robot xenofiction didn't come into play for this movie. Like I've said in my review of Transformers One, while I don't hate the genre I've just always found getting into robot-POV media a bit difficult. It doesn't speak to me the same way other types of xenofiction do, generally speaking. But it really wasn't an issue for me here, I pretty soon grew attached to Roz as a character and got invested in the story quickly.

The central theme of the story really is family and parenting and I think it's executed beautifully. Because these characters are so well-written and feel realistic, the execution is handled very well and you really feel for these characters. Especially when Brightbill and Roz also spend large chunks of time apart from one another (first when Brightbill leaves for migration, second when Roz leaves the island for the sake of the resident's safety). 

Heck, even the friendship between Fink and Roz is very well handled. When Fink was first introduced I was kinda worried he was going to come across as too unlikable and too wise-cracking, but no, they balanced his character really well and it's just very nice to see him grow close to not only Roz and Brightbill, but also become somewhat of a leader of the forest animals when needed during the storm. At first the other animals didn't like him at all, but Fink's and their growth's really show in this scene.

I also really appreciate (as other reviewers have pointed out) that there is no big trope-y "liar revealed" subplot in this movie. Sure, when Brightbill learns that Roz accidentally is responsible for the deaths of his family, he's upset and a rift between him and Roz does form. But they don't linger too long on this and the way it is written has a satisfying conclusion to this arc for their characters.

Now, if I had to mention one thing I don't think works as well as the rest of the movies, it's the villain, Vontra. She is introduced super late into the movie (she does appear earlier, but is nameless and insignificant up until the climax) and just really there to give us a final climax for Roz and the other island inhabitants to face. And it's a solid climax, don't get me wrong, but I think that Vontra as a villain just is not compelling at all and it kinda feels like the movie just made her up in the last moment because they wanted a final conflict for the movie. There is just too little build-up for this character and I don't think she's handled as well as the rest of the movie.

Also, I personally thought the pacing in Brightbill's arc was a tiny bit wonky. He goes from being a runt who is widely mocked by the other geese to being accepted just a tiny bit too quick for me. Everyone laughs at him (except Longneck), there is a conflict with the geese at the human city, Brightbill leads them away (off-screen mind you, we never get to fully see this scene) and after that he's instantly accepted by the geese as not only one of them but also their leader. Which feels a tiny bit rushed, especially since we didn't get to see this development occur on-screen as the scene cuts away before we can see it happen. I guess it's because they wanted a death cliffhanger in that scene, but as a result we don't really get to see Brightbill's growth as a character in this scene fully. 

But these are two minor gripes in the face of an otherwise great movie. I absolutely recommend The Wild Robot. I can definitely see why this is a new favorite among Dreamworks movies.