The Wild Robot: Movie Review

Vocal cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill
Director: Chris Sanders

Large swathes of the animated movie The Wild Robot will land differently with different sections of the audience.

While kids will love the antics of the animals in the forest and their interactions, parents will find themselves subtly wiping away tears as messages over parenting and protection are subtly espoused throughout.

Based on the book by Peter Brown, it's the story of lost robot Rozzum unit 7134 who washes up on an island inhabited only by animals. Built to serve and searching for a task to carry out, Roz inadvertently crushes and kills a family of birds, leaving only one egg left to survive.

Coerced into raising the bird by a lonely outcast fox named Fink (The Mandalorian's Pedro Pascal), Roz bonds - and raises - the baby gosling, naming it Brightbill. But winter is coming, and their very survival hinges on what happens next.

At its heart, The Wild Robot packs messages of parenting, non-traditional parenting and looking for a purpose into a big poignant package that's beautifully presented in a painterly animated style. 

Dreamworks Animation have created another vivid character to add to their pantheon of favourites, and while Roz initially presents a front akin to an aggressive Wall-E, when the language barriers drop, the film comes alive in a survival-cum-coming-of-age tale the impact of which is hard to deny.

Nyong'o adds compassion to her robot, and a great deal of longing and loss when the task she has of raising Brightbill nears its conclusion. Equally, Pascal provides heartbreak for the moments in which Fink bemoans never knowing love; and Berry provides comedy as a beaver mocked for his endeavours.

Add into the mix a painterly style that leaves the animals slightly undefined, and lush verdant backgrounds that soar - the world building is simply done, yet masterfully executed. 

However, it's not entirely flawless.

Brightbill's rejection of his adopted mother's love comes from out of nowhere and the film's conclusion feels messy and rushed, a hint of nothing more than a potential sequel grab that feels deflating rather than triumphant. Equally, the animated style at the end goes by the wayside and poignancies over death and loss as well as environmental destruction, are jettisoned for a noisy, bluster-filled denouement that betrays much of what plays out earlier because of its rote nature.

Yet, these are minor flaws. Most of The Wild Robot is close to animated perfection, a reminder in a wayward droid once again of what makes us human - and what basic ties bind us together when all sense of purpose seems lost.