The Wild Robot (2024)

After much cajoling and promises of toys and other such things, I finally persuaded my daughter to come and watch The Wild Robot with me. For months she'd dismissed the trailer, (along with the Paddington in Peru one, a lovable character that she inexplicably detests) despite my prediction that she'd thoroughly enjoy it, until I eventually lost patience and asked her to simply name her terms.

So it cost me a not insubstantial sum of money to see Dreamworks' latest feature, but it was absolutely worth it. The Wild Robot is undoubtedly their finest film since Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022) and might well be their best in over a decade.

Based on Peter Brown's first novel (currently in a series of two), the film focuses on Rozzum Unit 7134 (Roz) a human assistance AI robot who is lost in transit, washing ashore on an uninhabited island, save for its animal population. After she accidentally crushes a nest, she makes it her primary objective to raise the one surviving chick, who she names Brightbill.

What follows is a beautifully rendered (similar in style to the animation of Dreamworks' The Bad Guys [2022]) film, heartfelt and uplifting, with charm to spare. Roz is brilliantly voiced by Lupita Nyong'o, nailing the Alexa-style voice system of the robot, and the film avoids any sort of negative attitude towards AI- quite an impressive feat considering the current fear and uncertainty about the subject in real life. Indeed the film's outlook in terms of characters having a problem with Roz are issues that are all turned into positives by the film's conclusion. The Wild Robot might lean slightly too much into sentimentality in terms of suggesting that all members of the food chain must come together for a better future, but it's also fine to sometimes just say, well, it's lovely.

When the film laughs at technology, it's in the same way you might do so in your own home, (asking Alexa to play fart noises for example) poking fun at Roz's inability to decipher commands, as she slowly learns how to adapt and raise what essentially becomes her own child. Along with the help of a fox called Fink, Roz slowly becomes a rather strange looking part of the furniture on the island, an integration that becomes all the more integral as the film hurtles towards its conclusion.

It feels impressive that there's been two releases this year with the word 'robot' in the title that have been rather good (I don't know why that's impressive) and although The Wild Robot isn't quite on the same level as Robot Dreams (what is?) this is an excellent outing for Dreamworks, considering their work frequently isn't quite on the same level as Pixar.

7.9/10