Movie Review: The Wild Robot (2024)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Zy1omKiKVy7bgTPEmEldo?si=kOTwrlt-Rbu9pGwtEZD9RQ

We talk a lot about how Hollywood has become more risk-averse in recent years, especially when it comes to more family-friendly programming. Disney is doubling and tripling down on franchises with Pixar and Disney Animation both becoming sequel factories, Illumination firmly in the Minions business, and Dreamworks resurrecting Shrek and turning The Bad Guys into a tentpole. In a year where the major theatrical releases have almost all been sequels or movies in major franchises, to see Dreamworks take a chance on The Wild Robot is a bold choice that deserves to pay off for them.

The Wild Robot follows Roz, a robot designed to help people, stranded on an island inhabited only by animals. After a series of mishaps, she ends up as the parent to a baby goose and is tasked with helping it grow into adulthood. As she changes her programming to accomplish this task, she draws the attention of the company that built her who wants to bring her home to study the changes she has undergone as she has learned to love.

If not for Dune Part Two and Challengers, this would be easily the best movie to come out in 2024 (that I've seen so far). Not the best animated movie, best movie period. It is almost certainly a lock to win Best Animated Feature unless Lord of the Rings: War of the Rohirrim just dazzles. It is beautifully animated, highly stylized, makes great use of the 3D effects (I saw it in a 3D screening), and uses the medium expertly. The emotional moments land perfectly as evidenced by the woman in my screening a few rows ahead of me who was loudly moved to tears on three separate occasions. This is a must-watch theatrical experience for a viewer of any age.

★★★★★

The Wild Robot
Directed by: Chris Sanders
Written by: Chris Sanders
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Catherine O'Hara, Mark Hamill, Ving Rhames, and Stephanie Hsu
Rating: PG