“The Wild Robot” – A Dreamworks Winner

Dreamworks Animation has made a winner once again with “The Wild Robot,” right on par with some of their best films including “Shrek” 1 and 2, the “Kung Fu Panda” series, and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” I absolutely loved this film and think all Dreamworks or animation fans in general should not miss it.

*Warning: spoilers ahead*

The story follows a robot, who is one of many ROZZUM all-purpose robots, who is accidentally stranded on a forest island uninhabited by humans. The animals are initially terrified of her. An incident with a grizzly bear named Thorn causes her to accidentally crush a goose nest, leaving only a single surviving egg.

The egg hatches and imprints on the Robot, who nicknames herself “Roz” and decides to raise it, because “a ROZZUM always completes her task” in her own words. She believes heavily in raising the goose, who she names Brightbill. She does so successfully, despite her initial ineptness in teaching him to fly and swim.

Growing up, Brightbill is shunned by the island’s other geese for his size and inability to swim, as well as his relationship with his own family’s killer. When Brightbill learns the truth, he angrily leaves Roz, partially blaming himself for his own stupidity. Roz never gives up and helps Brightbill to fly with the aid of Thunderbolt, the falcon, and advice from Longneck, an elderly goose flock leader.

Brightbill eventually flies away, joining the other geese for migration as Roz learns of her true purpose in making life easier for humans. Roz also befriends a cynical fox, named Fink, who purely believes in survival by living in fear, assuming the worst in every animal. He is easily likened to “Zootopia’s” Nick Wilde and even has a similar accent despite being voiced by a different voice actor.

Roz constructs a shelter during a snowstorm and heartwarmingly gets the animals to agree to a peace treaty to survive, overcoming their predatory instincts. Meanwhile, Brightbill is hailed as a hero after the geese are forced to take shelter in a Universal Dynamics greenhouse filled with ROZZUM robots as he is the only goose not scared of the robots.

He is ordered by Longneck to lead the flocks to safety after the robots’ panic mode activates at the sight of the geese. He returns with the flock, and eventually, Roz’s love for Brightbill miraculously overcomes her memory wipe by Vontra, a retrieval robot who has returned to the island to capture Roz with an army of robots to take her to the greenhouse.

Like Coco, the central message is nothing new for an animated “kids” film, but is given a new and unique angle to make it stand out. It’s a really profound, if somewhat predictable, message of the transcendence of love, the power of seeing things with your heart, and being more than what you are “programmed” to be. Roz teaches all the animals to live in harmony with each other, not to merely see their peers as food.

The voice cast is excellent, too. Familiar voices for me include the original “Star Wars” trilogy’s Mark Hamill as Thorn the grizzly bear, Bill Nighy as Longneck who may be recognized as Davy Jones from “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest” and “At World’s End.” As well as Catherine O’Hara as a Virginia opossum who has another notable role in a Dreamworks film- Penny the porcupine in “Over The Hedge.”

The characters are all really likable, and the relationship between Roz and Brightbill is very touching and emotional. I truly believe it is worthy of being considered a great animated film. It’s proof that the best animated films don’t always have to come from Disney or Pixar.