Aside from Pixar, Dreamworks Animation has been known for making some of the best animated films of the last 26 years including “Kung Fu Panda 1 & 2,” “How to Train Your Dragon,” “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” and “Shrek 1 & 2.” Many of their films have a lot of heart, care, effort and beautiful animation put into them. When their latest film, “The Wild Robot,” premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival to high acclaim, with some claiming it as one of Dreamworks’ best and comparing it to animation greats such as “WALL-E” and “The Iron Giant.” That made me interested since Dreamworks has made many great films, so I went in with high expectations. Ultimately, “The Wild Robot” is a fun film for families to see but fails to reach the heights of some of Dreamworks’ classics.
“The Wild Robot” is directed by Chris Sanders (“Lilo & Stitch,” “How to Train Your Dragon”) and tells the story of a robot named Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), who is learning to adapt to challenging surroundings following a shipwreck, eventually adopting and raising a baby gosling who grows up named Brightbill.
The biggest praise I can give “The Wild Robot” is its animation. Dreamworks always puts out high-quality animation and this film is no different. Every scene is gorgeous to look at and what I love about the animation is that it blends 2D and 3D animation, a technique that has been done in Dreamworks’ more recent films such as “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” and “The Bad Guys.” One of the best sequences is towards the final act involving a forest fire. The colors vibrantly pop off the screen
The humor throughout the film was surprisingly hilarious. I didn’t expect to laugh as much with the audience. Many families who took their kids to the screening were thoroughly enjoying it. What was surprising about the humor was just how dark it was at times, particularly involving the situations Roz finds herself in, such as being with other animals including foxes, bears, opossums, etc.
The voice cast is also really good with Nyong’o and Kit Connor each being the highlights. Nyong’o does a great job of bringing humor yet a lot of heart into the character of Roz. Connor puts a lot of emotional baggage with his character of Brightbill wanting to be accepted.
Despite all of the critical acclaim the film has been getting, it isn’t one of Dreamworks’ best films as it didn’t have the emotional impact some of its other films did. Despite dealing with great themes on parenthood and finding your place in the world, I wanted it to have a better emotional impact. I also wanted more chemistry between Roz and Brightbill as I didn’t feel it until the second half. Some of the most memorable moments in DreamWorks films were the chemistry and banter between characters. What would films like “Shrek” and “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” look like without the chemistry between its characters? The buildup during the first half wasn’t that investing and it didn’t grab my interest until halfway through the film in a scene where Brightbill got into an argument with Roz about his actual upbringing. That was the moment I was interested and wanted to see what the film was going to do.
Another problem I have is that the villain Vontra, voiced by Stephanie Hsu appears way too late in the film and her motivation needs much more background. Vontra’s motivation is to bring Roz back to her programming so they can study her. A great villain in any animated film has personality, motivation and complexity that can make the audience get behind even if we condemn their actions.
Despite this not being as great as everyone says it is, “The Wild Robot” is still a good film for the whole family. Kids will love it, adults will appreciate its themes, it has fantastic animation as always, unexpectedly funny moments and a good message at its’ core earning the film a solid B.
Commentary Writer Linden Lansberry can be reached at [email protected].
