The Wild Robot
Even though his co-director, Dean DeBlois, is more responsible for the long-lasting durability of the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise- having directed the final two features himself- Chris Sanders has built himself a filmography that will stand up with some of the very best animated filmmakers when all is said and done. Their first collaboration, “Lilo & Stitch,” is a singularly wonderful late entry in Disney’s hand-drawn animated legacy, and the first “Dragon” film, and Sanders’s later “The Croods,” are terrific looks at unorthodox families from Dreamworks. Now, he has “The Wild Robot,” and this might be the finest major studio animated film of the 2020s, a warmly emotional- and extraordinarily designed- adventure that feels primed to be a favorite for generations.
All of Sanders’s major achievements have a basic idea at their core- found family, and outsiders whom are out of step with others of their kind. In a way, they’re all following the basic structure of “E.T.,” and in his adaptation of Peter Brown, he is doing the same thing. This film begins with us following in the POV of Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), a helper robot whom was blown off course by a typhoon as part of a shipment. Roz gains consciousness, and finds themselves on a remote island with tons of wildlife. Roz attempts to offer their assistance, but is unable to communicate with the animals; when they finally are, Roz frightens them off. It’s a rough life, but when Roz finds a lone goose egg left in a nest, they find themselves in the most unexpected long-term assistance project imaginable, motherhood.
There’s something extraordinary about the animation in this film. I find it interesting that, while CGI animation remains the dominant form for American studios, some of them are working with hand-drawn styles and aesthetics in those films. The opening sequences of this film set us up for what Sanders and his animators have in mind visually for this film. There’s not much to Roz as a robot that is distinctive from other robots in movies past; how she moves is what makes her so unique. As she begins to learn about the world around her, she does a lot of mimicking of the animals, which leads to a lot of humor. But when we see her as a robot, there are some uses of color and style that are vibrant and alive. And when the film really begins to lean into the sci-fi elements late in the film, this is unlike any other film Dreamworks has put out. If you’re a fan of the visual landscape the “Spider-Verse” filmmakers have created for those films, the last third of this movie in particular will be a dream for you.
Where this film really lands as a singular, beautiful film is its emotional core. “Wall-E” will be a good frame of reference in how this film becomes a look at a robot, and how they react to nature, and unexpected emotions. Roz starts out as a fish-out-of-water in the natural world, but as they grow with their gosling, and a fox (voiced by Pedro Pascal) who makes for an unexpected ally, we see how Roz grows as an individual, and what that brings out in others. I was in tears more than a few times in this film.
“The Wild Robot” is a special movie, and Chris Sanders is a special filmmaker. Even in a movie like “Call of the Wild,” his films look at an unexpected partnership that becomes essential for the survival of not just the main character, but the world they inhabit. His voice is one I will always appreciate, and this film delivered in spades what I love about not just his work, but films in general.
