The Wild Robot is Beautiful Animated Tearjerker About Love and Confidence

Going away to college was more traumatizing for my mother than it was for me.  Her fingers literally had to be pried off the door hinge (true story), but it wasn’t so much that she didn’t want to leave me at school as much as the fear of leaving me out in a world without her to instantly be there as my protector. Letting go is scary for the parents, but equally as daunting for the child. The truth is she will always be my mother and I will always be her daughter with a  bond that can never be compromised or broken.  Can the same be said for Roz and Brightbill?

Based on Peter Brown’s bestselling children’s books, The Wild Robot adventure follows Roz, a robot ( Lupita Nyong’o) designed to assist humans, when she finds herself stranded on an island populated exclusively by a variety of animals and beasts. This epic tale of survival, in which animals and machines must question their programming and embrace their hidden strengths is also a lesson in learning to let go. “The Wild Robot is a once-in-a-generation book,” says Dreamworks Animation President Margie Cohn. “It’s the kind of story that becomes a narrative and emotional touchstone for young readers and their parents, who then will share it with every subsequent generation to come. Not only is it a thrilling adventure tale with vivid, memorable characters, but it taps into something innate and unspoken about our sense of the world and our place in it. Once you’ve experienced it, it can’t be forgotten.”

Rozim 7134 (Nyong’o) exists to receive orders, but on the isle where Roz first boots up, no orders are forthcoming. There’s no owner is to be found and none of the island’s menagerie of animals have any use for her skills. Until she meets Brightbill (Kit Connor), an orphaned gosling who attaches to Roz the moment he’s born. Taking advice from a fox called Fink (Pedro Pascal), Roz compiles a set of directives to help Brightbill through his infancy. But in this place where every creature is either predator or prey, learning to eat, swim, and fly isn’t enough. Brightbill needs to negotiate sticky social situations and find entry into a flock before migration season comes. He needs  tenderness and nurturing, qualities Roz will need to look deep inside her robot soul to find.

Pascal is perfect cast as Fink, who provides just the right amount of mischief and mayhem as does Catherine O’Hara as Pinktail, a mom who’s been through multiple litters each year ranging from seven to 25 kids,  has made motherhood more of a practical duty than a novelty. Her dry humor is right on time.

Filled with spectacular imagery (imagine a Miyazaki forest brought to life through the work of Claude Monet), an emotionally resonate score from Kris Bowers and hilarious encounters, this Chris Sanders directed journey is a heartfelt story about the love which only comes from believing in yourself regardless of what materials you’re made of. After all, sometimes hearts have their own conversations leading one to answers that reside within all along.