25 years since The Iron Giant left audiences in tears, veteran animator Christopher Sanders presents a phenomenal work of his own based on the children novel The Wild Robot, written by Peter Brown. Taking inspiration from Hayao Miyazaki and classic Disney animation, Sanders produces a breathtaking animation that he described as “a Monet painting in Miyazaki forest”. True to Sander’s words, The Wild Robot sets itself apart from majority of animated films released in the recent years by making a movie with aesthetic scenery and visuals in comparison to the stale and soulless CG animation that we have grew familiar and frustrated with.
The Wild Robot tells the story of Rozzum 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o), or simply Roz stranded in an unfamiliar wilderness trying to find her purpose while surrounded by animals that her programming never prepared her for. Besides taking artistic inspiration from Studio Ghibli, Sanders takes a leaf out of their book and made the animals in his movie actually behaves like animals with distinction between predators and prey in the wilderness. Roz finds herself in an environment where she has to go beyond her programming to connect with different species that do not welcome the presence of an outsider with no clear understanding of the behavior and languages of the animals.
While the main themes of The Wild Robot do not cross into unfamiliar territory, it does not utilise it to its advantage to deliver an engaging, heartwarming, and beautiful story. Over the runtime of an hour and forty minutes, The Wild Robot succeeds in exploring the themes of connecting with others, familial love, and finding one’s purpose without straying off-course. Through its impeccable pacing, The Wild Robot allows its audiences to properly take in not just the beauty of the animation but also the messages the story conveys.
Chris Sanders delivers an answer to the aged old question of what truly makes a good children movie by making one that is emotional for both adults and children. Dreamworks Animation delivers a movie that rivals the best of their own, and should serve as an example of what modern technology should strive to create in animated movies. Ultimately, The Wild Robot succeeds in capturing the emotions The Iron Giant and Wall-E did all those years ago by tugging at our heartstrings with another robot with a soul.
