The Wild Robot

The Wild Robot has been out in cinemas across the world for some time, but here in the UK it only got its release this weekend. Not wanting to put on an eyepatch and step into the treacherous waters of piracy, I bided my time, avoided spoilers, and now I can finally say I see why people are saying this is the best DreamWorks movie of all time.

I don't agree with them, not quite, as I still think Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon remain masterworks, but dear lord does The Wild Robot get close. The film sees Lupita Nyong'p as a helpful robot who washes ashore on an uninhabited island. Uninhabited by people, that is, as there are plenty of animals living out their lives on the island, none of which are happy to see this busted up tin can enter their natural tranquillity. Following a situation I won't spoil, the robot (Roz) is left in the care of a young gosling, who she must raise so he can migrate before the winter.

The original story of The Wild Robot is a children's book, which explains why the plot is so simple. There's no twisted past for Roz, no grey area that she slots herself into. She is a robot, and Nyong'o plays her brilliantly. Never giving into too much emotion, never acting as if there's a real person under there. Of course, that doesn't mean Roz isn't a loveable character, who grows her emotional depth, but it feels like Nyong'o really went the extra mile to recreate a robotic feeling within our main character. The other voice talent in the movie do a great job too, with a stacked cast including Pedro Pascal as a sly fox, Bill Nighy as an aged goose, and the ever-loveable Matt Berry as a beaver who reminded me of a strange colleague I had at my first job.

The voice cast do a great job, but they're not enough to carry the movie. Very early on, you'll see the real star player of The Wild Robot, which is unsurprisingly its visuals. The movie is just gorgeous, and DreamWorks continues to use the same vibrant visual style it used in Puss in Boots: The Last Wish to great effect. Colours pop, characters feel more alive than ever, and it allows you to engage on an emotional level more easily. It's a big reason why I'm so drawn to animation, and why I think DreamWorks often creates some of the most memorable movies and characters over the last ten to fifteen years.

The Wild Robot is an emotional movie, and it's not afraid to pull at your heartstrings. Out of the party of five I went with, three had tears in their eyes or rolling down their cheeks during the movie. Only me and another friend stayed stoic, but it really knows how to get you. Using a brilliant soundtrack combined with testing your emotions just at the perfect moment, it had most of my theatre reaching for the tissue box before the credits rolled. I will say that I think the film reaches its emotional peak rather early on, and I was weirdly wondering if it was nearly done around halfway through, which created this strange feeling within the cinema, as if I was watching a super-elongated end credits sequence.

Apart from that minor complaint, the pacing of the film is very good. An hour and a half flies by, and it feels like so much is packed into it. Again, the plot remains simple, which allows the whole family to follow along without just throwing bright colours at the kids every few minutes to keep them entertained, but there are also twists and turns that keep you from getting bored. It all remains fairly predictable, but The Wild Robot is just such a charming, heart-warming movie that you can't really knock it for its simplicity, when it is used to its benefit.

After Ruby Gillman: Teenage Kraken left me a bit concerned for DreamWorks, The Wild Robot proves once again why this studio needs to stick around. After seeing both Inside Out 2 and The Wild Robot, I can confidently tell you which movie deserves the billions, and it's not the one that has you scratching your head about the rules the emotions live by for half the movie (even if it is also very good). I can only hope The Wild Robot gets its flowers, and that this movie starts a new pattern of exellence for DreamWorks in the future.