“The Wild Robot”, released on Sept. 27, 2024, is a science fiction and animal fantasy movie that is based on an original book series called “The Wild Robot.” It has been positively received, with 98 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, 83 percent on IMDb and an audience score of 4.9 out of 5.
Coming into this movie, I thought I could just turn my brain off for about two hours while eating popcorn to watch another mediocre PG movie that relies on the crutch of childish jokes in hopes of catering to those of the younger generation. In reality, this movie actually exceeds expectations in its use of emotional and comedic elements, appealing to people of all ages despite being a PG film. I was surprised to see that the jokes used were very entertaining and always managed to at least get a chuckle out of me, especially since most of them were tied to the theme of the ruthlessness of surviving in the forest present throughout the movie.
The emotional scenes of this movie are surprisingly impactful; the movie does an amazing job of exploring the dynamic of a parent and child. It dives into how parenthood is just as much about traversing life and learning how to go about doing things as childhood is. It beautifully touches on the acceptance of the roles of parent and child, while showing the acceptance of love between the two, regardless of shared blood or differences. I especially loved how it showed the sacrifice and perseverance that parents will undertake for their children, and the many scenes that emphasized this theme were always moving.
Self-acceptance and the acceptance of others shine brightly throughout this movie, too; it not only explores the dynamic of parent and child, but the relationship of a member within a community. As you could guess, a giant metal machine, a mischievous fox and a goose raised by a robot might not be so welcome into the forest as cherished members of its community. However, throughout the movie we see our three main characters grow to obtain the trust and acceptance of their community, always serving a message that leaves you warm.
There was so much to this movie that I would love to touch on, but the only thing I want more of is Luke Skywalker, played by Mark Hamill! One of my biggest issues with this movie is that there are so many themes and characters to expand on, that it leaves no room to progress the story, so to make up for that, they cut some characters’ development out. If you’re wondering why I mentioned Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, well Hamill had a role in the movie. Sadly, it was not till later in the movie that I realized this, the reason being that his character has very few lines and is not touched on nearly enough for me to really appreciate his role in the movie.
Other actors such as Ving Rhames, who had roles such as Luther in the Mission Impossible series, and Bill Nighy who played an amazing role as Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean, had such little screen time for their characters, I didn’t really care about them. Even then, I care for their characters even more than Mark Hamill’s character because of just how little he actually was on screen.
What I can say is that Lupita Nyong’o, who plays the lead role of Roz does an amazing job of portraying the virtual assistant-esque voice you hear with Alexa or Siri, while still reflecting just enough emotion to not sound like one more AI-fabricated voice void of any emotion. Additionally, I think picking Pedro Pascal as the voice for Fink was a good call; he was able to fit that sneaky voice you expect a fox to have. However, they could have just picked him because he just seems to be in everything lately. Although, I doubt that he can compete with The Rock, considering the amount of movies he stars in.
Overall, I really loved this movie and I look forward to watching the movies that will continue the original story from the books. I would give this movie a solid 95% and I highly recommend watching this movie with the family or with friends. It’s a feel-good movie that might just make you call up your parents to tell them how much you love them.
