What is the most primitive motive of any being on Earth? What drives a mother bird to push her child out of the nest? Survival. A fascinating study in itself, the need for survival has taught animals of all kinds and humans to adapt to the most gruelling forces of nature and the reality of existence. The Wild Robot opens with a profound scene that professes the philosophy of how all living things must adapt to survive. Ironically, the 'living thing' shown here is a robot. As the robot detects an impending gigantic wave while struggling to climb a high cliff, she observes and imitates a crab to reach the surface—an efficient show-don’t-tell strategy that lays the foundation for the rest of the story.
Director: Chris Sanders
Cast: Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O'Hara, Matt Berry and Ving Rhames
Tales of friendship between robots, humans, and animals are a time-tested classic that often touches upon broader themes like the universal urge to connect with one another, even if the bonding spoken of is between a human and a robot. The Wild Robot claims its space in this genre by weaving an emphatic story about how even an artificial being can override its system to encompass love in between its nuts, bolts, and power cords.
Stuck on an island after a boat capsizes following a typhoon, Rozzum 7134 aka Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) is forced to search for a purpose for her existence with only animals as her company. In many ways, Roz reminds you of Baymax from Big Hero 6. The not-so-hugsy machine soon finds herself accidentally becoming an adoptive mother to a goose. After an emotional moment, the Rozz asks the baby goose Brightbill (Kit Connor) about its customer satisfaction. Just when you guffaw, you ponder how a topic as complex as ‘purpose’ is translated as ‘task’ and ‘validation’ to ‘customer satisfaction’. Roz becomes the real ‘Wild Robot’ when her task becomes her sole purpose.
The film has the emotional depth of a family drama, and several moments of unintentional humour that work like a charm, while occasionally venturing into the territory of horror, with edge-of-the-seat thrills and scares. While Roz fascinates you with her understanding of human emotions, it is the snarky fox Fink (Pedro Pascal) who steals the spotlight with his notorious acts while holding trauma and showing the same emotions for Rozz as Brightbill does.
At one point, Roz fixes another robot from her parent company to understand its tasks and gives it advice on how to raise a child. When the robot points out that Roz has rewired and overridden her system and program, she replies that she had to do so to survive. These themes of survival, love, and loss, keep emerging and yet the film is careful not to thrust you with cheesy bits of mother-son emotions one after another. However, when it does, it hits like a storm, which makes not just Roz, but anyone with the strongest of heart melt into a puddle. "How do you know if you love someone or something?" Roz asks and while searching for these answers, she almost becomes a human in her quest to prepare Brightbill for his first migration. Her mannerisms—sitting cross-legged, ruminating over her thoughts and actions—are an evolved characteristic, not born out of mimicking anyone near her.
Both Brightbill and Roz suffer from a lack of belongingness. The former is often ostracised from the rest of the geese flock for his upbringing by a ‘monster’ and its short wings and body while the latter struggles to fit in a world not ‘programmed’ for its abilities. DreamWorks Animation, in their signature work, bring life and create a decipherable shape to all of these emotions and uniqueness to all the animals on the island. The star voice cast comprising of Catherine O'Hara as an opossum Pinktail, Bill Nighy as a senior goose Longneck, and Mark Hamill as Thorn the bear, perform their task to the right amount even when the screen space doesn’t allow them to shine. Composer Kris Bowers plays his keys in a way that makes the heart soar in the right places.
In the laws of nature that place every animal as a predator or prey, there will come a time when extraordinary situations change the entire narrative. During such times, even a ‘monster’ like the Wild Robot can grow wings to fly or a heart to love.