“The Wild Robot” Surprises, Challenges as a Great Watch for Anyone
I had first come across The Wild Robot as a pre-showing trailer at the movie theater. With a short, vague animation sequence set to a dramatic orchestral piece and lacking dialogue, I thought little of it, although I did remember its unique art aesthetic was something. After a short period of time, when I had completely forgotten about the weird little film advertised to me, a second trailer appeared on my YouTube video. This time, it was set to Billie Eilish’s “Birds of a Feather” and conveyed more about the plot, implying plot points about the journey of the titular robot and a baby duckling through, well, the wild, of course. In my—perhaps too cynical—opinion at the time, all these elements of the trailers illustrated that this was a simple, harmless, too-family-friendly kid movie that would be forever relegated to the likes of elementary school classrooms and dentist waiting rooms.
Another few months had passed since I had given the weird duck movie any thought until to my absolute shock and awe I learned that the film had received a whopping 98% Certified Fresh on RottenTomatoes.com’s Tomatometer®. The cute little movie now piqued my interest. Could the opinions of actual, professional movie critics prove me wrong?
It turned out kind of right.
I still stand by my statement that this is a pretty cookie-cutter kid’s movie, but it baked a world-class cookie that brings all the positive notes of a children’s film to its absolute peak. The broad themes of family, compassion, connection, and community are all conveyed fantastically yet simply, in a way that makes my inner child want to be a better person. It stayed well clear of becoming edgy or quirky at all because the film knows that the best way for it to succeed is to chiefly embody a golden childhood storybook.
However, outside of its child-friendly image, the movie did surprise me—and probably many other older people watching—with many, many references, jokes, and quips that were probably designed to fly over the heads of little kids and straight into our minds. One great example is with the possum family in the movie: the rather commonplace dialogues regarding death from the cute babies to their mother disparaging the struggles of dealing with children in a hilarious deadpan.
On the other hand, the movie does convey some great emotional and thematic beats, all of which resonate a lot with all ages. Both the main characters of Brightbill and Roz deal with the complexities of being different from a community that you’re supposed to be part of and the struggles of fulfilling their expectations. Alongside the shockingly adorable fox Fink, they find themselves becoming a family when faced with the trouble of having to deal with a world that has no home for them, an inspiring message about found family.
The biggest arc in the movie is about the long journey of parenthood—starting a family and seeing it prosper beyond oneself. In the movie, this is illustrated by the shifts between Roz and Brightbill which portray different phases of a child’s life: the innocence of childhood, the angst and frustration of teenage self-discovery, and finally the resolution that comes with leaving home for adulthood. I’m sure many parents watching in cinemas were pointing at the screen, cheering and—after reading many online accounts—crying at how relatable these experiences were for them.
Obviously, another big theme in the movie is the titular contrast. In a future where global warming has already consumed most land on earth, the movie’s main setting of a wild island is contrasted with the bland monotonous human civilization presented later in the movie, where the wilderness is infinitely more emotional, nuanced, complex, and–frankly–more human. This is also seen in the choice of characters in the movie, where not a single human speaks a word. The message from the choice of animal characters is clear: humans should respect nature for its brutal honesty and down-to-earthiness, illustrated by the—ironically—humanity present in them.
A different message is conveyed by the relationship between robot and human characters in the story. The only time we ever see humans on screen are either in videos of a clearly fabricated idyllic society, or the control center for the robots where the humans working there are covered in so much technology that they might as well be machines themselves. We also see that robots have been put into almost all aspects of human society: farming, housekeeping, and even replacing real pet animals. Even though humans are supposed to be the ones in charge, they’ve effectively let the robots take control and have given up all their power—which comes from being connected to their inherent humanity.
As the movie closed with a deserved happy ending for everyone, I couldn’t stop thinking about how it had managed to outdo my expectations in almost every aspect coming into the movie. While I was watching it, I kept trying to subconsciously call out the plot points, hopelessly seeing if I could discredit it as predictable and formulaic. Yet, like a recently called-up minor leaguer facing a team’s ace on the mound, the movie didn’t stop surprising me and constantly trashed my previous notions about it. I can confidently say that The Wild Robot will be an excellent watch for everyone, as I doubt anyone could come out of it feeling unwholesome.
