‘The Wild Robot’ Review: A Fantastic Family Film

With emotionally insightful storytelling and a beautiful design, “The Wild Robot” is a moving film that explores the complexities of parenthood, identity, and belonging. As the name suggests, the film centers around a robot, Rozzum 7134 — known more colloquially as Roz — who is programmed to help others complete tasks. Stranded on an forested island inhabited only by animals, she searches for the creature who she might be meant to help. She is shunned by the animals for her odd mannerisms and well-meaning destructiveness, before accidentally taking possession of a lone goose egg. With the help of an initially contrary fox, named Fink, Roz raises the small gosling even though the skills required to help him thrive go against her programming.

“The Wild Robot” is brought to life by its consistent and detailed design. The combination of vibrant colors and textured animation allows each object to seem as if it were painted in three dimensions. These elements situate the film firmly in a science-fiction setting while bringing depth and reality to the animation. The forest setting is brought to life through rich colors and active wildlife, making the ecosystem Roz finds herself in felt like its own world. Even in the background of a scene, these animals would whisper with each other, run around, or fall over. This attention to detail brings the story to life, as the main characters are situated in a community with pre-existing depth.

Weather is also used very effectively to reflect and heighten the moods of each part of the film. Dangerous scenes are accompanied by thunderstorms or harsh wind, but when the gosling Brightbill hatches, golden sun streams through the trees and background details are slightly blurred, giving the scene a dream-like appearance. This choice establishes the centrality of Roz and Brightbill’s relationship and hints at the joy and connection he would bring her. In creating a fully developed visual world, the film finds a compelling level of reality and demonstrates captivating creativity.

The film examines the idea of abilities and personality traits being part of someone’s programming, exploring the extent to which these traits can adapt to new experiences. Roz always explains her abilities by stating “It’s in my programming.” However, this programming is more flexible than she thought. Roz grows significantly from the well-meaning yet destructive character she begins the film as, learning to speak softly and to operate at a slower, more natural pace embodying a fusion of technology and nature; clover-like plants grow on her head and torso, signaling that she has truly become one with the forest. The film’s use of Roz’s physical change to parallel her emotional evolution brings her transformation to the forefront.

The film also examines Brightbill’s coming-of-age transformation through this lens of programming. Although he is a goose, Brightbill acquires robotic traits because he is raised by Roz. The first shot of him as an adolescent goose features him making whizzing and beeping sounds as he walks and using a complex and unemotional vocabulary, just like Roz. Eventually, Brightbill learns to heed Fink’s advice to fly like himself and embrace his uniqueness.

Through the character development of Brightbill and Roz, the film seems to be asking if people, in addition to robots, might come with something like programming: inherent strengths and schemas they can reprogram to adapt to their environment. In contrast to the typical nature versus nurture debate, the framework of “programming” provides characters with more agency over how they respond to outside influences on their lives. This question is explored insightfully throughout the story and becomes one of the film’s most effective themes.

The most moving element of the film is its portrayal of Roz’s growth as the result of her growing love for Brightbill, a beautiful commentary on the power of love and family. She experiences all the ups and downs of parenthood, including a heartbreaking scene where Brightbill becomes angry, lashing out in part because his peers teased him for being so different. Their argument spoke to the complexities of navigating parenthood and also the challenges facing a teenager trying to find their place in the social world. The film does an amazing job of accurately portraying both sides of this conflict. It gives insight into the emotions of both Roz and Brightbill and allows audiences to sympathize with each side. Both are hurt going into the fight, and both come out of the fight more hurt than they started. It is devastating, but effective.

However, this film’s attempt to explore countless themes and represent each situation from multiple perspectives may have been overly ambitious. It’s what makes the movie intellectually engaging and incredibly moving, but also makes it feel rather fast paced and rushed towards the end. The movie could have come to a natural resolution once Brightbill returned from the geese’s migration, yet there are five more major plot events before the film finds its way to a conclusion. Even a dramatic forest-wide battle between armed robots and the animals does not bring the story to a close, creating a bit of emotional whiplash from a lack of closure. The film is effective in telling multiple stories and giving a complete character arc to both Roz and Brightbill — it just sacrifices some of its pacing and clarity at the end to do so.

Overall, the film explores its vision with creativity and consistency, exploring important themes and heartwarming relationships to form an emotional and uplifting story. The love and hope the characters share becomes the centering force of the film, and their journeys exemplifies unconditional love’s transformative power.