Review: Stunning Animation And A Story With Wit, Excitement And Soul Make This Gorgeous Film One From The Heart
https://deadline.com/2024/09/the-wild-robot-review-stunning-animation-and-a-story-with-wit-excitement-and-soul-make-this-gorgeous-film-one-from-the-heart-toronto-film-festival-1236081892/
The story is ingenious and centers on Rozzum 7134 aka Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o), a robot who gets shipwrecked with a group of robots during a typhoon on an island only populated with animals but no humans, and who has no idea how to interact with them, never having seen any of these creatures before. Still, with robotic tendencies remarkably in sync with the rote behavior of many creatures, this is as it turns out kind of an ideal situation for Roz to thrive, at first with comical results and then the discovery of an unhatched egg (which she nurtures into life) of a little gosling who will be named Brightbill (Kit Connor). Unbeknownst to the new arrival, Roz was inadvertently responsible for his family’s death, but she makes up for it and becomes the unlikeliest of adoptive mothers, joined by a feisty and energetic fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) on their adventures, keeping the gosling safe from all those inherent predators lurking in and out of the ocean and this island.
It becomes almost an Alice In Wonderland-style adventure for Roz and Brightbill as Fink guides through the population with his trademark self-confidence, a kind of Artful Dodger. Along the way they get plenty of advice including from the hilarious possum Pinktail (a wonderfully wacky Catherine O’Hara) who is bringing up eight little possums of her own, clearly exhausted but friendly and willing to share the lay of the land. There is also Thorn (Mark Hamill), a grizzly bear with more bark than bite; Paddler (Matt Berry), an eager beaver; the goose Longneck (a regal Bill Nighy); and more. As Brightbill didn’t have a real mother, he must learn to fly encouraged by Roz who, with Fink’s help, enlists an all-pro falcon Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames) who demonstrates how to soar with short wings.