Wild Robot, The
Entry updated 18 November 2024. Tagged: Film.
US animated film (2024). DreamWorks Animation. Based on The Wild Robot (2016) by Peter Brown. Directed and written by Chris Sanders. Voice cast includes Kit Connor, Stephanie Hsu, Lupita Nyong'o, Catherine O'Hara and Pedro Pascal. 102 minutes. Colour.
Following a typhoon, several damaged boxes containing Robots are washed up on the shores of a forested island; curious otters accidentally press the On switch for one. "Congratulations on your purchase of a Universal Dynamics robot" she (Nyong'o) tells them. They run off. Wandering the island, pestering the animals and birds in the hope of finding the customer who purchased her, the robot eventually realizes their language is not in her database, so settles down and patiently observes the wildlife's interactions until she is able to understand them and converse (see Linguistics). Fortunately they all speak the same language; unfortunately most are hostile, calling her a Monster. Deciding none of them bought her, she is preparing to send a distress signal when, fleeing a bear, she accidentally destroys a goose nest, leaving the brooding parent dead and all but one of the eggs broken. After preventing Fink (Pascal) the fox from eating the egg, it hatches and the gosling imprints on her; a passing possum mother (O'Hara) explains it is now her responsibility to raise the youngster. A task now acquired, she sets about doing so.
Fink offers to help, realizing the collateral damage from the robot's attempts to teach the gosling to fend for itself and fly will provide him with opportunities to feed (also, he has no other friends on the island). Fink also persuades the robot to name herself and the youngster: she becomes Roz and the gosling – after the fox rejects "001" – Brightbill (Conner). Gradually they become a family, with Fink's cynical attitude softening. Brightbill – whose mannerisms initially echo Roz's – faces prejudice from many of the island's geese, who reveal Roz killed his parent: angered at not being told, a rift opens between him and Roz. Winter arrives and Brightbill migrates with the other geese: a storm forces them to shelter in a domed City's farming district tended by robots. Considered an "infestation" they are attacked: most panic, but Brightbill's lack of fear of robots enables him to lead them to safety. Meanwhile, winter on the island is unusually harsh and the animals are given shelter in the home Roz built – they violently squabble among themselves until Fink lectures them: they must fight their instincts just as Roz fought against her programming.
Considering her task completed and saddened by her falling out with Brightbill, Roz sends her distress signal, though quickly recants; but it is too late, and a vehicle arrives containing Vandra (Hsu), a retrieval robot: "Despite my cheery demeanour I am unfeeling, inflexible and morally neutral." He abducts her, since Roz's ability to reach improvised solutions and override her programming to achieve her objectives is of interest to the company. The animals unite and, led by Brightbill, rescue their friend; but – aware that more retrieval robots will come – she does eventually return to Universal Dynamics. Subsequently Fink tells stories of Roz to the animal children, mythologizing her (see Religion); sometime later Brightbill searches for Roz and, returning to the farming district, finds her working there: despite her memory wipe she recognizes and hugs him.
Though some adults might find the sentimentality a little cloying at times, The Wild Robot is an enjoyable film, often funny (see Humour) – particularly the possum family – with good performances and animation; its moral is that kindness is a survival skill (see Evolution), also conveying positive messages regarding found family and motherhood, whilst condemning prejudice and conformity. Roz is sentient (see AI) from the beginning, but her experiences trigger the process of individualization and empathy – with her ability to love seemingly enabling her to overcome her memory wipe. As for the setting, the Technology we see is very advanced, so this is not the near future; humanity is very much in the background and whilst perhaps not a Utopia, their society doesn't appear to be a Dystopia either – there are suggestions of a past Disaster with raised sea levels (see Climate Change) and civilization having reached a healthy balance with nature (see Ecology). The wildlife retain the basic behaviours of their species, but their personalities are very human, so this aspect of the story includes elements of Beast Fable and Animal Fantasy [see The Encyclopedia of Fantasy under links below]. "ROZZUM" is doubtless a nod to Karel Čapek's play R.U.R.: Rossum's Universal Robots: Kolektivni Drama (1920). [SP]
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