Animation has been in somewhat of an arms race ever since Sony swung onto the scene with their film ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’. From then on it felt like studios were trying to one up one another, not just with standard heart tugging family films, but with unexpected artistic choices in the way the films look and felt. Gone are the days of everyone trying to carbon copy the visual vibes of Disney and Pixar, now it feels like it’s about what’s new and fresh. Even the sequel to Spider-Verse ‘Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse’ felt like they were trying to zag on the method that they themselves had developed. We also had a visual feast in the new Ninja Turtles movie last year, ‘Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem’.

Meanwhile Disney/Pixar have had troubles. Pixar had their first real hit after a slew of dissapointments, from the mild ‘Elemental’ to downright flops in ‘Lightyear’ and ‘Wish’. They have been scraping to correct their batting average while also staying in the style of film that has served them for their studios entire existence.

And now we have ‘The Wild Robot’ joining the fray. The film is a gorgeous blend of the style that built Dreamworks the foundation that it has, keeping similar models to that of ‘The Bad Guys’ and ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, while also embracing the frenetic movements of the aforementioned Turtles and Spidey films. And to say that all it has to offer is jaw dropping visuals is wildly selling this film short.

Stars Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal head up the star studded cast in a film about a robot that is stranded in the wilderness trying to figure out how it can best improve the lives of it’s fellow forest friends. Like any technology, it’s rough going at first. Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) causes more havoc than she means too and inadvertently ends up having to care for a newly hatched gosling.

Through Roz’ taking care of the gosling we see the way that technology can be used to nurture the natural world, rather than subjugate it. Wouldn’t it be nice if tech made the world and better more habitable place? Maybe not every piece of technology should be attempting to use as many resources as possible to make life 1% easier for humans. Roz has an uphill battle, she’s not programmed to view the world outside of a capitalist mindset. The first thing she says to an animal she finds in the wilderness is “Are you a new customer?” Not friend, not neighbor. The way she has been taught is specifically to see people and things as a way to make profit, and it takes awhile for her to question that. In the second half of the film we see that this a world that humanity brought to the brink of collapse, and now Roz is learning if there’s a way for her to be helpful, not just to humans, but to the world.

Her adoptive gosling Brightbill (Kit Connor) has his own strange behaviors after being raised by a robot and her fox friend (Pedro Pascal). Amongst the parable about nature and technology is a story about parenthood, specifcally the challenges of adoptive parenthood. If you’re thinking a story about a robot and a fox teaching a gosling how to be a goose is funny, you’d be right! Basically all the jokes in ‘The Wild Robot’ land and among them is a script that has plenty to say outside of them.

The score is the final piece that ties everything together, Kris Bowers’ score is victorious and epic. It’s a soundtrack I’ve taken to playing as I drive down the road. It also has an impossibly catchy new song written by Marren Morris that captures the energy of the entire film.

It’s not very often that I see something that’s this mainstream and crowd pleasing and find myself this moved by it. I am, traditionally, a little more annoying than that. But ‘The Wild Robot’ is undeniable in it’s earnestness, in it’s messaging, and in every way that matters.

5/5