The Wild Robot
Currently Only in Theaters
Runtime: 1 hour and 45 Minutes
Rated PG
Based on the hit book series, ROZZUM Unit 7134, or Roz, becomes stranded on a wilderness island. After discovering there are no humans present to fulfill tasks for she must learn to adapt to life in the wild or send out a homing beacon so she can be found, picked up, and returned to civilization. After an accident leaves her with a baby goslin that imprints on her she learns to become more than her programming.
Themes:
Artificial Intelligence, robots, adapting, learning, animals, predators and prey, assisting others, nature, survival of the fittest, telling stories, fitting in, bullying, life, migration, programming, lying, fighting, retrieval, home, belonging, family, death, relationship, adoption, sons, and love.
Language: “Kindness is not a survival skill.”
Name-calling such as monster, dummy, freakshow, and murderer. The word hate is used a few times.
Religious Exclamations - 2 Sucks - 2
Several conversations that involve expressions about death, killing, termination, and eating other animals.
Stuff to be aware of: “The accident that killed your family, saved you.”
You will find that like the book, this movie does not shy away from predators eating prey and the brutality of nature. It does this without blood and gore, but it is part of the story and how the wild truly is.
Sad - Roz lands on a goose’s nest killing the mother and cracking several of the eggs. Roz holds the goose’s wing up showing the animal to be lifeless. There is no blood or gore. Spoiler Here: there is a named goose that dies, but this death is not directly shown.
Scary - Roz gets struck by lightning and then partially disassembled by raccoons. Later, when peering into a cave an angry face can be seen. This ends up being a bear that chases Roz several times. Towards the end of the movie, there is a forest fire.
Violence - A little crab gets carried off by a bird to be eaten. A fox eats a boiled crab. Several animals fight and in one scene a fox gets quills from a porcupine stuck in him. A possum mentions having seven kids, but then one is heard off-screen screaming and she mentions “six” instead. No need to worry, the baby possum is okay and comes back.
A bird eats a butterfly, and that bird is consumed by what looks like a lynx. The bird’s head (yes, removed from the body) ends up in Roz’s hand. There is no blood or gore.
Other - Some geese bully and make fun of another goose that is smaller than them.
Overall: “Sometimes, to survive, you must become more than you were programmed to be.”
This book series is amazing and my family has been looking forward to seeing the movie. While the movie changes some characters and situations around slightly, it follows along with the book's main story pretty closely. There are a few characters from the book that are absent, and some new ones taking their places. My wife and I agreed that some of the changes in the movie made sense and it did not take away from the enjoyment of watching the movie if you have read the book.
Here are a few of my thoughts on the film….
The animation and voice acting are excellent. The movie itself is full of vibrant colors and the stylized look makes it feel like watching a beautiful woodland painting coming to life.
The visuals are creative and well thought out. The lights on Roz’s body and even the lens in her eyes all play into creating the sense of this robot having to adapt and move beyond her programming.
The audio also does a creative and amazing job with Roz. Her voice slowly changes throughout the film to sound less robotic.
There are so many life lessons (and spiritual lessons) that can be discussed after viewing the movie. Family, adoption, growing, adapting, changing, friendship, love, relationships, and so much more.
The adaptation of the book’s story is well done and possibly even more heartfelt due to the visuals. I found myself crying at least twice.
My only complaint, if I were forced to have one, would be that some parts seemed rushed. The writers try to do justice to all the different storylines in the book and that is difficult to do in one hour and forty-five minutes. There is a lot of plot and sometimes it goes by quickly. My family would not have been bothered if the movie had twenty to thirty more minutes.
My opinion is that this is the best-animated movie of the year. Some may give that honor to Inside Out 2, but to me The Wild Robot is King! It is a great movie and family-friendly.
There is a post-credit scene, but it does NOT change the ending or set up a sequel. The very last few minutes of the ending is a bit different than the book, but if they do a sequel they could easily get the story going where it needs to.