The Wild Robot – Budget of $78 million – 1 hour and 42 minutes
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ROZZUM Unit 7134 is an assistance robot from Universal Dynamics. It activates on a remote, uninhabited island and looks for a task. The wildlife and terrain become a challenge. So, ROZZUM puts herself in observation mode for several days. She learns about the ecosystem and animal linguistics. When she is at 100%, ROZZUM turns on and looks for her owner to give her a task. ROZZUM enters a bear cave while searching. The bear, Thorn, wakes and chases ROZZUM. ROZZUM escapes by slipping and crushing a bird’s nest. ROZZUM looks under herself and finds a dead goose and several broken eggs. Only one is intact. A fox, Fink, steals the egg to eat it, but ROZZUM stops him because he stole it. She chases Fink away, and the egg hatches. The gosling imprints on ROZZUM and follows her everywhere. ROZZUM sends a distress beacon so the manufacturers can locate her, but the gosling breaks it. An opossum, Pinktail, sees ROZZUM struggling with the tiny bird and explains that it thinks ROZZUM is its mother. ROZZUM explains that she doesn’t have the programming to be a mother. Pinktail assures ROZZUM that no one does. They make it up as they go. ROZZUM leaves the gosling behind to find a task. Pinktail tells ROZZUM that her task is to get the gosling some food, teach it to swim, and teach it how to fly before winter. ROZZUM’s programming activates, and she cares for the gosling.
ROZZUM crosses paths with Fink again while acquiring food for the gosling. Fink tells ROZZUM to give up because it’s a runt and wasn’t supposed to survive. However, ROZZUM refuses to accept this because it’s her task. Fink selfishly helps ROZZUM feed the gosling. Later, Fink tells ROZZUM to name the young bird. At first, ROZZUM names him Gosling 001. Fink laughs and says a name can’t have numbers. So ROZZUM calls the gosling Brightbill and tells everyone to call her Roz. Over months, Roz, Fink, and Brightbill become a family, but Brightbill can’t fly and is a weak swimmer. Brightbill finds other geese during a swimming lesson, but they exclude him because a ‘monster’ raised him. They tell Brightbill his origin story, and he looks at Roz in horror. She killed his family. She is the reason he is alone and awkward. Roz feels guilty and ventures around the island. She finds several broken ROZZUMs in a cave. She activates one and updates it on her progress. Roz admits to overriding her programming for months to raise Brightbill. The robot calls Roz defective and starts a return beacon. But Roz disconnects it, steals it, and returns to Brightbill to complete her tasks. She must teach Brightbill to fly. After several attempts, an elder goose, Longneck, promises to take Brightbill under his wing for the migration. But Roz has to get Brightbill ready in a week. Can Roz and Fink get Brightbill prepared for the winter migration?
Based on The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, this movie gives a caring and unapologetic view of parenting (FTC Affiliate Disclaimer). However, it offers it from a wildlife perspective. When Pinktail thinks something has eaten her child, she doesn’t care. She adjusts the number of children in the conversation and moves on. Roz admits to overriding her programming by making things up. Later, Roz deals with separation anxiety. Fink wants her to give Brightbill his independence, but she wants him to be independent while closer to her. Roz excels beyond her programming when she experiences love. The audience should know that the movie goes beyond the migration. Roz’s time with Brightbill helps her become a mother. However, something more makes her a wild robot. The storyline is compelling and unique. The voice actors deliver the lines with emotion and perfect comedic timing. And the graphics are astounding. Viewers should keep an ear open for the A-113 reference. The film is on a cliffhanger because it’s book 1 of a series. Also, there is a short but funny post-credit scene.
I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars
Kindness is not a survival skill – Fink
You are not my mother – Brightbill
You can tell me – Thorn
This is what I get for taking a walk – Pinktail
The process is the art – Paddler
Endurance, then we’ll talk – Longneck
A ROZZUM always completes its task. Just asks – ROZZUM
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