The Wild Robot
October 18 – 24
7:00 pm nightly
1:30 Sunday Matinée October 20
G — 1hr 41min
2024 ‧ Family/Adventure
Chris Sanders once described his approach to The Wild Robot as “a Monet painting in a Miyazaki forest.” As insane as that may sound, he pulled it off. From its opening frames, the artistry of “The Wild Robot” bursts through every image. It’s a welcome break from the blandness we’ve come to expect from American CG-animated efforts. It’s more like moving art; you can almost see the brushstrokes on a living painting. In that sense, it owes a lot to films like the great work of Studio Ghibli. It’s a warm and detailed animated adventure for the whole family, which overall goes far beyond what you would expect given the family-friendly elements.
The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot–ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling. It’s beautiful film with a powerful, moving story and gorgeous animation. Everything from the writing to the voice acting to the character design is top-notch and given that there are three books in the series, Iet’s hope we see more of Roz in the future.
It’s not just one of the best animated films of the year; it’s a landmark in the genre, proving once again why animation is a medium for all, not just the young at heart but for anyone with a heart. This is a movie that’s bursting with unexpected humor—often in jokes about how easy it is for animals to die in the wild—but also feels deeply heartfelt in every frame. The Wild Robot is a film about mechanical beings and wild creatures, but it’s also a movie about parents and children. Roz learns the great difficulty of being a mother, discovering that sometimes the best way to care for a child is to discard the programming we thought would teach us how. Sometimes you just have to trust your heart. Sometimes you need to be wild.
Chris Sanders
Ensemble Voice Cast:
Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames