We have reached the time of year when I write about my favorite film from the previous year. I try to do this before the Oscars each year. Ordinarily, I would do this next month, but since I write my reviews on Thursday to post on the first Monday of each month, the Oscars will take place between writing and posting, so here we are. The only reason I felt compelled to give that explanation is that I have not yet seen many of the awards contenders for this year, including Best Picture nominees The Brutalist, Emilia Perez, Anora, The Substance, A Complete Unknown, Nickel Boys, and I’m Still Here. However, I feel confident my top-rated film will not change anyway, and that is The Wild Robot (2024, dir. Chris Sanders).
The Wild Robot is a heartwarming tale of a service robot named Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) who crashes in her cargo ship and washes ashore on an uninhabited (at least by humas) island. Roz ends up being activated by one of the animals and, due to her protocol, is eager to be of service to whoever is there – assuming that entity is her owner. Following a lightning storm and subsequent animal attack, Roz, while attempting to flee, accidentally destroys a goose nest leaving a single egg. Roz protects this egg from Fink (Pedro Pascal), a hungry fox looking for a nice meal, and raises the hatchling, Brightbill (Kit Connor). What follows is the coming-of-age story and predictable growing pains of a goose raised by a robot trying to find his place in the world.
In sort of a “Wall-E in the wilderness” tale, The Wild Robot succeeds on so many levels. As a mother-son film, it creates an instant connection and takes us through the stages of dependency, nurturing, tough love, and eventually the pain of letting go even when you know the time is right. As a thinly veiled critique of consumerism and artificial intelligence, it comes across loud and clear. As an inspiring tale of living creatures putting aside their differences to come together for a common good, it leaps off the screen. A reasonable critique might be that such action is unrealistic in today’s society, but fight through that cynicism to relish the beautiful way it happens.
The voice is universally stellar, particularly from Connor and Pascal. Nyong’o is voicing a robot, so you would think there is not much room for variance. This is where choosing an actress of her caliber truly makes the difference. We watch Roz grow and evolve throughout the film and, because she is a robot, the emotion can only come from her voice and not facial features. It is remarkably subtle work that I am eager to revisit. There are plenty of fun surprises from the animals we eventually encounter (including a hilarious moment early on with possums). The biggest shining star in the film, however, is the stunning animation. I generally find it distracting if I am aware of the beauty of an animated film during a first viewing. Not here. So many gorgeous sequences come throughout the film, which is paced so intelligently but still leaves room to be in awe of the artistic work on display. I read in a review somewhere that anyone could enjoy this film with the sound off. I agree – though then you would miss much of the fun.
It is a rare film that kills my inner cynic and lets me escape to such a wondrous place, but The Wild Robot took me there repeatedly, making it a rare film from this decade to crack my top 100 overall. If possible, I also recommend you watch this with at least one child – we saw it in the theater with several in attendance. There is something about hearing exclamations of “oh no” and “where’s the robot going” that, for us at least, had the delightful effect of deepening our immersion into the world being created on the screen. Yes, it may not carry the gravitas of some of the films I have not yet seen, but a well-acted, well-told story filmed in a visually interesting way is always a recipe for a hit.
FUN FACT – Peter Brown (who authored the book on which the film is based) told director Chris Sanders that he intended for the book to convey that kindness can be a survival skill.
Just Watch says that The Wild Robot is currently streaming on Peacock. It is also available for rent/purchase on Apple TV and Amazon Prime.
As a reminder, here is the original post that details the scores and weighting system.