A heart-warming story of survival and harmony

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Chris Sanders writes and directs this beautifully sublime animation adventure, ‘The Wild Robot,’ giving it a patina of heartfelt emotions and exciting humorous adventure in an uncluttered, well-defined narrative spiel.

The former storyboard artist, production/character designer, and writer for Disney’s ‘Beauty and the Beast’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘The Lion King’, and ‘Mulan’, who made his directorial debut with ‘Lilo & Stitch’ in 2002 and worked with Dreamworks on ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ and ‘The Croods’, adapts Peter Brown’s children’s book series with technical flair, which is both unique and path-breaking.

The narrative opens with Rozzum 7134, a utilitarian robot (Lupita Nyong’o), also referred to as Roz, finding itself wrecked on a forest island. Roz wakes up to seaweed and sea critters, with waves crashing over the fast disintegrating packaging meant to protect the bot body. Roz was designed by Universal Dynamics to help paying customers with whatever task they may require. Out here in the wilderness with no humans in sight, Roz feels out of sorts because she has no master to command her.

While wandering around, Roz accidentally destroys a goose nest, but manages to save one egg which a scheming, hungry fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), has his eye on. The egg hatches and out comes a tiny gosling Brightbill (Kit O’Connor), who thinks of Roz as mother and Fink as protector, and an unexpected family is formed thus.

There’s also Stephanie Hsu as the villainous bot Vontra, Bill Nighy as Brightbill’s goose mentor Longneck, Catherine O’Hara as a mother opossum Pinktail, and Mark Hamill as Thorn, the grizzly bear.

‘The Wild Robot’ has an immediately endearing voice cast, stunning picture book illustration-like visuals, and cutting-edge tech aiding its enchanting outpouring. The story is kept simple and is presented in a lucid, easily absorbable manner.

An elevating original score by Kris Bowers lends emotive undercurrents to themes relating to found family, breaking out from a set pattern and using love to overcome all odds.

Animals and machines find purpose that elevates the representation of adaptive co-existence. The technical aspects, voice performances and craft are classically aligned and presented beautifully.

‘The Wild Robot’ boasts of eye-pleasing visuals combined with a rich vein of heart. The screenplay is well balanced, with humour and adventure jostling for primacy. Sight gags and one-liners lend solidity to the humour quotient while stunningly detailed action set-pieces make the adventure palpable. The narrative takes on a sentimental vein when Brightball migrates and Roz realises that she has no purpose anymore. The plot presents Roz’s uncanny link-up with emotion in an endearing way.

The artistry involved here is unmissable. The animation technique is faultless, the photorealistic characters with painterly backgrounds are rendered with passion and heft. The remote locale, with its untainted beauty and undisturbed environment, beckons you with plaintive zeal. The film’s primary themes of tolerance and unity in diversity are realised with punch.

This is indeed one of the best animation films to come out this year and is more than likely to be deemed a classic in the years to come!