The Wild Robot
Chad Hartigan

Review by Chad Hartigan Patron

The Wild Robot 2024

★★★½

Rewatched 12 Oct 2024

Listen, based on the trailers I had to sit through (HITPIG? DOGMAN? What is going on?), when stacked up against other contemporary studio animated fare, this is probably an 11 out of 10.

But based on the trailer I saw for this and reading the book to my son, I was expecting a gentle, WALL-E esque, almost dialogue free folk story so it was a pretty massive disappointment on first watch to realize it was a relentlessly paced, frenetically shot, wise-cracking animal cartoon after all. And despite their best efforts, I don't think there's a single memorable character in this besides Roz (wonderfully voiced by Nyong'o). Still, it moved me in places and is gorgeously animated.

On second watch, this time with my son, I was able to meet it on its own terms and enjoy even more. Still think the pacing and camerawork are far more manic than they need to be, but this is a very strong piece of children's storytelling.

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