Jacob H’s review published on Letterboxd:
Chris Sanders and the team involved at DreamWorks quite literally turned me into a blubbering mess for 90 consecutive minutes, just a jaw-dropping entry for animation as it instantly sits into the highest category for me. To be fair ever since I saw the second trailer for The Wild Robot about 4 months ago, it made me tear up every time I saw it so I suspected this was going to get me but I actually didn’t stand a chance. Sanders hasn’t been a stranger to pivotal animation with credits on things like Lilo and Stich and How to Train Your Dragon while his last film The Call of the Wild marked his first adaptation of a pretty famous novel that unfortunately didn’t leave much of a mark. Around this time was when he first encountered the children’s book series The Wild Robot written by Peter Brown through his daughter. It wouldn’t be until after 2020 when he’d be looking to come back to work for DreamWorks it was them who offered Sanders to direct an adaptation for them which he agreed, officially getting announced in September of 2023. According to Sanders he was eager to try and explore the topic of motherhood for which he felt he had yet to ever try. He would use his own descriptions of the novel as “deceptively simply” yet “emotionally complex” to want to translate with his take, I think he hit an absolute home run. I left this screening and gave my mom and cat the biggest hug of all. Had me thinking of adopting my cat Marvin, sobbing at how he potentially looks at me while I’m getting destroyed at the parental sacrifice coupled with the urgency to provide something to a genuine loved one was immensely powerful for me. Helps ever more when what you’re watching happens to be one of the most genuinely striking combinations of hand-drawn animation combined with an original score which in the IMAX theater, took my breath away and is still now only slowly giving it back. I can’t recommend this enough, this one tells you exactly what it’s going to do and it just did the thing that the best films do, have you get swept away completely with the experience.
The pacing was really impressive to me right from the start there was just a great handle on how to find and keep a certain energy. Not really heavy on the dialogue either I thought they picked spots nicely so that you pretty much constantly had something to be invested in and it only grew as the film continued. Roz is so easy to access as the viewer thanks to Lupita Nyong’o being world class with her voice and being able to show this subtle advancement as she breaks from the corporate preloaded instincts into a full member of the island. This emotion is pretty much conveyed with her voice and some robot eyelids (along with the visual and audio cues) which impressed me greatly. The other voices are memorable like Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Matt Berry and even Ving Rhames but their given much more help to work off of when it comes to their characters features along with the comedy writing that skews towards their characters. I seemed to enjoy everyone equally and the jokes came pretty frequently, most of them landed for me and they even get fairly morbid about the life cycle, parents and children for what’s an animated DreamWorks entry. It is somewhat crazy that this can come out from the same studio just months after they rolled out Kung Fu Panda 4. It’s not that crazy since the bigger any studio gets the greater gap in quality is likely to occur but the difference in quality is somewhat hard to fathom.
Anytime a new animated film comes out that showcases a color-centric style and any true originality or soul, it gets labeled as the “Spider-Verse” style. Certainly not a bad thing since those are two of the premier animated films probably ever but I do think it’s a bit reductive towards all those projects. I think the similarities are there but when something like those films or Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and now The Wild Robot all aim to be more visually dynamic through original implementation of this era with the legendary hand drawn artistry from Studio Ghibli, I think it’s important to credit them all individually. This is coming from a major fan of all of the films I’ve just named. With The Wild Robot I was able to see the Ghibli influence much more overtly, not just because of the litany of forest animals that talk and I really liked it. The hand painted quality really made the background of every scene become this total mosaic of colors. Every single piece of nature that’s animated here is just fully available to get lost in, a real unique design for everything shines through. The actual contrast of lighting is so impressive and dictates so much of the story that’s pretty readily available without much you won’t expect, don’t mind much for a kids novel adaptation such as this. The score from Kris Bowers is sensational and he’s done a wide variety but this is his first animated work. The themes feels like a superhero’s would in a way that’s so empowering to me, as a fan of Batman I’m loving this equating of enduring for the sake of others. It might not be in hopes for pain to be spared rather than love to endure but I was just moved constantly by the experience of it all. I love the movies so much, waiting for the ones like this is why you do it.
I think this “simply sophisticated, deeply emotionally resonant” translated is a masterpiece from Chris Sanders and the full team involved. The Wild Robot has sure-handed care pronounced all over its beautiful display, easily placed itself amongst the best work DreamWorks has ever done. Despite the influx in animation with numerous sequels and questionable quality, there has undeniably been some in the last 5-8 years that are providing a noticeable ripple. I’d watch this again immediately if I knew I wasn’t going to cry uncontrollably again, might anyway.
