Kunga Sagar’s review published on Letterboxd:
Witness lovely animation carry fragments of ideas, characters, and story on its back. A intelligent robot named Roz is stranded on an island and bonds with its animals, caring for an orphaned baby goose in order to survive the harsh climate. Chris Sanders has been involved with many of the most iconic Disney animated pictures of our time. As for his directorial efforts, Lilo & Stitch has a safe place in my childhood canon, while How to Train Your Dragon missed the boat for me (I was more enraptured with Toy Story 3 that year). The Wild Robot falls somewhere in the middle of those for me, echoing movies that I much prefer such as The Iron Giant, WALL-E, and dare I say Over the Hedge.
Actually, I’ll double down on Hedge, it’s prime Dreamworks. You can throw the nostalgia argument at me for sure, as I could simply have gotten too old, such is life. Roz lacks dimensionality, as do the cute and cuddly animals lacking personality, or names that I can remember. Compare this gang to the fish tank in Finding Nemo- there’s no comparison! When peril ensues, I don’t feel all that threatened, despite it being a beautiful bond on paper.
This is all a shame because of how compelling and immersive the opening act is; I was on the no-dialogue-minus-Roz-the-robot wavelength until the Hedge-esque animals started dropping jealous, snarky comments. The on-the-nose dialogue, the unfortunately annoying and whiny Brightbill (a far cry from Simba), and the unearned dramatic climax sort of dampen the experience for me. This is still a decent family movie, in fact it has truly moving moments thanks to the talent on hand, some solid voice acting, score, editing, and overall assured direction.
However, I beg of the cinephile community not to always lower their standards. Yes, I’m upping the pretentious snob card here, but consider this as a necessary evil- similar to the A.I.-inspired villainy on display. Because of the persistent nagging from Roz, you realize how limited her kind is. There’s a streak of education vs. experience lingering through the frame as well, as the street smart animals scoff at the shiny, well read robot, claiming she’s naive while excluding their own ignorance in the equation. I would’ve preferred more conflict, something more visceral, as the emotional ending sort of came and went. Not here to dump on the parade, we’ll take all the creative, inspired studio projects that we can get.
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