(Originally published on Blogcritics.org)
In our current world it’s hard to check the tech-news without running into a story about Artificial Intelligence. But what if AI could go one step further and transform into Artificial Motherhood? That’s the underlying premise of DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot. The film takes you on a touching tale about relationships and family, does so with beautiful animation, and makes you laugh,
The film, based on Peter Brown’s award-winning bestselling middle-grade novel, The Wild Robot, screened at Fantastic Fest 2024 in Austin, Texas. The nineteenth edition of the festival, which promotes itself as the nation’s largest genre film festival, featured horror, sci-fi, fantasy, restored classics and documentaries about these genres and their filmmakers and stars.
How Wild?
The film begins with small furry creatures curiously exploring the remains of a spacecraft which has crashed onto a forested planet which possesses an abundance of animal life. A broken box contains a robot whose power the creatures inadvertently turn on.
The voice of the robot comes from Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave, Black Panther).
Much like Alexa or other computerized assistants, the robot, ROZZUM unit 7134 or “Roz” for short, begins to inquire of the many animals she runs into how she can help them. They of course don’t understand her. Roz uses her computational power to analyze the animal sounds and soon learns to communicate with them, which initially freaks them out even more.
A turning point in the story happens when Roz discovers a goose egg about to hatch. The hatchling, eventually named Brightbill and played by Kit Conner (Heartstopper, Rocketman), needs a mother and needs to learn how to fly. Roz has found a purpose.
Family Rebooting
Eventually, Roz’s desire to serve and protect extends beyond just Brightbill. When the company that manufactured Roz, locates the crash site and sends a ship to conduct salvage ops and remove Roz, a crisis ensues.
Although “motherhood and family” was not an official theme of Fantastic Fest, I encountered this repeatedly. Besides The Wild Robot, two other films explored this topic.
Never Let Go placed a mother between her twin boys and what she perceived as a horrendous supernatural threat. In Bookworm, which stars Lord of the Rings alum Elijah Wood, a young girl’s mother is hurt and ends up in a coma. She then is faced with establishing a relationship with a father she has never met. All three films will make you think about the importance and the nature of family relationships.
A Wild Cast
You can sometimes be drawn to a film by the quality of the cast it attracts. Hold onto your popcorn!
Besides Lupita Nyong’o, who won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for 12 Years a Slave, the film includes an all-star roster. You’ll hear Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as Fink the Fox; Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Best in Show) as opossum Pinktail; Emmy winning pop-culture icon Mark Hamill (Star Wars); and Oscar nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Fall Guy) as Vontra, the robot sent to retrieve ROZ.
And the film has humor aimed at both kids and adults. A laugh-out-loud moment for me was when the character Paddler, played by Matt Berry (What We Do in the Shadows, The SpongeBob Movie franchise) yells in angry frustration: “Male bovine excrement!”
See It Now
The Wild Robot opened in theaters on September 27. You can find out where by checking its website and watch its preview below.
For information about next year’s Fantastic Fest, check their social media on Facebook, their X page, and Instagram.
