The Wild Robot opened in theaters this past weekend and my husband and I went to go see it. Yes, I know it is a kids movie, but we have noticed that these days, kid's movies are some of the best to be seen......and we were right when it came to The Wild Robot. It was a fun romp which also taught good lessons and sweetly showed the power of love and friendship in the face of adversity.
The movie starts with a crate smashed on a beach. A family of otters, their cute heads sticking up out of the water see the crate and run to investigate. One of them, while running around inside the crate, hit a button and bright blue eyes light up, and the life of ROZZUM unit 7134 begins.
The only thing that this poor robot wants is someone to help and a task to perform. Unfortunately, all of the animals are terrified of her and run away the minute they see her. She tries very hard to make friends but has no success at all until an accident leaves the robot in custody of a goose egg which she saves from a fox and then it hatches. Roz, being the first thing the gosling sees, imprints on her as his mother and insists on following her wherever she goes.
Over time the two form a bond, which happens to include the grumpy fox that tried to eat the egg earlier, (voice of Pedro Pascal) and a friendly mother opossum with a large group of babies who likes to give out parenting advice.
All the other animals on the island still think of Roz as "the monster" and don't want anything to do with her. The gosling tries to make friends with other geese, but they all make fun of him and run when see who he considers his mother. Due to this, Roz decides to teach him how to fly herself. Some pretty funny shenanigans result from this plan that are very fun to watch. To see the bond of the tiny gosling and the big robot grow is truly heartwarming. As the gosling, now known as Brightbill, grows up, both he and Roz learn many things about the world, and about trust, compassion and love.
Before you know it, it is time for migration. Roz and Brightbill have made friends with an old goose named Longneck, who asks Bright Bill to fly with him on the migration. They all take off and head south and Roz is left with nothing to do but activate her homing beacon and go back to the factory. She starts the beacon, but changes her mind, deciding to stay on the island and wait for Bright Bill to return. Winter comes and it is much harsher than usual and the animals on the island are in danger of freezing to death. Wanting to save them, Roz forces her friend the fox (Fink) to go out in the snow storm and sniff out all the animals so she can save them by bringing them to the house that she built for her and the gosling.
Placing all the animals in the same one room house turned out to not be the best idea, as some were predators and some prey. Somehow Roz and Fink talk them all into being friends as long as they are in this house. These scenes were truly humorous and lovely, some of the best of the movie
Unfortunately, though Brightbill does come back to the island, so do the people from the Factory that Roz came from. They are looking for her to take her back. Thus begins another adventure for Brightbill and his animal friends to save Roz.
I don't want to give away the whole movie, you really need to see it for yourself. It was really beautiful and one you will walk from feeling warm and fuzzy. I highly recommend this movie for both adults and children. I believe people will love it regardless of their age.
All photo credits: The Wild Robot/Universal Pictures