McDaniel
When my first child came into the world, it was like a switch flipped. My priorities changed, and nothing mattered more than keeping that little McNugget safe. It felt like instinct, passed down to my genetic code. And I knew there would be victories, and there would be failures, but one day my baby would grow and leave our home to find his place in the world.
So goes the tale of “The Wild Robot” — poetically familiar and moving.
Director Chris Sanders (“Lilo & Stitch” and “How to Train Your Dragon”) shares a vision that is beautifully animated and acted, based on the book by Peter Brown.
When a Universal Dynamics utilitarian robot, Roz (Lupita Nyong’o), crash lands on the edge of an island filled with wildlife, she roams around searching for her purpose. She feels lost as she struggles to find it. But after accidentally destroying a nest, the one remaining egg hatches and a runt gosling she calls Brightbill emerges.
Brightbill becomes Roz’s priority. Her programming changes. It feels like instinct, passed down in her code. And she knows that one day, her baby would spread his wings and fly away to find his place in the world.
It’s a thankless job — keeping the goose safe so he can learn to find food, swim, and fly before it’s time for winter migration. Roz seeks advice, only to be told that nobody knows how to be a parent, we just figure it out as we go.
She finds assistance from unlikely friends — Fink the predatory fox (Pedro Pascal) and Pinktail the motherly possum (Catherine O’Hara) — but the other critters in the forest are mostly scared of Roz and judge her.
No matter, she remains focused on the mission at hand, and when her work is done and Brightbill flies away, her purpose is complete. She sends a signal back to her makers to come take her home.
But Roz feels empty, and her recovery does not go as she envisioned, leading to a battle between the Universal Dynamics technology and the island’s wildlife.
Roz realizes that home is where the heart is, and your family is who you choose. And sometimes on that journey to find your place in the world, you might find you’ve been where you belong all along.
Sure, nature’s harmony is a bit romanticized in certain scenarios that might be a bloodbath in reality, but the story illustrates the bonds that unite us all, reflecting the idea that everyone is on some sort of a journey, seeking connection, just trying to survive and find their place.
Even if you are an unfeeling robot, you’ll feel something watching “The Wild Robot.”
4/5
Scott McDaniel is an assistant professor of journalism at Franklin College. He lives in Bargersville with his wife and three kids.
