Review: Classroom Book The Wild Robot Comes to Theatres

By: Carlos Camargo

December 4, 2024

   The Wild Robot was DreamWorks animation studio’s last in-house project. Here’s what to expect from it. Released Sept. 27, this movie premiered in theatres as an adaptation of the popular novel The Wild Robot, by Robert Brown. 

   The film was directed by Chris Sanders who has a decorated history of box office hits including How to Train your Dragon and Lilo & Stitch. Being an Emmy award-winning designer, and having directed one of Disney’s critically acclaimed classics, people’s expectations of the film were exceptionally high. 

   The film follows a robot named Roz who is in constant search of a task after being washed onto the shore of an island. Roz travels out the island learning themes about friendship, motherhood and survival.  

   The movie has amazing pacing with immediate action in the opening sequences of the film. This pacing is elevated with colorful and chaotic animation that flows beautifully conveying messages and pacing through color scheme and frame rate. 

  Another thing to note is the emotionally driven soundtrack, produced by Chris Bowers, the soundtrack truly captures and enhances some of the more character-driven scenes which allows the audience to build a liking to these characters and want to root for them.  

   The film’s climax was packed with high stakes, emotional sequences and many times had audience/reviewers on the edge of your seat not knowing what to expect. It isn’t uncommon for sniffles of viewers throughout the movie  

   The characters are amazing with skilled voice actors amplifying the characters in exaggerated tones corresponding to the animal they are voicing. During emotional climaxes, the voice acting really shines through touching the heart of audiences and engraving memorable characters within watchers. 

   The ending was bittersweet, leaving the audience to have their own personal interpretations of what happened to the main cast and how they will move forward. 

   This movie is an excellent display of animation and thematic writing capable of bringing out emotions. I highly recommend, fair warning: bring tissues.