TIFF Review: ‘The Wild Robot’ is a Wondrous Animated Achievement

Free will is a privilege afforded to humans, who can choose how they want to live their lives and whether they’ll opt to make the world a better place. Not all beings are given that choice, and they may serve a purpose they have no say in since it’s just part of how they’re built. Following programming is a major theme of the animated film The Wild Robot, which finds its title character desperate to serve in a place where no one needs anything from her but where she’s persistent enough to find a client who doesn’t realize just how influential she’ll prove to be.

Rozim 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o) is a state-of-the-art robot who activates on an island after a shipwreck. She’s ready to find her customer but has no luck. Every animal she meets run from her, thinking she’s a monster, and rather than cut her losses, she activates a learning mode so that she can communicate with the wide variety of species populating the island. When she meets Brightbill (Kit Connor), a young gosling who has lost his entire family, she finds her directive: to raise him and, with the help of a sly fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), ensure that he eats, learns to fly, and leaves in time to migrate and ensure his survival come winter.

The Wild Robot is a marvelously imaginative feat from director Chris Sanders, who animation fans will know from his previous films, Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon, and The Croods. This film might be his most adult-friendly outing yet, containing plenty of content that will be suitable for children but also engaging with more mature themes that it doesn’t aim to mask. Rozim, who becomes known as Roz, bluntly states that Brightbill’s entire family is dead before Fink warns her not to disclose that information to him, and other animals discuss death in lighthearted ways numerous times throughout the film, keeping that notion front-and-center in a way that doesn’t feel overwhelming but also isn’t hidden from view or never discussed.

The premise of The Wild Robot is rather simple and straightforward, but it’s extremely endearing nonetheless. Roz exists to serve, and she needs to find a way to achieve her objective. Learning the language is the first step, and the resources of the island, which may initially seem useless or irrelevant, do assist her in fulfilling the tasks she knows – and comes to learn – are critical to Brightbill’s survival. She also becomes more human along the way, going against her programming and in turn enabling Fink and other animals to think less just of themselves and more of the community they inhabit.

The visuals in this film are stunning, with the design of Roz particularly eye-popping. The way in which she moves in her first scene finds each part of her robotic structure flexible and easily detached, allowing her to roll over and adapt to nearly every environment. Surely her model isn’t meant to function in this kind of place, far from human civilization and technology, but the way that she’s built, and that the character is brought to life through animation, makes her exceptionally able to blend in and to take advantage of her surroundings to ensure that she can make the most of any situation for the sake of efficiency.

This voice cast includes a number of fun standouts, starting with the dynamic duo of Nyong’o and Pascal, whose banter is a delight. Connor is easy to like as the affable and innocent Connor, and the ensemble also includes Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, and Catherine O’Hara in entertaining parts as a variety of animals. The Wild Robot tells a sweet tale that should prove winning with any audience, adapting the popular books by Peter Brown and using beautiful animation to make it a soaring cinematic experience.

Movie Rating: 8/10

Awards Buzz: Sanders’ track record is pretty great, with all three of his previous features earning an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature. This film’s Toronto launch and late September theatrical premiere make it a top contender and potential frontrunner for the same prize this year.