Full review for The Wild Robot:
I had a chance to watch The Wild Robot this weekend and short version of the review is this:
You should watch it.
If you watched the trailers you may have certain expectations and preconceived notions based on other animated films with similar premises - and you'd be right to have those. The film does a great job subverting those expectations, not for the sake of subversion but because it actually has a lot more depth to it. I went in thinking the movie would have a straightforward plot and found myself pleasantly confused about where things were going within the first 20 minutes.
The plot has a lot of heart, and the themes it touches on came as a huge surprise. Death was quite a big one, which I've heard is in line with the book this story is based on. But this is nature and the circle of life after all, just not dumbed down which as an adult I appreciate even more.
There is also a huge focus on being a parent and what that means. It could have come off as cliché but there is an innocent approach from an AI that is still learning to navigate it's way around the world which I found fascinating. It didn't fall into the same tropes, and some of the darker themes actually hit home when thinking about the relationships I have within my own family.
The voice acting is incredible as well. I couldn't even recognize the main actors if I hadn't known ahead of time and found myself settled into the movie thinking about the characters themselves and not the people behind the voices.
The score was phenomenal and there were several montages where music and picture were in perfect harmony. The way these moments blended within each other gave an extra emphasis on the story being told in that moment and I walked out of the theater still thinking about them.
It's rare that an animated film can have such a profound impact on me. Maybe I wasn't expecting it. Or maybe the movie is just that good.
You should watch it.
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