The Wild Robot is a 2024 American computer-animated science fiction adventure drama film based on the book of the same name. It was written and directed by Chris Sanders, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Universal Pictures. It is the studio's 47th feature film.
The film was released on September 27, 2024. It received critical acclaim.
Synopsis[]
The movie follows the epic journey of a robot — ROZZUM unit 7134, "Roz" for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.
Plot[]
In future North America, a Universal Dynamics cargo ship is destroyed by a tornado and shipwrecks on an uninhabited island. A family of otters check the cargo of ROZZUM utilitarian robots, and activates the only one still whole, unit 7134, who calls itself “Roz” for short. Roz roams the island, having misunderstandings with the local wildlife, before she decides to enter a dormant learning mode observing nature, emerging days later fluent in all animal language. Given she lacks an assignment, Roz decides to leave, but her attempt at contacting her manufacturer leads her to be struck by lightning, and once she awakens she is attacked by raccoons. Roz then accidentally destroys a goose nest, aside from a single egg. Roz stops a fox from eating the egg and it then hatches. The gosling imprints itself onto Roz and thinks of her as his mother, and when Roz tries contacting Universal Dynamics the gosling hits the communication module with its bill and breaks it, stranding her. Roz tries going away, but a discussion with Pinktail, a mother opossum, ends up unwittingly setting an assignment on Roz regarding raising the gosling, before it needs to leave the island for its winter migration. Roz asks the help of the fox, Fink, and after they find out how to feed the gosling, a conversation between them while building a shelter leads the bird to be named Brightbill.
Once Brightbill has grown, Roz tries to teach him to swim, and Brightbill meets other geese, being bullied for his short stature and awkward social manners. Roz appears to protect the goose and save him from a barracuda. A discussion between Roz, Brightbill and Fink makes the goose discover the robot caused the death of his family, making him resentful at how she caused him to grow alone and unadjusted, so Brightbill gets resentful and decides to get away from her. Wanting some orientation, Roz goes to the wreckage containing the destroyed ROZZUM robots, learning that they were meant to be servants in human cities, and that she is not supposed to have feelings, before getting another communication module. Encouraged by the elder goose Longneck, Roz helps Brightbill learn to fly, including by hiring the falcon Thunderbolt as a teacher. Once he is capable and flies away with the other geese, Roz is unnerved at how she challenged her programming, became attached to the bird and is sad that he left. She activates her communication module, but as soon as the beacon shows up at the Universal Dynamics headquarters Roz shuts it off again.
A thunderstorm makes the geese hide in a futuristic greenhouse where ROZZUM robots grow corn. Brightbill approaches one of the robots due to its feelings for Roz, and it considers it a contaminant that would harm the crops, prompting the robots to attack the birds, who panic and fly around the greenhouse. Longneck notices that Brightbeak's familiarity with Roz makes him the only goose keeping itself calm, and asks him to lead the flock away from the greenhouse, sacrificing himself in the process by flying in front of a robot's beam. Roz awakens in her shelter and finds Fink, who tells her he is hiding from a severe snowstorm. Roz decides to rescue all the animals and bring them to the shelter, depleting her batteries as a result. Putting predators and prey together creates a chaotic environment before Fink reminds them that Roz made him care for others even if he's normally ostracized and that all the animals would be dead from the cold if not for Roz's efforts. Roz asks for a truce before she shuts down, and as the bear Thorn, the most feared predator in the island, agrees to do so, all the animals comply.
Roz awakens months later, watching from a distance the geese return, hailing Brightbill as a hero. Before she can go after him, she hears a signal, and sees an Universal Dynamics dropship arrive, out of which comes the robot Vontra. Vontra reveals Roz has been highly sought after the shortened beacon, and following the geese made them finally discover her location. Universal Dynamics wants to repair Roz and study the changes in her programming, and Roz reluctantly goes along. Just before she fully enters the ship, Fink arrives and says Brightbill wants to see Roz, making her leave saying she will return. Vontra is not welcoming to the delay and is adamant in bringing Roz back, sending an army of robots after her. Once they arrive at the clearing where Roz reunites with Brightbill and try forcibly bringing her back, the animals proceed to attack. Vontra makes the destroyed robots self-destruct to distract the animals, igniting a massive forest fire, while she drags Roz onto the ship with a tractor beam. Brightbill leads the geese into attacking the ship, while the other animals band together to put out the fire, using a massive tree being cut by the beaver Paddler to divert a river into the burning forest. Inside the ship, Brightbill finds a deactivated Roz and makes her awake once he professes her love for her. They leave for the landing dock, where Vontra intercepts them, injures Brightbill's wing and says she's willing to kill both given they don't need to be brought back alive to be studied. Roz uses the tractor beam to destroy Vontra, who dies saying that Universal Dynamics will send others like her.
As the destroyed ship falls, Roz stores Brightbill into her chest cavity as they jump out and land safely on the ground. Seeing all the destruction, even if the animals state they will resist other attacks, Roz says it's better for the island's safety if she leaves for Universal Dynamics, telling Brightbill that in spite of her being possibly deactivated for good, he managed to restart her, so her essence might still survive even if her physical memories are wiped. Some time later, Fink tells other animals about the story of Roz. Meanwhile, at the greenhouse, Roz is working at the crops, seemingly restored to factory settings, but once Brightbill shows up, she shows her emotional side again.
Voice cast[]
- Lupita Nyong'o as Roz
- Pedro Pascal as Fink
- Kit Connor as Brightbill
- Stephanie Hsu as Vontra
- Catherine O'Hara as Pinktail
- Bill Nighy as Longneck
- Mark Hamill as Thorn
- Matt Berry as Paddler
- Ving Rhames as Thunderbolt
Production[]
Development[]
On September 28, 2023, DreamWorks Animation announced an animated film adaptation of the book series The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, with Chris Sanders writing and directing, Jeff Hermann producing, and Sanders' longtime creative collaborator Dean DeBlois executive producing. Other crew members have also been revealed, including production designer Raymond Zibach, editor Mary Blee, and head of story Heidi Jo Gilbert.[1]
The Film was made in Glendale, and in Lyon, France at the upstart Stim Studio, who are new to the animation scene, best known for their work in The Garfield Movie.
In March 2024, the cast list for the film was revealed as Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames.[2]
It was also revealed that Kris Bowers is set to compose the film's original score for The Wild Robot, marking his first score for an animated film.[3] He is also the first person of color to score a DreamWorks film.
On April 23, 2024, it was announced that the released date for The Wild Robot moved one week later from its original release date, September 20, 2024.[4]
Gallery[]
Promotional[]
Screenshots[]
Miscellaneous[]
.jpg "The Wild Robot - Roz and Fink in winter (concept art).jpg (95 KB)")
.jpg "The Wild Robot - Roz and Fink in the wild (concept art).jpg (143 KB)")
.jpg "The Wild Robot - Roz, Brightbill and other geese (concept art).jpg (240 KB)")
.jpg "The Wild Robot - Roz meet young Brightbill (Promotional).jpg (411 KB)")
.png "The Wild Robot - Roz and teenager Brightbill (render).png (222 KB)")
Videos[]
Possible Sequel[]
Chris Sanders when asked about a potential The Wild Robot 2, “I would very much like to. This was a labor of love on the part of everybody at the studio, and yes, I think I’d love to go and stay here for a while.”[5]
Trivia[]
- The film has a similar style to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
- This is DreamWorks’ first collaboration with Stem Studio France, whose credits include Tom & Jerry (2021) and more recently The Garfield Movie (2024).
- The film marked the return of Chris Sanders in the director's chair for a DreamWorks film, following The Croods.
- executive producer Dean DeBlois didn’t do publicity for this film as he was finishing up his live action remake of How To Train Your Dragon.
- This is the second DreamWorks Animation film to be released in September following Abominable (2019).
- This is the first film since The Croods: A New Age to be released in IMAX.
- This is the first DreamWorks Animation film to feature a robot, and therefore, a genderless character as the main protagonist.
- This is the twenty-fifth DreamWorks Animation film to be presented in the 2.39:1 widescreen aspect ratio, after Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, Kung Fu Panda, Monsters vs. Aliens, How to Train Your Dragon, Shrek Forever After, Megamind, Kung Fu Panda 2, Puss in Boots, The Croods, Turbo, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Kung Fu Panda 3, Trolls, The Boss Baby, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, Trolls World Tour, The Croods: A New Age, Spirit Untamed, The Boss Baby: Family Business, The Bad Guys, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, Trolls Band Together, and Kung Fu Panda 4.
- This is the tenth DreamWorks Animation film not to be composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, Hans Zimmer, John Powell, Rupert Gregson-Williams, Henry Jackman, Lorne Balfe, Steve Mazzaro, Theodore Shapiro, or Daniel Pemberton, as the film is composed by Kris Bowers; the first ten being 2005's Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (which was composed by Julian Nott), 2012's Rise of the Guardians (which was composed by Alexandre Desplat), 2013's The Croods (which was composed by Alan Silvestri), 2014's Mr. Peabody & Sherman (which was composed by Danny Elfman), 2016's Trolls (which was composed by Christophe Beck), 2020's The Croods: A New Age (which was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh), 2021's Spirit Untamed (which was composed by Amie Doherty), 2022's Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (which was composed by Heitor Pereira), and 2023's Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken (which was composed by Stephanie Economou).
- The Wild Robot is the second DreamWorks Animation film to be released on September 27th, after Abominable.
External links[]
The Wild Robot on Dreamworks- The Wild Robot on Wikipedia
- The Wild Robot on IMDb
- The Wild Robot on Facebook
- The Wild Robot on Instagram
References[]
- ↑ "Director Chris Sanders Returns to DreamWorks Animation With 'The Wild Robot' (Exclusive)". TheWrap (28 September 2023).
- ↑ "First Trailer: The Wild "Robot"". Dark Horizons (March 5, 2024).
- ↑ "Kris Bowers to Score Chris Sanders' 'The Wild Robot'". Film Music Reporter (March 5, 2024).
- ↑ "DreamWorks Animation's 'The Wild Robot' Will Go One Week Later In The Fall". Deadline Hollywood (23 April 2024).
- ↑ Could There Be a Sequel to The Wild Robot? Director Chris Sanders Says…
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