“The Wild Robot” is as brutal as it is moving

Last Sunday, in lieu of watching Kermit the Frog play football, I watched "The Wild Robot" instead. Now while watching that Muppet get trounced and play what is arguably the worst game of his career, I stand by my decision. Seeing that team get systematically dismantled would have brought me great joy, "The Wild Robot" was still the better choice because it is nothing short of a masterpiece.

Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) is a robot stranded on an island, teaming with wildlife. After a terrible accident, she ends up with a gosling who she needs to take care of.

When I started this movie, the one word I would use to describe it was "brutal." As Roz figured out where she was, she picked up a crab that a bird quickly ate. When she finally makes it to land, the island's animals attack her. Raccoons try to take her parts, and all sorts of animals chase her. At one point, she is mauled by a bear, which leads to her crushing a mother goose and her nest. I was a little taken aback by this, but it sets up the world of the movie. It is life and death for these animals every day. They go after Ros because she is seen as a threat. Ros landed in an unforgiving place where weakness gets you killed.

That brings us to the gosling she cares for, Brightbill (Kit Conner). He is a runt and is not suited to last in this environment. Ros is programmed to help, so she sees Brightbill as a job to accomplish. She needs to feed him and teach him to swim and fly so he can go South for the winter. That is where the movie changed from to something else. Watching the relationship between Ros, Brightbill, and Fink the Fox (Pedro Pascal) grow is heartwarming. These three are outcasts on this island and form one of the most incredible found families ever put on screen. I was in tears multiple times during this movie. Watching these three grow and change made me fall in love with this movie.

I had heard that this movie was incredible when it was in theaters last year, and I am disappointed I never had the time to see it. This would have easily been on my top 10 list, probably near the top. This is easily one of the best animated movies of the last decade.

9/10

Rated PG for action/peril and thematic elements.

1h 42m