Adventure
Animation
The Mechanics of Motherhood: A TIFF Review of ‘The Wild Robot’
September 14, 2024Ben MK
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Fish-out-of-water stories are one of the most commonly recurring narratives in cinema; and when it comes to animated movies, that goes doubly so. Whether it's an alien that crash lands on Earth in Lilo & Stitch, a mermaid who becomes a human in The Little Mermaid, or a toy astronaut who thinks he's a real-life space explorer in Toy Story, the genre is full of wondrous and whimsical adventures involving characters who find themselves humorously and relatably out of their element. It's a tried-and-true formula that also affords the opportunity for some poignant messaging. And with The Wild Robot, director Chris Sanders is adding another film to the list of fish-out-of-water movies, in this charming tale about a lost robot who finds her true purpose in a place where she least expects it. Set on a future Earth where climate change has ravaged much of the planet — leading humanity to rebuild its major cities under massive, environmentally enclosed domes — the story follows Rozzum 7134 (Lupita Nyong'o), a highly advanced and sentient robot designed and built by mega corporation Universal Dynamic. One of six helper bots who fall from the sky and onto a deserted island in the middle of the ocean, Roz is an automaton created for only one purpose and one purpose only — to serve the needs of human beings. However, when the container ship carrying her and her artificially intelligent brethren was damaged in a violent storm, causing her to be marooned on this island, it threw a wrench in that primary objective. Now surrounded entirely by a host of indigenous animal species such as beavers, geese and otters, Roz is a lonely mechanical creature without a cause. But even without a single human soul in sight, can she manage to find a purpose for her existence somewhere amidst all this wilderness? And will she be able to change the minds of the island's feathered and four-legged population, all of whom regard her as some sort of villainous, metallic monstrosity? Based on Peter Brown's bestselling children's book series and featuring a star-studded voice cast that includes the likes of Pedro Pascal, Catherine O'Hara and Mark Hamill, the result is a new animated family classic. A large part of what makes The Wild Robot so special, however, isn't the cast, but rather the themes that permeate the narrative. A story about the unbreakable bond between mother and child, it's a tale that speaks to the hearts of viewers of all ages. And when it comes to the audience, isn't that the primary objective? |
The Wild Robot screens under the Gala Presentations programme at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival. Its runtime is 1 hr. 41 min.
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