When producing a movie based on a beloved book, there is a lot of pressure for actors, writers and directors to make a product that is both faithful to the original and interesting enough to be worth making. When a studio as hit-or-miss as Dreamworks is behind the movie, the pressure is even greater. Dreamworks’ most recent book adaptation, “The Wild Robot,” released Sept. 27, managed to succeed in being faithful to its source material and making a unique and interesting viewing experience, while also appealing to a mainstream audience of all ages.
The movie and book both follow the same story of a robot named Roz who activates in a secluded wilderness. Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, is forced to adapt to the forested area, though she faces several obstacles in the form of flora and fauna. Through countless trials and tribulations, she finds her place in the community and even raises a duckling.
Although the plot is relatively simple, it is representative of deeper themes. Roz’s struggle to be accepted by the forest animals, for example, is reflective of many people’s real-life experiences . . . from being in a new school to a foreign country. And, much like these real-life equivalents, it is not easy for Roz. She makes numerous mistakes in her journey, accidentally hurting and offending animals. After this, she has an even harder time to get the animals to accept her. It takes a native of the community, a fox (portrayed by Pedro Pascal), befriending her for her to finally find her place in the area. This shows kids in the audience that even if they aren’t new to a community, it still matters to help those who are. The medium by which these messages are conveyed is beautiful, understandable and easy for kids to interpret and apply to their own lives.
Often with beloved and acclaimed children’s movies, it can be said that they don’t feel like kids’ movies, or that they have so many advanced themes, jokes and plotlines that it’s easy to forget the film’s target audience. This is not true of “The Wild Robot.” That said, it doesn’t need to be. It can certainly be admired by anyone, even if it isn’t going to become a landmark in film history or an instant classic.
While I doubt that “The Wild Robot” will have an extremely important impact on the future of entertainment, it may have an important impact on the future of Dreamworks movies. Currently, the studio is going through an experimental stage where they’re testing to see what sells, what audiences like and what can be produced efficiently. Their most recent movies before “The Wild Robot,” “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate,” were released within a week of each other. How they were received, however, was much different. The former sports a 6.3/10 on the International Movie Database (IMDb). The latter earned a score of 2.4/10 on IMDb and was not even released in theaters. Meanwhile, “The Wild Robot” currently boasts a score of 8.5/10. Obviously, the studio has done something right with “The Wild Robot” that they didn’t with the other two.
After looking into the films, the problems are clear. Both “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate” are missing some of the main cast members from the original movies. For example, in “Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate” not a single original cast member is present. “The Wild Robot” does not and cannot have the same issue because it has no previous film to honor. For this reason, I believe Dreamworks should, and probably will, put more of a focus on original movies in the future than franchises. Their next movie will be “Dog Man,” also based on a children’s book, which I am excited to see as well.
All in all, “The Wild Robot” is a sweet and simple movie that I recommend for anyone interested. It isn’t perfect, but it was clearly made with care and passion, which is something that can be said about few movies from animation studios today. The movie is already available for purchase, and, until Oct. 24, is available in most theaters.
