What are a being’s characteristics typically defined by? Nature, nurture, and maybe a robot. In the wilderness, Rozzum Unit 7134 (Lupita Nyong’o) finds herself washed up on a shore, with no idea of how she got there. Her whole existence is to be of service to something—anything. Rozzum is a robot who has been explicitly programmed to help others. The others have usually meant humans, yet with no humans in sight, her attention turns to the animals on the island, all of whom are either scared of her or openly hostile even after taking days learning their language doesn’t help any.

Her situation is about to change. After a chase through the island, “Roz” discovers a single unhatched goose egg. Some time later, it hatches, and the goose known as “Brightbill” (Kit Connor) immediately sees the non-animal as its mother. Unsure of what specifically to do, a possum, Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara) shares that the baby goose must learn to swim and fly to migrate before the cold winter comes. And so, Roz has a defined objective. With the help of true neutral fox Fink (Pedro Pascal), Roz begins to discover there’s more to her existence than what her code dictates.

Simplicity isn’t a negative, and when it’s anchored by so many other components, it becomes a notable positive. In the case of The Wild Robot, a children’s novel written and illustrated by Peter Brown, the setup and core conflict is clear, but the narrative unfolds in ways that connect so many concepts and observations together, creating one of the most moving watches of the year.

Chris Sanders writes and directs this adaptation to the silver screen, opting for a visual style that makes the film feel lived in and maybe even post-apocalyptic (there’s at least a sense that where Roz comes from is not the Earth we’re familiar with, and little is revealed about the island the creature denizens reside on). His hand-drawn, slightly rough watercolor aesthetic is equal parts vibrant natural beauty and muted, stark danger—especially once the seasons turn to fall and winter. Composer Kris Bowers is the architect for one of the better scores of 2024, and musician Maren Morris may score a Best Original Song nomination for “Kiss the Sky.” All of these components put together make The Wild Robot a technical marvel.

If one could find one to two minute grievances with The Wild Robot, grievance one would be that narratively, it’s fairly easy to identify early on where the story will go, and the movie does go down that visible path. However, the path thread only makes up roughly half of the actual runtime, and the other half drives the narrative in profound and unforeseen ways. Sanders imbues the story with themes such as parenting, finding community, disability, and purpose vs. existence, and doing so in a way that doesn’t feel overly ambitious or too messy.

Nor does it come off as too childlike; The Wild Robot is quite mature in its approach, not shying away from the difficult topics of survival and death and even having moments of levity and dark humor sprinkled within them. Grievance two has to do with the slightly chaotic stretch of the final act. It’s far from the worst thing you’d see in the CGI-heavy last acts of Phase 4 and 5 MCU flicks, but it just pales in comparison to the methodical pacing the screenplay employs up to that point.

For an animated film like The Wild Robot, the voice work needs to be great…but not animated in boisterous ways. There’s a lot of deftness in the vocal performances, particularly by Nyong’o and Pascal. Each disappears into their respective characters, and as the feature pushes their characters to become more aware of the surroundings around them and the impact others have on them, you begin to hear more gravitas behind their words.

A straightforward story gives way to an emotionally effective journey in The Wild Robot. With impressive production and an intelligent approach, the film is one that already seems to have stuck with many viewers across the age spectrum. Count me as one of the many.

A-

Photo credits go to nbc.com, mentallycreative.com, and cinemablend.com.