The Wild Robot (2024)
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A shipwrecked robot must adapt to life on an island and becomes the adoptive mother of an orphaned goose.
The story
After a storm causes a cargo ship to lose several robots, only one, a ROZZUM unit named Roz, survives and is activated by local wildlife. Initially feared as a monster by the animals, Roz must learn to communicate with them and navigate her new environment. When she accidentally ends up with a lone goose egg, she is tasked by a local opossum to care for the hatchling, Brightbill. As the goose grows, Roz must navigate the complexities of motherhood and the challenges of survival in the wild while maintaining her identity as a machine in a world of nature.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Following a shipwreck, a robot named Roz (Unit 7134) is stranded on an island. She initially struggles to coexist with the local wildlife until she finds a purpose in raising an orphaned gosling named Brightbill. She forms alliances with a fox named Fink and a bear named Thorn, while seeking advice from an opossum named Pinktail. As Brightbill grows, he faces rejection from other geese for his unusual upbringing. Roz eventually helps him learn to fly and join the migration. During a severe storm, the animals and Roz work together to survive. Later, a retrieval team from Universal Dynamics arrives to reclaim her. A conflict ensues, leading to a forest fire and a confrontation with a retrieval robot named Vontra. After a desperate battle where the animals unite to fight the retrieval robots, Roz's love for Brightbill allows her to override her systems and defeat Vontra. The film ends with Roz returning to a facility to protect the island from future threats while maintaining her memories and staying in contact with Brightbill.
- First release year
- 2024
- Runtime (minutes)
- 102
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Chris Sanders
- Writers
- Chris Sanders · writer
- Cast and characters
- Lupita Nyong'o · Roz; Pedro Pascal · Fink; Kit Connor · Brightbill; Bill Nighy · Longneck; Stephanie Hsu · Vontra; Mark Hamill · Thorn; Catherine O'Hara · Pinktail; Ving Rhames · Thunderbolt; Matt Berry · Paddler
- Genres
- animated; science fiction
- Themes
- motherhood; kindness as a survival skill; environmentalism
- Tone and mood
- heartwarming; poignant
- Premise and plot tags
- robot; animal adventure; adoption; survival
- Source material / true-story basis
- the 2016 novel by Peter Brown
- Franchise connections
- The Wild Robot
- Reception
- The film received widespread acclaim from critics for its writing, animation, characters, score, visuals, emotional depth and voice acting, and was a commercial success.
- Reported review scores
- CinemaScore · score: A · scale: A+ to F; PostTrak · score: 96% · scale: percentage
- Awards and nominations
- Annie Award · Best Animated Feature · win; Critics' Choice Awards · Best Animated Feature · win; Producers Guild of America Awards · Best Animated Feature · win
- Production trivia
- The film's visuals use a watercolor aesthetic inspired by classic Disney films and Hayao Miyazaki.; A sequel based on The Wild Robot Escapes is in development.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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