When The Prince of Egypt was released in 1998, it was unlike anything anyone had ever seen in mainstream animated films. Built on a sweeping, epic scale with animation that looked like it was from some high art painting with themes that were a bit more adult but were accessible to all, Dreamworks really knocked it out of the park with this classic. And it feels, over twenty five years since Prince of Egypts release, Dreamworks has done it again. A high stakes tale bursting with raw emotion and jaw droppingly beautiful animation makes Wild Robot not only one of the best films of the year but the greatest animated film of 2024. 

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The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.

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The story of The Wild Robot is an epic tale of adventure stacked with high stakes throughout from impending winter to Brightbill’s attempts to fly. But this just isn’t a kid’s film. The adults in our screening were completely hooked as The Wild Robot goes a bit darker, exploring some pretty serious themes along the way (they’ll go over kid’s heads). From caring for all creatures great and small and their environment (very Animals of Farthing Wood at times), death, and community are all explored here. 

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The animation is utterly divine. With the human kinda feel of hand drawn animated creatures and environments coupled with CGI (in a way where they aren’t two aren’t jarring in their differences), this is a revolutionary animated film and one that will go down as a classic. 

The Wild Robot, like all good films, will break your heart; you’ll be a sobbing mess and a lot of this is down to superb voice acting work from Lupita Nyong,o as Roz and Kit Connor as her gosling ward Brightbill. 

 

A high stakes tale bursting with raw emotion and jaw droppingly beautiful animation makes Wild Robot not only one of the best films of the year but the greatest animated film of 2024.