The Wild Robot

Considering we are in one of the two 'dead zones' of the calendar year, it is interesting that the last last two review postings-- "Transformers One" and this review, "The Wild Robot", both being animated, are released at this point; animated films being a common staple of the summer film season, or it being part of the 'dead zone', "The Wild Robot" simply rocks!!

After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot named Rossum 7134, or simply called Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) is stranded on an uninhabited, remote island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals including Brightbill (Kit Connor), Longneck (Bill Nighy), Pinktail (Catherine O'Hara), Paddler (Matt Beck), Thunderbolt (Ving Rhames) and Thorn (Mark Hamill), and ultimately cares for an orphaned baby goose (Boone Storm). As Roz investigates the island, she comes across a wily fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), and as they get to know one another, they stumble, but end up taking care of Brightbill. 

Others to round out the cast are Stephanie Hsu as Vontra, Alexandra Novelle as Snowdown and Raphael Alejandro as Peck.

This was directed with heart, humor and adventure by Chris Sanders ("Lalo & Stitch" '02, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "The Croods" '13, "The Call of the Wild" '20) plus a short. This filmmaker has the innate ability to encourage his actors to bring these characters to life, even though their respective characters are animated. The pacing and staging in this film was incredible and was sequenced perfectly. It was also brilliantly written by Chris Sanders ("Beauty and the Beast" (story) '91, "Aladdin" (story) '92, "The Lion King" (story) '94, "Mulan" '98, "How to Train Your Dragon" '10, "The Croods" '13, "The Croods: A New Age" '20) plus TV, shorts and video games, based on the book by Peter Brown. The way this screenplay was sequenced where each scene organically melded into the next scene was absolute perfection. Chris Sanders is a phenomenal writer (and director) and will undoubtedly receive more work. This was created by Dreamworks Animation and has to be one of their best--certainly orchestrated to where this will probably be nominated for for best animated feature come Oscar time. These different characters were developed with incredible precision and showcases all who had any input of the making of this amazing film. This is undoubtedly one of the best films of the year!

This film has it all: discovery, fear, adventure, humor, commitment and love all rolled up in a breathtaking story and amazing focus and clarity.The only negative to this was that I didn't want it to end. If you like that up, close and personal feel to the film, it's also presented in an IMAX format as well. 

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                        Rated: PG                                            101mins.