The Wild Robot

Samir Mehta: “It ruled.”

Posting to draw attention. This is a stellar and sublime movie, the highest levels of animated film. It works for children and adults. And its themes are timeless. I cannot praise it enough.

− September 28, 2024 • more by Samir • log in or create an account to reply

Scott Hardie: So I've heard! The (professional) critical praise for this one has been impressive, and I look forward to seeing it. That said, I do resent how the series of trailers has given away pretty much the entire story; I feel like I've already seen the movie at this point. − September 29, 2024 • more by Scott

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Scott Hardie: “It ruled.”

This is an excellent animated adventure film, with several things to recommend. First, it's dazzling to behold, with impressive use of color and light and a great effort put into its shot composition so that any given frame looks like a painting. It also has laudable messages about coexistence, sacrifice, and parenting that feel like pleas for sanity; if the CGI critters in our movies can get along, why can't we? Plus, the emotional beats all hit me as intended; I cried when it reached its emotional apex, but I also laughed more than I expected at the idiosyncratic perspectives of the animal characters, all well-acted by a stellar cast. In an era when too many family movies lazily coast along on their intellectual property and soulless CGI, this stands out for the hard work clearly put in by its creators as they strived for something better and more meaningful.

Unfortunately, I had the (coincidental) bad timing to see this two days after Flow and one day after The Iron Giant, two movies with very similar stories and themes to this, and one big advantage over this: They were made with almost total creative freedom by their directors, so they feel like true art. Compared to them, The Wild Robot can't help but feel like a made-by-committee, market-researched, thoroughly corporate product, especially whenever its top-40 pop soundtrack kicks in, which is a shame because it's an exceptionally well-made and moving example of a corporate family film. It also feels way too rushed in comparison to Flow, leaping immediately from one plot point to the next with no time to rest; this movie sorely needs what Hiyao Miyazaki called "ma," or still moments that afford the audience time to absorb what has happened and sit with their feelings. I liked it, but I suspect that I would have liked it more if I hadn't seen it in the shadow of those two other films.

− December 27, 2024 • more by Scott • log in or create an account to reply

Samir Mehta: This reply contains spoilers. Reveal it. − December 27, 2024 • more by Samir

Scott Hardie: I find it unsettling how many humans think that nature is to be conquered at all. :-\ I wish I could find it now to share it, but as long as we're discussing Miyazaki, I saw another great video about how his films consistently dramatize the Eastern view that humanity co-exists with nature and must nurture it, in opposition to the Western view that humanity has a right to dominate nature and plunder it for resources. Few other filmmakers have devoted their careers to that message so comprehensively as he has. − December 28, 2024 • more by Scott

Samir Mehta: Can’t agree more. − December 28, 2024 • more by Samir

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