The Wild Robot (2024)

IMDb plot summary: After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

Directed by Chris Sanders. Stars Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, and Kit Connor.

The Wild Robot is an animated film starting Lupita Nyong'o as a robot that mistakenly lands on Earth and looks around for a task to fulfill. She accidentally destroys a family of birds and decides that her task is going to be to nurture and care for the one baby bird that survives. The film then follows her relationship with the bird, as the rest of the creatures in the forest that do not trust her, and eventually, she must grapple with her destiny to return to home. The pacing of  this movie is a little strange. It feels like it took two separate stories and mashed them into one, so our act one ending feels like a decisive final ending, and the second half felt like an afterthought. I believe this is based on a series of books, so maybe that is literally what happened, that it took two separate books and combined them to make this version. It's definitely a sentimental film but it does a pretty good job of making it work overall. For example, there's a scene where, during a particularly bad winter, the robot shelters as many forest animals as she can in her little house with a fire. They decide to, temporarily at least, accept her help, accept her as one of them, and stop trying to kill each other. The scene shouuld be too cheesy to work, but somehow it feels plausible here. A couple of other positives that I want to mention include Pedro pascal, who should absolutely be doing voice work as on a regular basis. I didn't realize it was him until halfway through the movie, but he makes the fox an incredibly compelling character. There are also some really gorgeous large animation shots of the landscapes as the robot makes her way through. I think all the pieces individually work, and I think like 80% of it works together as a whole. It's a little uneven throughout, but I think it sticks the landing well enough. Definitely a sweet movie and one worth watching. 

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The Wild Robot (2024)

📊 Ranked #838/4037 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 79

beat The Year of Living Dangerously (#2014 → #2308)

beat The Other Boleyn Girl (#1005 → #999)

lost to Rise of the Planet of the Apes (#502 → #489)

lost to Come from Away (#754 → #750)

lost to Whale Rider (#879 → #867)

beat The Hateful Eight (#942 → #935)

beat Volver (#910 → #997)

beat Hustlers (#894 → #893)

beat Being There (#886 → #1136)

lost to Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (#882 → #836)

beat Pather Panchali (#884 → #879)

beat The Sting (#883 → #902)