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<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nFor better or worse, late September this year is certainly the time for animated robot movies. Fortunately, we got the \u201cworse\u201d out of the way last week with \u201cTransformers One.\u201d Now we can sit back and enjoy the \u201cbetter\u201d with \u201cThe Wild Robot.\u201d Many people did indeed sit back and enjoy this movie, as the theater at my screening was more crowded than usual. The added cheering and laughter made the experience all the more endearing, and it was heartwarming to think of all the families bonding over their shared love of this movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Lupita Nyong\u2019o stars as Roz, a robot programmed to help with tasks on a distant space colony. Something goes wrong with the delivery, and she winds up stranded on an island on Earth. Eager to help, but unable to find any humans to give her orders, she instead looks to the local animal population. She even takes the time to learn how animals communicate, to the point where she can filter their various squeaks, squawks, and other utterances into English in real time. And that\u2019s how this becomes a talking animal movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roz is eager to help, but the animals don\u2019t necessarily want her help. Okay, they \u201cdecidedly\u201d don\u2019t want her help. At first, they\u2019re all afraid of her, given that she\u2019s gigantic, made of metal, dangerously confused, and relatively clumsy (she moves nimbly for a robot of her size, but isn\u2019t built for the unpredictability of nature). Then they fight against her, knocking her down and stripping her of gears and features. She\u2019s even attacked by her closest physical match, a bear named Thorn (Mark Hamill), who knocks down a cliff, causing her to crush a bird\u2019s nest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Roz sees that a single egg has survived, and the lifeform inside must be protected. She saves it from getting eaten by a fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) by launching the predator into a porcupine, though she instinctively helps him remove quills afterward. The egg hatches, and the gosling, named Brightbill, doesn\u2019t see why Roz can\u2019t be mother material. Roz is prepared to be a helper, but not a primary caregiver. In other words, she doesn\u2019t have any programming that makes her fit to be a mother. \u201cNo one does,\u201d says opossum Pinktail (Catherine O\u2019Hara), who becomes her mentor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The rest of the movie is Roz trying to raise Brightbill (Kit Connor) as best as she can, knowing that she\u2019ll have to teach him to swim, then fly, then leave for months on migration. The other geese tease him for coming from an unnatural family, but leader Longneck (Bill Nighy) sees that he only lives to help others, just like his adoptive mother. The migration makes for an adventure unto itself, as does Roz and the rest of the forest trying to make it through an unexpectedly harsh winter. On top of all that, Roz still recognizes an obligation to try to get to the human colony, and tracking robot Vontra (Stephanie Hsu) could arrive at any time. That the last matter probably should have been saved for a sequel is my only real gripe with the movie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Wild Robot\u201d came to theaters riding the single biggest wave of critical praise I\u2019ve seen all year. The quantity of praise is well-deserved, as I can\u2019t imagine anybody disliking this movie, but it might make it a tad vulnerable to expectations. I consider it \u201camong\u201d the best movies of the year, but I was never quite ready to hand it the top spot (still \u201cDune: Part Two,\u201d by the way). Still, my heart melted at several points, whether it was from cuteness (the opossum family), sadness (the straining of the Roz\/Brightbill relationship), or the sheer amount of love on display. By all means take the family to see this movie, turn it into a success, and encourage Hollywood to make more movies with this much heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grade: B<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe Wild Robot\u201d is rated PG for action\/peril and thematic elements. Its running time is 101 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Bob Garver For better or worse, late September this year is certainly the time for animated robot movies. Fortunately, we got the \u201cworse\u201d out of the way last… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":60074,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[2826],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60073"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60073"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60073\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60075,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60073\/revisions\/60075"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}