The Savage Robot already has the Oscar in his pocket
“The Savage Robot” already has the Oscar in its pocket, trust me. If you don’t want to trust me, you just have to get the ticket, go to the theater and enjoy yet another demonstration of how after the master Miyazaki, there is only DreamWorks of that genius Steven Spielberg who still knows how to make animated films with a heart so big, with so many meanings, profound aesthetic research and much more. A robot, a duck and a fox, lost in a dystopian future in a beautiful but far from romantic nature. These are the ingredients of a gem that will bewitch you in a way that perhaps hasn’t happened in a long, long time.
“The Savage Robot”, the plot
The protagonist of “The Wild Robot” is ROZZOM 7134, known as Roz, a high-tech robot, part of a series intended to improve the existence of human families. However, the cargo ship she is on board is hit by a storm and only she remains intact, ending up on an island where there is no trace of human presence, but on the other hand, animal presence abounds. It’s a shame, however, that none of the latter want to interact or bond with that strange metallic being, who apart from causing disasters and being a hindrance, doesn’t seem to have any ability to adapt.
When he accidentally destroys a goose nest, leaving only one egg intact, he decides to take care of it, asking the forest animals for help. Among these, somewhat surprisingly, there is also the fox Fink, who initially had predatory intentions towards the egg, but soon becomes a companion of Roz and above all of Beccolustro, Goose’s chick who immediately recognizes Roz as its mother. But naturally the future is quite complicated for the trio, especially due to the different imprinting and path that Bellocustro will face with Roz and Fink, as well as for the disorientation of the robot, which soon realizes that it is in the wrong place. What to do then? Leave and carry out your protocol duties, being recovered at the Mother House, or listen to your robotic heart?
“The Savage Robot” is based on the illustrated novel by Peter Brown, and is supported from the beginning by two fundamental components: a visual style different from the norm and a plot which, although not very new on a conceptual and structural level, works from first to last minute. The style is substantially identical to that used to give a highly appealing aesthetic to two DreamWorks pearls such as “Puss in Boots 2 – The Last Wish” and “Too Bad”, both triumphs with audiences and critics. In particular, we note the desire to place ourselves halfway between what Disney was for a very long time and the path indicated by Hayao Miyazaki, adding a touch of more European than American style to the way in which animals, robots and landscapes interact with each other. They.
From the point of view of world building, the links with the past of the sci-fi genre that existed are clear, the one that at the turn of the revolution created by Star Wars, still saw robots as clumsy and not particularly surprising beings. Chris Sanders’ screenplay does the rest, connecting to that masterpiece that was WALL•E, although detaching itself from it at the moment in which there is the long-standing animal anthropoformism to recover, and the theme of diversity as an obstacle and at the same time a richness for the ‘existence. Nothing so new, you might say, and it’s true, but it’s the way in which all this comes together that makes “The Savage Robot” a film of undeniable quality and atmosphere.
“The wild robot”, kindness reconciles technology and nature
A film that tackles important themes but without giving up on entertaining
“The Wild Robot” is very connected to what Sepulveda’s narrative was, to “Story of a seagull and the cat that taught her to fly”, while it talks to us about free will, breaking the mold, it paints us a world in which nature is, although as already written inspired by Disney from a visual and interaction point of view, in reality very different in terms of its own characterization, given that death is there, it is present, as are the dangers, the hostility between the various animals, far from being angelic or perfect figures. The voice acting team of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy and Kit Connor does an excellent job in giving each character the right evolution in this story which is also a coming-of-age film. The little duckling must return to his peers, he must be complete, but in the meantime he is isolated, marginalized, treated like a pariah.
Roz is a sort of Tom Hanks in “Cast Away” who doesn’t know he is, at least up to a certain point. Which then also triggers the interesting dilemma about love as renunciation or as sharing. “The Wild Robot” does all this by also proposing a less than peaceful confrontation between a technocratic humanity and a nature that is perpetually offended, attacked, seen as an obstacle to so-called progress. All elements that contribute to making the film a universal metaphor and at the same time very current from a political point of view.
“The Wild Robot” therefore takes us into a world in which there is not much that is perfect, on the contrary. We must fight for beauty and feelings, for those who are dear to us and also be ready to sacrifice ourselves completely. This is a distinctive trait of Chris Sanders’ cinema, to whom we owe a masterpiece such as “How to Train Your Dragon”, as well as “Lilo & Stich” and “The Croods”. Here too there was the theme of different beings united by chance and life, the refusal of homologation, going against social diktats and prejudices, all elements that contribute to making this film, like almost every animated film born from DreamWorks in recent years, largely superior to those of Pixar and Disney.
This is a fact that should be thought about more at the Mickey Mouse house, which has recently been in dire straits, because if there is one thing that the studio founded by Steven Spielberg does not lack, it is the ability to dare, to bring that audacity , that experimentation, which were once at home at Disney, and which in the meantime have been lost. Now paternalism, irrelevant political messages and a general inability to give the public what it wants: entertainment and excitement dominate. “The Wild Robot” on the other hand does all of this very well and despite not being a 100% original product, it knows how to entertain, simultaneously teach something and excite with one of the most intelligent and original endings seen in the genre lately.
Rating: 8