DreamWorks Animation has had a mixed output of quality since their inception. Its hit-or-miss tendency hasn’t stacked up against the competition within the animation industry, with Pixar and Disney swiping 15 Oscars for Best Animated Feature, and Illumination Entertainment reshaping their productions to yield more profit than merit. The odds of winning the elusive Oscar or breaking box office records haven’t been in their favor. But those scales have just been shattered with the release of “The Wild Robot.”
“The Wild Robot” is a movie about a robot stranded on an island of wild animals and how she navigates caring for an orphaned gosling, rejecting her programming to become the animal’s mother figure.
Not only is the movie an exceptional work of art, but it holds a much deeper message under the surface about the value of life and creativity in the face of corporate neglect. “The Wild Robot” is DreamWorks’ final completely in-studio movie, and it’s unsurprising how good this movie is, coming from a place of passion more than it does studio interference. It is far and away the best animated movie of the year.
There’s plenty of visual tribute to the theme of death. The sight of a severed crow head displayed front and center during an action scene was a surprise, as was how characters acknowledge how death is the last step in the natural cycle. It’s refreshing, teaching kids about the uncaringness of nature in an entertaining medium while cracking jokes, letting the message remain true and potent all the while.
The movie has plenty of sequences where emotion takes precedence over the script, its magnificent score enhancing the striking visuals. There’s a scene involving a team of geese taking flight, which is visually astounding and emotionally moving. The music, animation and scale of the setting all come together for a proficient and perfect scene. Catching this movie in theaters is a necessity, if only for this sequence alone.
Outside of the immediate story, the environment shown in backgrounds suggest a post-apocalyptic world, brought about by climate change and the mistreatment of the environment. Bridges and cities are seen underwater, and harsh weather conditions overtake the island. It suggests that this world — the animation industry — is under siege by an escalating threat to its nature.
The idea of corporate culture coming after original ideas in the shape of one of their workers hits a little different coming from DreamWorks. The company is a subsidiary of Universal Studios and the Comcast Corporation — they’ve always been making jokes at the expense of Disney and its collection of brands, but seeing how Universal is now in charge of them, the developments later on in the film hit a lot harder.
The villain corporation – literally named Universal Dynamics – pursues the titular robot in order to steal her unique ideas and ability to break her corporate programming. DreamWorks has unique ideas too, ones that would inevitably draw a larger corporation to swallow them up when their commercial failures began to outweigh their successes.
With DreamWorks’ buyout by Universal in 2016, it cuts just a little too deep to see the state of the robot during the climax of the film. There’s a wave of sadness felt for the character and for the studio. Upon seeing that scene, I wept. Not only for the lovable character, but for the storytellers that gave me so many laughs and so many memories as a child.
“The Wild Robot” marks the end of DreamWorks’ in-studio productions, meaning that this will be the final movie totally written, animated, and directed in the physical studio. It’s the end of an era, and this final feature is one of the best movies they’ve ever made. It’s a proud swan song for an incredible studio, and one that I hope is able to find its natural footing once again.
Related Stories
Stay informed with The DePaulia’s top stories, delivered to your inbox every Monday.