Generally speaking, animated films haven’t been kind to mother characters. In many classic Disney movies, mothers are either deceased before the story begins (like in The Little Mermaid), killed off as part of the plot (such as in Bambi), or tragically torn away from their children (as seen in Dumbo and Sleeping Beauty, among others). And discussing stepmothers in these films isn’t a pleasant conversation.
Chris Sanders, an experienced animator behind films like “Lilo & Stitch” and “How to Train Your Dragon”, explains a realization he had during his work on “Aladdin”. He says, “I figured out back then why there are no moms in these movies. Initially, the story included a mom character, but she was creating issues. The main character needs room to make errors. Moms are typically there to prevent mistakes, so she soon vanished from the narrative, and that’s when the movie started to flow smoothly.
However, in “The Wild Robot”, Sanders and his crew crafted an animated movie that primarily focuses on the theme of motherhood. This production has stirred up emotions so strong that many adult viewers have been moved to tears, as evident in their heartfelt reviews posted on social media.
The Island Robot
Storyline: This narrative is inspired by the children’s book “The Wild Robot” by Peter Brown and revolves around a helper robot named Roz who experiences an accidental landing on a secluded island teeming with wildlife. As fate would have it, Roz forms a special connection with a young goose, Brightbill, assuming the role of his caretaker as he grows up. With some assistance from the native fauna, Roz guides Brightbill in learning to fly, preparing him for his seasonal journey south during winter.
Back in 2016, the story was already owned by DreamWorks before the book was even published. It remained in development until director Chris Sanders, known for his work on ‘Dragon’ and ‘The Croods’, dropped by the Glendale headquarters seeking a new project.
According to Sanders, Brightbill’s migration was met with his appreciation for the emotional rollercoaster element. Particularly, he found it intriguing how intensely Roz was involved in rearing the gosling, unaware of the emotional precipice she was approaching.
As a reader, I find Brown’s narrative to be a thoughtful exploration of topics that might usually be challenging for children, such as growing up, climate change, technology, and even the concept of death. In conversations with me, the author shares, “During school visits, library events, and book festivals, I make an effort to engage with kids like we’re friends,” which resonates deeply with me as it creates a comfortable and relatable environment for young readers to explore these themes.
Just as Brown, the creators of the “Wild Robot” movie were determined to avoid making their film overly simplistic for children. Fortunately, DreamWorks is accustomed to dealing with complex topics in children’s entertainment. The animation studio received acclaim for “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” released in 2023, which delved into the challenging subject of anxiety, featuring a scene where the main character, Puss in Boots, had a realistic portrayal of a panic attack.
Set in a raw, untamed backdrop reminiscent of the Pacific Northwest, “The Wild Robot” doesn’t hesitate to portray the struggle for survival among the island’s wildlife, where conflicts and occasional predation occur. As Sanders explains, “For the story to be believable, there must be real-world consequences. It needs to be a place where life or death is at stake.” What took him by surprise was that they managed to get away with depicting a decapitated raven’s head without receiving any objections.
To ensure the movie’s visual appearance aligned with its profound themes, Sanders believed it was important to steer clear of the computer-generated style that has been prevalent in animation for the last two decades (characterized by smooth edges and over-the-top features). He thought this approach might appear too juvenile. Notably, animated films such as Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and Puss in Boots have deviated from these aesthetics, each exploring new artistic directions in their unique ways.
The filmmakers of “Wild Robot” discovered their visual style when examining preliminary sketches depicting the island’s untouched surroundings and its diverse wildlife – foxes, bears, beavers, opossums, among others. These drawings were done in a more artistic manner, with visible brushstrokes giving them an abstract feel. Production designer Raymond Zibach initially doubted, “We’ll never be able to achieve that level of loose interpretation.” However, Chris had a different perspective, asking, “But why can’t it be?
The team sought inspiration for their work from the watercolor and pastel artwork of Tyrus Wong on Bambi, the dreamy forests of Hayao Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro, and the landscapes in The Wild Robot which resemble pieces by Edgar Alwin Payne. It appears that Zibach drew inspiration for the movie’s setting from his own childhood experiences hiking the trails of Griffith Park in Los Angeles and watching Planet of the Apes on television in Bronson Canyon.
However, despite CG technology’s precision and photorealism, it often conflicts with the organic chaos of nature. As Zibach puts it, “CG strives for perfection.” The challenge lies in creating an impressionistic representation of wilderness using tools designed to replicate nature with exactitude. In other words, we struggle to make this highly precise technology more artistic and less rigid.
According to Jeff Budsberg, a VFX supervisor, it wouldn’t be realistic to create a bush with such an intricate branch structure and thousands of leaves, only to make it look like a painting by applying filters. Instead, he explains that the VFX team developed tools allowing modelers to construct painterly 3D natural environments and animal fur. He describes their approach as using brush strokes and splatters, similar to an illustrator’s technique.
Initially in the movie, Roz’s rigid structure and shiny chrome contrast sharply with the surrounding nature. However, as the story progresses, her silhouette transforms. She undergoes a loss of one leg that is subsequently replaced by a stump, and over time, moss begins to cover her once sleek exterior.
In this movie, Heidi Jo Gilbert, the head of story, emphasizes one of its powerful messages: kindness is essential for survival. As Roz influences the island, the island in turn shapes her. To reinforce this idea, the filmmakers gradually changed Roz’s appearance to reflect her newfound family of creatures. Budsberg adds, “We soften and relax Roz’s appearance as the movie progresses, and if we’re doing our job correctly, you won’t notice these changes.
To find the perfect voice for their robotic character in the movie, the filmmakers embarked on a quest. Since Roz doesn’t have a mouth or facial expressions, her vocal performance would carry a greater weight compared to typical animated characters.
Lupita Nyong’o was captivated by Brown’s tribute to parenthood and drew inspiration from the most commonly heard robotic voices, such as Siri and Alexa. She explains that their persistent optimism served as a foundation for her portrayal. Throughout the movie, Roz’s voice evolves as she gains a deeper comprehension of nature and feels more emotions. However, during a significant portion of the early scenes, Roz’s voice is pitched higher, which was challenging for Nyong’o, given that her own voice naturally resides in a lower range.
The Oscar-winning actress recalls that she sustained an injury due to repeating a certain action too frequently over several days. This led to the development of vocal polyps, requiring her to abstain from using her voice for three months as she approached surgery. Remarkably, the rest period was enough for her recovery. Upon returning to the recording studio, Nyong’o and Sanders crafted a guide for the various manifestations of Roz’s voice, correlating with different stages in her character’s journey. She explains that adjusting her vocal performance was essential throughout the process, which she refers to as “calibrating” her delivery. By the film’s conclusion, Roz’s final voice is Lupita Nyong’o’s natural speaking voice, a result of the intense love and loss experienced through parenting.
Filmmakers discovered an unexpected fit for their cunning, golden-hearted character, Fink, in Pedro Pascal, though not the Pascal recognized by fans. Known for his accented roles in shows like The Mandalorian and Game of Thrones, the filmmakers wanted Pascal to use his natural speaking voice for this project. To showcase this to the studio, clips from late-night talk shows were compiled. As producer Jeff Hermann explained, “Pascal was accustomed to adopting a voice in all of his previous roles, and he thought that’s what we wanted him for, but it was quite the opposite.” Alongside Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, and Mark Hamill provide voices for other characters on the island.
Finding the right actor for Brightbill was quite challenging due to the character’s heavy reliance on vocal delivery. As Hermann explains, the young character can appear as though he’s going through teenage angst and anger. If viewers don’t find Brightbill likeable, they won’t believe Roz’s affection for him. While scouting for actors, Hermann was captivated by Kit Connor from the Netflix series Heartstopper, specifically a scene where he confesses his sexuality to his mother, played by Olivia Colman. According to Hermann, “He exudes energy and vulnerability.
Just like The Wild Robot drew inspiration from animation’s past to create its distinctive visual style, composer Kris Bowers looked to how classical animated films were orchestrated for his work. In those old Disney animations, composers would write music that directly and musically responded to the on-screen visuals, a technique known as “writing to picture.” As Bowers explains, “The music in many older animation pieces changed every two seconds, offering lots of movement and unpredictability.” On the other hand, modern live-action feature film scores are often composed using loop-based methods. This means that the composition consists of four or five musical phrases that repeat, providing flexibility for filmmakers to edit visuals up until the final moments without disrupting the music’s rhythm with the action.
According to Bowers, it’s similar to expanding a simple statement into a more detailed one that is 12 words longer. Modern composers seem to be doing this, not necessarily for clarity, but rather to fill up the space in their scores.
In the movie titled “The Wild Robot“, the story revolves around the emergence of new emotions. With his baby born just months prior to the project, Bowers dedicated special attention to melodies, drawing influence from iconic John Williams scores such as “Jurassic Park“. Moreover, mirroring the film’s blend of technology and nature, he enlisted the help of Sandbox Percussion, a musical group that plays both organic materials (wooden pieces) and inorganic ones (metal pipes, oxygen tanks). The composer further expanded his orchestral score with synthesizers and bowed metal, where a violin bow is used to produce sound from metal instruments like cowbells or Vibraphones, representing Roz’s intense emotions. As he explains, “It’s almost as if her vibration.
The Wild Robot”
Budget: This film had a production budget of approximately 78 million dollars.
Premiere: It made its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival before hitting cinemas on September 27.
Critical Acclaim: Upon release, it received near-universal acclaim from critics. For instance, The Hollywood Reporter‘s review stated, “A delightful story of survival and community.”
Box Office Success: Since its premiere, the film has grossed an impressive 324 million dollars at the box office.
Emotional Impact: Interestingly, audiences, particularly those unfamiliar with the source book, appeared taken aback by the emotional impact the movie delivers.
For a period, Brown found that many individuals were sharing video clips of themselves weeping on their social media platforms, with him frequently tagged in these posts. This response, which is not common, coupled with the act of subsequently recording and sharing these moments, genuinely moved him deeply.
Fundamentally, “The Wild Robot” explores timeless themes such as parenthood and modern concepts like artificial consciousness, making it a film perfectly suited to our current era, one that might not have been possible at any other time.
As a passionate gamer immersed in the vast world of animated films spanning generations, I can attest that striving for a fresh, unprecedented visual style is nothing short of daring. It necessitates individuals who’ve devoted their lives, decades even, to this craft, nurturing a deep-rooted love for animation, to expertly innovate and push the boundaries of what has been known in this captivating art form.
You can find this tale in the January 3rd edition of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. To stay updated, consider subscribing by clicking here.
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2025-01-06 19:58