Emily Fritz | a&e editor

DreamWorks Animation has finally created a masterful, sincere animated film that rivals the likes of 20th Century Animation’s 2021 film “Ron’s Gone Wrong,” much different from the likes of its other successes.

“The Wild Robot,” starring Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara and Kit Connor, came to theaters in September, and has since seen 48 award wins and 98 nominations.

The film follows Roz (Nyong’o), a service-oriented robot designed to complete tasks. However, thanks to a plethora of turbulent weather, she washes up on the shores of a remote island. Quickly attempting to serve her purpose through local wildlife, she learns the dialects of the animal population within the first six minutes of the film.

Later, with the help of a fox (Pascal) and an opossum (O’Hara), she becomes the pseudo-mother of a young runt Canada goose (Connor), attempting to teach him how to survive.

The animation style centers around a hand-painted, brush stroke style reminiscent of Sony’s “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” (2018). Although the style has become overused since its initial popularity, it lends to “The Wild Robot’s” messages of humanity, community togetherness and natural healing. Similarly, the lighting enhances the storytelling, juxtaposing the synthetic electricity of Roz with the symbiotic nature of the environment.

As is expected when an inter-species adoption occurs, the gosling inherits unusual behaviors, often introducing himself to other geese as “Brightbill. Processing. Beep beep, boop boop.”

Of course, he is rejected.

It is clear over and over again that Roz’s presence is unwanted, directly alluding to mankind’s own unwanted involvement in the destruction of and domination over the environment.

The film repeatedly points to a post-apocalyptic setting, as geese fly over sunken cities, humpback whales swim over what used to be the Golden Gate Bridge and predator and prey come together to put out their own wildfire.

Extreme weather patterns begin to manifest into overpowering winds and devastating winters. As it turns out, man-made problems sometimes require man-made solutions — or at least dramatic destruction requires sweeping resolution.

Despite the natural order of the food chain, Roz insists on hosting a peaceful truce amongst the animals to deliver them safely to springtime.

“Sometimes we must be more than we were programmed to be” she says.

Meanwhile, Brightbill’s unusual upbringing lends to innovative thinking in the wake of perilous situations as well.

Inserting human solutions in ways that do make a positive difference, alongside the acknowledgement that it can most often create unintended negative consequences, enables the film to reach beyond its despairing circumstances.

The simplicity of the natural world, with animal names like “Rockmouth” for the Northern pike fish and “Thunderbolt” for a peregrine falcon, or its unwavering approach toward death as a natural result of our neglect, inspire this weird sense of hope.

“Your life is not negotiable,” Roz tells Brightbill.

In spite of the odds, the forest continues to move toward life, especially when they aren’t meant to survive. Brightbill, the runt of his nest who found family in a robot, never would have made it, but this earnest commitment to support and uplift one another shines through the film at every turn.

Even in the face of profound otherness, another goose named Longneck (Bill Nighy) admits to the groups prejudiced attitudes and the harshness of survival, attempting to make amends with Roz for her efforts in trying to prevent further loss.

Overall, “The Wild Robot” deserves every ounce of gratitude and accolades that it has earned since its debut and that it will continue to achieve during this awards season.

Looking beyond its entertainment value, it is an especially timely message as we experience the rolling back of different environmental regulations and agreements.

Regardless of what we have already done to damage our planet, there is still room for goodness and hope to prevail and inspire lasting change.