The Wild Robot

When the great Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein first saw Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs upon its release in 1937, he hailed it as the greatest motion picture ever made. High praise considering his own film, Battleship Potemkin, was frequently regarded as such at the time. In nearly a century since Walt Disney’s masterpiece changed cinema forever, animation has evolved in many ways. But its ability to move us and capture our imaginations in ways wholly unique to the medium remains the same. This is reflected in all five of our outstanding nominated films.

Based on the 2016 novel of the same name by Peter Brown and written for the screen and directed by Chris Sanders, The Wild Robot is a dazzling work of animation as well as a heartfelt and touching story that will resonate with viewers of all ages and backgrounds. The titular Wild Robot is Rozzum Unit 7134 or Roz (voice-acted brilliantly by an at times unrecognizable Lupita Nyong’o). Shipwrecked on a deserted island due to the negligence of the tech company who created her, Roz quickly finds her new surroundings are inhabited by a diverse ecosystem of wild animals, many both cute and frightening to younger viewers. The film details Roz’s transformation from a stranger in a stranger land to one who adapts successfully to her new environment. Along the way she befriends a sly red fox (voiced by the always charismatic Pedro Pascal) and develops a maternal relationship with an orphaned gosling (voiced by Kit Connor). Together, the three embark on an adventure of self-actualization and found family that has touched and charmed audiences the world over.

With its beautiful watercolor inspired animation style that is indebted to both classic Disney films and the great works of Japanese grandmaster Hayao Miyazaki, The Wild Robot is a stunning visual achievement whose excellent musical score by Kris Bowers is similarly delightful. The film doesn’t do anything particularly groundbreaking or revolutionary with the animation medium, but it simply does everything so well that it’s impossible to deny the level of craftsmanship on display. Like the best family films, it’s a classic story that is beautifully told. The Wild Robot stands as the greatest work to emerge from DreamWorks animation studio, surpassing director Chris Sander’s own How to Train your Dragon from 2010 or even The Prince of Egypt, which put them on the map in 1998. And since it is the final film to be animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks studios, it serves as both a fitting swan song for one era in their history as well as a benchmark to be built upon in their future.