Wild Robot Film

 The main focus of my 2024 San Sebastian Film Festival has been the  Italian Retrospective which focused on the so-called poliziesco genre. It looked at fascism, terrorism and the mafia - 22 films which I perhaps saw a third of them. 

I balanced the political films with a wonderful family movie 'The Wild Robot' by DreamWorks Animation which has produced such classics as Shrek, How to Train Your Dragon, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda and Megamind. Wild Robot is another huge success.

As the darker nights descend what better than taking your children to an uplifting film. We are all becoming more aware of AI and Robots and the impact they may have on our lives. Here is one robot that takes a different direction :-) 

So what is the story? It is based in the future where a robot from the ROZZUM series made by the Universal Dynamics company finds itself shipwrecked on an uninhabited island. 

Roz as the robot is called is designed to serve - but as this is an uninhabited island what is she supposed to do?   

Her initial attempts at offering help to the wildlife prove fruitless. She uses her technology to learn their languages and is now able to communicate they are still sceptical of the robot, but then there is an accident that will give her the chance to prove her worth.

With the accidental destruction of a goose nest, the surviving gosling imprints on Roz. This is the core relationship in the film and a fox becomes a great story ark. 

Roz now has to teach the gosling to swim, fly and then migrate and Brightbill - the gosling - is what would have been the runt of the gaggle probably would not have survived.

A good cartoon film has a story that captures both the children and the adults - Wild Robot does that.