konghannie

[konghannie]

there's a quiet shot after brightbill leaves for the winter migration, where roz is sitting and thinking. the camera cuts to a closer view of her face, and you can see there's a spot on her shoulder that's oddly preserved relative to the rest of her. clean, smooth paneling, no scrapes or grime-- just big enough for a gosling to curl up in.

[konghannie]

Dream works either makes low tier trash or a masterpiece defining a generation. There is no in between.

[konghannie]

Pedro Pascal as Fink in The Wild Robot

Trailer

[konghannie]

I just want to say that I really loved this movie. It was fantastic and beautiful. Here is a little fanart od Roz.

[konghannie]

The Wild Robot is hopepunk. To me. Technology and nature can compliment each other they both have a place in this world. Kindness can't fix everything but it sure can help. Life will endure goddammit!!

[konghannie]

The Wild Robot and Mutual Aid

I just got out of the film, and whilst naturally I noticed and adored the themes of motherhood, neurodivergence, physical disability, and the "kind, smiling face of capitalism," there's one theme I really wanna narrow in on.

Really early on in the film, it's established that everyone on the island is part of the "Mutual Struggle" for life, or "survival of the fittest." Everyone has to eat, nature is harsh and unforgiving, and kindness is not a welcome survival instinct.

When Peter Kropotkin went out into the wilds himself to observe what the Darwinists were talking about in regards to Mutual Struggle, he noted that he saw far more examples of Mutual Aid. He continued to observe examples of animals and insects aiding each other.

And by the end of The Wild Robot, that's what we see. Not just a community, but a community whose aid is giving freely, who find a way to shelter the storm together. They call a truce during the winter because survival rests not just on the instinct of hunger, struggle, predator and prey, but sometimes on aid, warmth, generosity, peace, and community.

Will the animals go back to hunting each other during the springtime? It's possible, it's even likely. The bear says he won't hunt Fink, but he still needs to eat.

But when the winter comes once again, they will all be in the home Rozz made for them, and they will call that truce again. Because the world should not revolve around struggle, it should turn on giving without asking for anything in return.

[konghannie]

We can start talking about a Dreamworks Renaissance.

The Wild Robot rocks.

[konghannie]

Thinking about the way Roz's full name is ROZZUM unit 7134... Thinking about how that's a direct reference to the 1920 sci-fi play Rossum's Universal Robots by Karel Čapek, the very play that introduced the word "robot" into the English language and science fiction as a whole...

Thinking about the way both R.U.R. and The Wild Robot ask the audience what does it mean to live ... What does it mean to be...

Thinking about the way The Wild Robot takes it a step further and asks us to think about what does it mean to love something? To feel? What does it mean to rise above what you are at your core and to do it out of love? To do it for love?????

[konghannie]

No but the way the longer the movie goes on the dirtier and mossier Roz gets so at the end it look like she has fur?!

[konghannie]

something that actually means so much to me was that roz was a woman & a robot. like there's the obvious fact of finally (!!) having a non-sexualised female robot, but also that she's allowed to make mistakes as a person and as a mother. she's not the evil mum ruining her kid's life or the perfect angel, she's just some guy who screws up sometimes. she's a character outside of the role of mother (she's the MAIN character!!!) and a well written one at that. roz, like many people raised to be a woman, was literally programmed to be subservient but she overcame that and built a network that love and support her back. strong female characters don't need to be the ultimate girlboss, sometimes they can be robot-mums to strange little birds, yk?

[konghannie]

When a robot character overcomes their programming to express compassion and love and wonder for the world around them

[konghannie]

AND ANOTHER THING.

It's a trope in robot media, red lights means buckle up because you are in danger.

But in The Wild Robot, Roz's red lights almost always signified that SHE was in danger 😭😭😭😭😭

[konghannie]

Pedro needs jail time for his delivery on “What if I need to tell you something and you’re not here?” I’m so serious that has caused me so much emotional distress

[konghannie]

I love a lot about The Wild Robot, but one of my favorite scenes is definitely when Roz learns the language of the animals and the way they make it clear that she's speaking in their language. For the scene itself, it's just... everything. The way the text bubbles pop up, letters slowly coming into place over days and days as patterns emerge, along with the focus on Roz, the framing just so beautiful (But that's not surprising for this movie lol).

BUT THEN we get the subtle touch of Fink asking "What're they saying?" whenever another robot talks, because of course they don't speak animal!! I feel like so many pieces of media would just be like "No, just make them understand each other," but I love the attention to detail, and the knowledge that Roz has fully adapted this language. She truly is a part of her forest.

Gosh, what a beautiful movie.

[konghannie]

What a beautiful movie, I cried three times.

[konghannie]

PEDRO PASCAL as FINK The Wild Robot (2024)

[konghannie]

The Wild Robot really captures the messages of previous Chris Sanders' filmography (Lilo and Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon and Croods to an extent): the relationship that man has with nature, redemption, finding yourself outside what you are ¨expected¨ to be, but mainly about staying true to oneself and choose to be remain kind even when you have a harsh world going against you