The Wild Robot (2024)

The film is a deeply affecting animated adventure and one of the best of the year, blending charming family entertainment with thoughtful ideas about humanity and what cannot be engineered. It excels through its beautiful world-building, voice ensemble, and humanist vision.

The critic calls it one of the best animated films of the year and an Oscar frontrunner. They single out its emotional depth in showing how a robot learns unprogrammable human feelings amid a community of woodland creatures.

The critic praises this charming animation as the best film Chris Sanders has made, highlighting its emotional intelligence, gorgeous painterly world, and honest treatment of life, death, and parenthood without heavy-handedness.

The review describes a gorgeous painterly animation that delivers an affecting family story with fresh takes on belonging and modern families, praising Sanders for balancing spectacle and emotion while keeping the emotional core in focus.

The critic hails it as DreamWorks’ most moving animation in decades. They praise the crisp storytelling building to an emotional peak and the graphic style serving as a metaphor for the robot’s maternal journey.

The critic finds the film exquisitely human despite its machine-and-animal cast, praising its profound parenting parable and excellent voice performances. He notes it tells a story about family and community with lovely animation inside and out.

The critic highlights the inspired animation, strong voice cast and insightful take on parenthood inspired by The Iron Giant and Miyazaki, while noting the final third becomes overly action-oriented.

The review calls the film a beautiful Ghibli-inspired union of mainstream appeal and subtlety that will leave audiences in tears, singling out the voice performances—especially Nyong’o’s shift from robotic to tender—and its honest, darkly humorous take on life cycles and climate themes.

The review calls it a beguiling adaptation that balances natural peril and an unsentimental view of life with a delightful voice cast and community-building story that stays cute without becoming cutesy.

The critic highlights Lupita Nyong’o’s excellent voice work and the film’s gorgeous animation in this positive early review of the DreamWorks adaptation.

The critic calls it a lovely chosen-family fable with a radical new visual approach, praising the human heart beneath the CG surface and the way it makes emotional instincts endearing. He notes it's not quite "The Iron Giant" but still a keeper with breathtaking environments.

The critic praises the heart in the unlikely bond between the robot Roz and the orphaned gosling but finds the film lacks the focus and flair of Sanders’ earlier work like How to Train Your Dragon, with the story straining under its broader eco-fable ambitions.

The critic calls it a sophisticated and satisfying entertainment with a shameless emotional swell. They highlight the visual textures contrasting metal with nature and strong voice performances.

Chris Sanders adapts the novel into a cinematic winner that is a gorgeous animated fairy tale about the possibility of true connection. The film succeeds through its warm and wise storytelling and striking visual style.

The critic praises the film's stunning painterly visuals and heartfelt storytelling about a robot learning motherhood. He highlights its blend of humor about nature's harshness and emotional depth, calling it one of the best animated films of the decade.

The film is a delightful story of survival and community centered on a robot learning motherhood. It stands out for its committed voice performances and painterly animation blending photorealistic characters with immersive landscapes.

The critic lauds the dazzling animation and attention to emotional details in animal expressions. She singles out the film's focus on big feelings and great beauty over gags, noting its frank ideas about the circle of life.

The critic finds the story derivative but praises how it taps parental angst through a robot learning to be a mother. They single out the hand-painted animation style that adds human warmth.

The movie turns a familiar setup into an unforgettable heartwarming tale through hypnotic painterly animation and Lupita Nyong’o’s standout voice work that shifts from mechanical to warmly expressive. It stands out for visually embodying its themes of love, inadequacy, and connection in a way that feels fresh and emotionally resonant.

The critic calls the film one of the rare movies that exceeds high expectations, praising Chris Sanders' masterful direction, the breathtaking animation that tackles deep themes like death and humanity, and standout voice performances especially from Lupita Nyong'o.

The critic calls the film a miracle of a motion picture that is distinct, personal, beautifully animated, lovingly told, thrilling and unexpected, evolving from comedy into heartwarming drama and transcendent exploration of deep ideas and feelings. It singles out the rich world-building and the way the story of a robot learning to love through caregiving blossoms into something profound and special.

The critic praises the film as one of Chris Sanders' best, highlighting its jaw-dropping animation, emotional storytelling about family and identity, and strong voice performances from Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, and Kit Connor, along with an evocative score.

The critic hails the film as a stunning adaptation and a gem likely to become a classic, with beautiful animation, a smart script full of humor, action, heart and lessons for all ages. It singles out the immense heart as the key ingredient that makes it one of the best animated movies, or even movies, in years.

The critic hails the film as a masterpiece and the future of animation, singling out its painterly stylized visuals, tender emotional story about unlikely bonds and parenthood, and fresh approach without relying on sequels or IP.

The review notes the film begins with overly action-packed juvenile sequences reminiscent of Looney Tunes but transitions to a strong emotional core focused on relationships and empathy, culminating in a tearjerker ending aided by beautiful animation, a painterly style, and a breathtaking score.

The critic calls it a sweet and entertaining family film with strong vocal work and fluid animation but notes it feels imitative of earlier movies like Wall-E and Finding Nemo rather than fully inventive.