“Sometimes, to survive, you must become more than you were programmed to be.”
Who doesn’t love movies about robots, especially cute and friendly robots? We love The Iron Giant, Wall-E, and even Baymax in Big Hero 6, and the next animated robot sensation could be Roz, voiced by Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o in Dreamworks Animation’s adaptation of The Wild Robot.
Based on Peter Brown’s bestselling book series, The Wild Robot centers on Rozzum 7134, who washes ashore a deserted island and must learn to adapt the natural surroundings and wildlife. Looking at the footage in the newly-released trailer, Roz looks like a combo of BB-88, Baymax, and Wall-E, with all of the cuteness factor we might expect.
Chris Sanders, the veteran filmmaker behind Lilo & Stitch, The Croods, and Call of the Wild, directs the film. Joining Nyong’o in the voice cast are Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor and Stephanie Hsu, with Mark Hamill, Matt Berry and Ving Rhames.
Here’s the synopsis: The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.
I won’t lie, every time I see new footage from The Wild Robot it gets me a bit misty-eyed. I love animated movies about robots learning about the world around them. This could be a new classic that Dreamworks has on their hands.
Universal Pictures will release The Wild Robot in theaters on September 27th.
