Dreamworks Animation and Universal Pictures has released the newest trailer for “The Wild Robot.” Based on Peter Brown’s global phenomenon illustrated middle-grade novel, first published in 2016, the film features the voice of Academy Award® winner Lupita Nyong’o (Us, The Black Panther franchise) as robot 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.
The first trailer previewed the “wonderful world” of a futuristic robot adapting to living in a forest amongst woodland critters who want nothing to do with her. It was an intriguing juxtaposition of futuristic technology and mother nature. Visually, though, it was stunning to look at as it combines hand-drawn illustrative styles with 3D animation – much like “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.” So it can look fairly simple at first, but it explores deep and complex themes while also being sophisticated in its production.
This new trailer gives us a look at how the task completing robot named Roz came to this uninhabited, and the job she gives herself when she adopts a young gosling. We also see how Roz is on a journey of self-discovery as she learns how to adapt to live in her new surroundings while also searching for her owner/client. She processes the animal language and gains an understanding of how baby goslings imprint on the first thing they see. Though Roz may not have the programming to take care of her new adoptee – she will have to teach him how to swim and fly – the robotic mother finds out that no one does and parenting is a continual learning process.
Fink (Pedro Pascal) quickly tells how Roz must learn how things work on an island where there’s a predator and prey dynamic. He offers some help on how to teach the baby gosling the ways to swim, which includes a hilarious take on throwing someone in the deep end of the pool. Soon the trailer reveals the stakes as the gosling, who is named Brightbill, has to learn how to fly by the fall.
By the time the trailer reaches its climax, it reveals that the company that built Roz has found her and wants to bring her home. While other robots say Roz isn’t allowed to feel and treat her more as a piece of property, Roz proclaims herself to be “a Wild Robot,” and says ““Sometimes to survive, we must become more than we were programmed to be.”
“The Wild Robot” also features the voice talents of Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Pedro Pascal (The Last of Us, The Mandalorian) as fox Fink; Emmy winner Catherine O’Hara (Schitt’s Creek, Best in Show) as opossum Pinktail; Oscar® nominee Bill Nighy (Living, Love Actually) as goose Longneck; Kit Connor (Heartstopper, Rocketman) as gosling Brightbill and Oscar® nominee Stephanie Hsu (Everything Everywhere All at Once, this summer’s The Fall Guy) as Vontra, a robot that will intersect with Roz’s life on the island.
Here’s the official plot synopsis for “The Wild Robot:”
A powerful story about the discovery of self, a thrilling examination of the bridge between technology and nature and a moving exploration of what it means to be alive and connected to all living things, The Wild Robot is written and directed by three-time Oscar® nominee Chris Sanders—the writer-director of DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon, The Croods, and Disney’s Lilo & Stitch—and is produced by Jeff Hermann (DreamWorks Animation’s The Boss Baby 2: Family Business; co-producer, Kung Fu Panda franchise).
