Brimming with thoughtful themes and stunning artwork, The Wild Robot is a deeply meaningful new touchstone in animated film. Of course, animation has “heroed” nature before – see The Lion King, WALL-E and basically the entire output of Studio Ghibli. But there’s two core elements to The Wild Robot that set this film apart from the rest. The first is its gorgeous, painterly style. The second? The film’s deeply human themes, encompassing everything from the meaning of motherhood and the lasting legacy of adoption, to our worship of technological advancement and our fraught relationship with the natural world. Like we said – The Wild Robot is nothing if not surprising. Read our full take on THE WILD ROBOT at good.film: good.film/guide/if-you-dont-love-the-wild-robot-check-your-pulse

"Roz" is pre-programmed to help. Whatever it is that needs doing, it is there to make it happen - even when it is wrecked on an island populated by animals whose main desire in life is to eat each other. At least the arrival of the "monster" manages to galvanise them into one brief moment of hostile unanimity and so when they are not trying to cannibalise it, they are shunning it's efforts to be friends. After spending a year learning their various languages, there follows a calamitous escapade with a nest, a chase with an hungry fox ("Fink") and the creation of the most unlikely of family units charged with rearing a particularly timid little gosling whom they name "Brightbill". The scene is now set for some entertaining adventures as "Roz" has to teach her new-found charge how to eat, to swim and then ultimately to fly away so as to avoid the harsh winter. Each of those tasks comes with it's own hazards but maybe, just maybe, our little team can manage to get project "Brightbill" off the ground? No, of course there's no jeopardy here at all, and at times it's comes across as an amalgam of "Wall:E" (2008) with some Hans Christian Anderson thrown in for good measure. That's no bad thing, though, as the characterisation of the android is personable and develops amiably as his programming starts to evolve into something far more akin to a soul than a brain. It does tackle some more serious subjects - loneliness, rejection, isolation and issues with self-esteem to name a few, but always in fashion that illustrates a point then offers some sort of optimism that a solution can be found for even the most difficult challenges. The standard of animation is engagingly natural and it's genuinely quite funny with some of the observations, especially from the fox, working well within the framework of a touching story that extols the values of caring, teamwork and even a little forgiveness, without becoming gloopy or dialogue-heavy. It looks great on a big screen and is well worth a gander...!

<em>'The Wild Robot'</em> is b-e-a-utiful. It all makes for a wholesome 102 minutes, which features not only an endearing story but also fair laughs and mighty heart - it hit me in the feels a fair few times. The animation is splendid, while the music and pacing are good factors too. I did like the moments of relative darkness, in terms of a few jokes and bits that you wouldn't usually see in a flick of this type. As for the cast, Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal and Kit Connor are all ace, while the likes of Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu and Ving Rhames turn out to be solid supports. There isn't much more to note, simply put: I enjoyed this. A film worthy of hype.