The Wild Robot is a 2024 animated science-fiction film produced by DreamWorks Animation based on the book of the same name by Peter Brown. It is written and directed by Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch) produced by Jeff Herman and stars the voices of Lupita Nyong'o, Pedro Pascal, Stephanie Hsu, Kit Connor, Bill Nighy, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames, and Catherine O'Hara.
The film follows a robot (Nyong'o) who finds herself stranded in a vast forest and must learn to survive the harsh wilderness, adopting a young orphan bird and avoiding capture by her creators along the way. The film is set to be released on September 27, 2024.
It's also the last film to be animated entirely in-house at DreamWorks Animation, with the studio intending to outsource portions of their animation for future films.
Previews: Teaser
The Wild Robot includes examples of the following:
- Advertising by Association: The trailer states that the film is "From the filmmakers who brought you How to Train Your Dragon".
- And Starring: Catherine O'Hara gets the “and” credit on the cast list at the end of the trailer.
- Bears Are Bad News: At one point in the trailer, Roz is swiped at by an aggressive bear.
- Extendable Arms: Roz is shown in the trailer to have arms that can be launched like grappling hooks.
- The Great Fire: In the trailer, there is a shot of a herd of deer fleeing through a forest burning with bright pink flames.note
- Group Hug: There is a brief shot in the trailer of Roz embracing a large group of various animals.
- Moody Trailer Cover Song: The trailer is set to a gentle electronic version of "What a Wonderful World".
- Nature-Loving Robot: The trailer shows Roz mimicking the movements of the forest animals, embracing them in its arms, and caring for them.
- Painted CGI: The animation in the trailer has a painted quality to the environments and the animals, very similar to Puss in Boots: The Last Wish.
- Playful Otter: The trailer begins with some otters cheerfully inspecting the wreckage that contains Roz. Once she is activated, however they become less playful and more tense.
- Scars Are Forever: Roz gets four scars after being attacked by a grizzly bear in the trailer.
- Shout-Out: In the trailer, there's a shot-for-shot reference to the opening of The Iron Giant in the trailer, where Roz, eyes lit up like a lighthouse lamp, turns toward the camera. In her case, she's providing a beacon to a pair of stranded baby otters, trapped on an ice floe in a raging flash flood, as a way back to safety.
- Woodland Creatures: Roz encounters a great deal of them in the trailer such as foxes, otters, bears, and birds; special mention goes to a scene of the robot sharing a hug with the animals.
