Great Scifi Storytelling – The Wild Robot

Taking a break from editing Mike.Sierra.Echo to talk about ‘The Wild Robot’ and great scifi storytelling. I’m not shy about telling you if a scifi story is good, bad, or ugly – and I love when a story breaks through good to become ‘great.’ That’s what The Wild Robot did, and it compels us to take a moment to study, discuss, learn. What can this story teach us about the craft of storytelling?

What’s The Wild Robot About?

I won’t spoil the plot, but essentially The Wild Robot is a fish-out-of-water meets ‘Horton Hears a Who!’ with a little bit of Wall-E on the side. Per IMDB, The Wild Robot’s plot is: After a shipwreck, an intelligent robot called Roz is stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island’s animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.

The Wild Robot doesn’t shy away from grown-up topics like loss, growth, and acceptance. Kids likely had a lot of questions after the movie ended (“Mommy, what did they mean when the Mommy Possum said she had ‘seven kids,’ and then she had ‘six?'”)

Along the way, TWR makes excellent use of its voice cast, including Pedro Pascal, Lupita Nyong’o, Kit Connor, Ving Rhames, Catherine O’Hara, and Mark Hamill. Hamill, for me, is the standout. You’re capitivated by growly gravitas you don’t recognize and then you look it up: Hamill’s created yet-another standalone, signature character with nothing more than his vocal cords. Guy’s talented, give him credit.

What Makes The Wild Robot a Great Story?

Here’s what makes The Wild Robot into great scifi storytelling. You start out thinking ‘ho-hum, another kid’s movie with glacial pacing and hitting you over the head with a moral like an inflatable hammer.’ Then the movie slams you into a hysterical action sequence pitting our protagonist against a thousand chaotically-comical raccoons. Then a hair-raising escape, then a tragic loss, then a shot at redemption – now the real story begins.

Now, of course The Wild Robot started out as a novel by Peter Brown. As a ‘deceptively simple and emotionally complex’ story, The Wild Robot pays homage to scifi stories. You’ll catch the movie winking to Wall-E, The Iron Giant, The Giving Tree, and Ice Age while breaking its own ground with humor and humanity. The pacing of the story – the hilariously high-speed pratfalls and deadpan asides – they keep even the most jaded movie watcher emotionally hooked. Kinetic action sequences, three-dimensional peril and escape. You never know where the next laugh or loss is coming from.

When the critics say ‘big feelings and great beauty,’ they aren’t kidding. Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood was absolutely right when he said: “If Spielberg‘s E.T. had been an animated film instead, it might resemble what writer-director Chris Sanders has created here.” The Wild Robot truly offer ‘the type of all-ages-welcome animated entertainment that will delight kids and leave a lump in one’s throat.’

Humor, Humanity, and High-Speed Action

Now we get to the ‘What do we learn about scifi storytelling from The Wild Robot?’ question. TWR is a ‘unique blend of survival, friendship, and personal discovery, all set against the backdrop of the natural world. It beautifully illustrates themes of belonging, family, and adaptation.’ Additionally, it reminds us that sacrifice is necessary part of growth and that answering big questions requires big adventures.

The Wild Robot is a wonderful, palate-cleansing scifi sorbet for those tired of superfluous superhero movies and residuary reboots. Even Disney is getting tired of being told ‘we want original scifi’ when people refuse to support original scifi. Dreamworks sidestepped the entire question by saying ‘here’s something new and beautiful to enjoy.’ Bravo.

So if you’re studying scifi storytelling craft? Here’s my suggestion: go study The Wild Robot like screenwriters study ‘The Godfather.’ Watch it to enjoy, watch it to understand, watch it so you can learn how to tell a story well. Nice job, folks.

The post Great Scifi Storytelling – The Wild Robot appeared first on Inkican.