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An Underrated Animation?! Let's Discuss The Wild Robot!
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In this episode, Satsunami and Andrew discuss the underrated Dreamworks classic The Wild Robot! But why is this film so underrated? How heartwarming could a robot raising a gosling be? And how many times did it hit us in the feels?! All of this and more in our latest episode of Chatsunami!
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Transcript
Film Review Introduction
00:00:02
Speaker
You know what, Andrew? I've realised that a lot of our reviews in animated films have done really well lately, but I just can't think of what to review next. Well, lucky for you, I have the perfect film for us.
00:00:14
Speaker
How about a little-known classic about a robot that'll tug at your heartstrings? Oh it's not WALL-E, is it? What? No, no, no. It's about a robot that finds the humanity after a near-death experience. Ah, the Iron Giant? Not quite.
00:00:27
Speaker
But yeah, we do need to review that sometime. Come on, man, you have to remember this one. The robots wear their death, they get a goose killed. Ring any bells? Oh, of course. You're talking about Top Gun, right?
00:00:41
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
Episode Introduction and Nicknames
00:00:45
Speaker
Hello everybody and welcome to another episode of Chatsunami. My name's Chatsunami and joining me today is none other than the wild robot himself. I am never describing you as that again. It is none other than Andrew. Andrew, welcome back.
00:01:01
Speaker
Thank you for having me back. I did actually get referred to as Android when I was in school. I mean, i am a bit of a wild robot, so I'll take that one. How does it feel to have one of the coolest nicknames in school at the time? Because honestly, if I had the name Android, I'd just be strutting about going, please call me Android. Well, that's cool when they Photoshop your head onto C-3PO.
00:01:21
Speaker
Sorry, I shouldn't laugh. I mean, to be fair, back then, Photoshop wasn't that prevalent, was it? So that's quite impressive of them. Oh yeah, it was bullying, but like on on an elevated level. So you got to give them kudos for that. I was gonna say, was it like, you know that scene in The Simpsons where Homer just sticks his head on top of athletes' bodies? I mean, yeah, pretty much. It was like, maybe wasn't C-3PO, maybe it was like one of the droids from the Attack of the Clones. cause I think the picture was in the pit in the Attack of the Clones.
00:01:48
Speaker
Yeah, fair enough. But anyway, your childhood trauma... Yeah, 20-year-old trauma aside. ah Yeah, your trauma aside, how are you doing tonight? I'm doing okay, yeah. I was just telling you prior to start recording, a pretty nice day today, and I think this might be the first recording me back since the birth of my son, I've been taking him out on some adventures just locally, and it's been
Personal Milestones and Fatherhood
00:02:08
Speaker
really nice.
00:02:08
Speaker
And a huge congratulations to you. I know I said this at the time, but i just want it on record to say it. ah Just in case people are like, wow, Satsu, you've waited all this time.
00:02:21
Speaker
Wow. Yeah, I mean, I've been waiting for that congratulations for three months now. It's it's nice to get it eventually. This is my on record moment. Frost versus Satsu here. Oh dear. Anyway, outdated references aside, yeah, is fantastic to have you back because, yeah, I think the last episode that I published with you and I was the Sonic 3 review. And then, of course, we've had a lot of episodes in between then. We had our Bioshock month with the Podpat Collective and last month there we just had our Resident
Reminiscing Past Themes and Planning Reviews
00:02:52
Speaker
Evil month. or biohazard depending on the where you're from now we're back just in the loosey goosey phase i suppose of chat tsunami where we can just talk about any film game that kind of thing without worrying about a theme and i can't believe you didn't laugh at my loosey goosey comment but that's okay very clever i do think that we recorded the chatsu cafe after the sonic one i think the sonic one released afterwards perhaps but the most recent recording was the chatsu cafe to my understanding Yeah, no, you're right, because we recorded the Sonic ages ago.
00:03:24
Speaker
In January. Yeah, I don't know why it got pushed back. Because you had a bunch of themed months, so there wasn't space for Yeah, because we had Mario month. And then we had Avatar month with you right after. fact, no, sorry, flip that Avatar month was like last year, wasn't it? No, it was this year. My God. I know. Sorry. Absolutely crazy. Since then, I've met Jack DeSantis, Voice of Saka.
00:03:44
Speaker
You have, actually. And for the Pandalurians in the audience, I have seen the photo evidence. He met my son. He was very obsessed with my son. Oh, that's cute. But my jealousy aside for that. now wicked Today, we are indeed going to be talking about another animated classic that somehow doesn't fall between richie Rich and Sonic the Hedgehog. If you've listened to our Chatsu Cafe episode, then trust me, you'll get one. We're on about there. up But yeah, today we're going to be reviewing, I have to say, a film that I didn't realise came out so recently.
Introducing 'The Wild Robot'
00:04:17
Speaker
That, of course, being DreamWorks' The Wild Robot. Now, before we go into this, and I've got a bit of a confession to make about this film, but how did you hear about this film? Because, pulling the curtain back aside a wee bit here, you were the one that recommended that we review this film, and I am really glad that you did, because it is just such a beautiful film. But how did you hear about this initially? I was completely unaware of this film really until Oscar season when it was and a bit of a buzz around it. because I know that it didn't end up winning Best Animated Feature, but it was pretty much favorite too, I think.
00:04:50
Speaker
Flow did end up being the Oscars, but this had such a huge hype and reputation around it a while after the film itself came out. so I had been meaning to sort get to this, but I kind of put it off because I wasn't that interested in it.
00:05:02
Speaker
I didn't realize it was a DreamWorks film, and it might have been a bit quicker to watch if had known that, because I know that they've had a very strong reputation, I mean, historically, but also recently with films. So i probably would have watched it bit sooner if I'd known. But yeah, no, it wasn't until around then that I had heard about it, and my siblings actually saw it and recommended that we watch it. And my brother actually said that he had the book and would read the book to his daughters.
00:05:24
Speaker
So they were all a huge fan and they were sort of telling me to watch it and because they knew how much I loved animated films. And i was like, yeah, yeah, I'll get to it. I'll get to'll get to it. And then just the other day I just said, hey, do you guys fancy watching The Wild Robot? And so my wife and my sister-in-law and I found it on Amazon Prime and we watched it and we were actually blown away by it. So we'll get a little bit more into that in the
Film Confusions and Themes
00:05:43
Speaker
episode today. But yeah, how about yourself? Did you know much about this film prior to us talking about it? Not as much as I'd like to admit, to be honest, because I remember seeing the trailer for it ages ago.
00:05:56
Speaker
I can't even remember when. It was that long ago. And it's the scene of the robot basically just trying to make the goose, the spoilers, the goose that she is raising on her own as a single robot in the wilderness. She is trying to teach it to fly and everything. It's the kind of, you know, emotional hook. in these trailers where it's like i don't know if i belong oh i'll show you you belong as she basically eats them through the air and everything and thought it looked all right but to be honest i was actually getting it mixed up with another film initially because when you said the wild robot i thought of a film called i think it's migration by illumination and that came out i think at the start either late 2023 or at the very beginning of 2024 and then have aquafina as one of the main ducks you know quite possibly she's in everything these days aquafina yeah she is in absolutely everything and i don't mean that's a compliment
00:06:57
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I thought you meant... Did you just Google it? Yeah. Oh, God. Yeah, I just remember seeing the... I don't know why or what it was I was seeing in the cinema at the time, but I remember, you know, when you go into cinemas they've got the cardboard cutouts and everything out, I thought, oh, great, another... Again, not low budget because it's elimination, but you think, oh, right, it's geese and ducks and... Talking animal movie. yeah oh it's open season the air yay so i kind of got that mixed up with this one and again i remember seeing the robot and everything and i kind of thought yeah it looks all right but it wasn't something that really gripped me and i have to say i never realized that this was a book because as you said with your brother this book apart came out in 2016 and it was released by the author Peter Brown.
00:07:50
Speaker
Yeah, as I said, i had never heard of the book because obviously I'm not the target demographic, nor do I have children or had children back then. So it wasn't until, as I said, that you said to me, oh, let's review it and everything that I watched it. And it's a A little bit like, and this is going back a few months as well, back to our animation month when I reviewed Puss in Boots The Last Wish, is one those films that I saw advertised and I thought, oh right, okay, I'm sure it's going to be standard fare. And then you sit down, you watch it, and then you go, oh my god, this is absolutely incredible. Because one of the things that really stood out to me was how just in a way emotional it was in a kid-friendly way, but then also how it would hit adults in the fields.
00:08:37
Speaker
I'm assuming this hit you in the fields as a new parent, Andrew, because my God, I was tearing up at some bits. I can't imagine how you
Film Premise and Themes of Humanity
00:08:45
Speaker
must have been feeling. and Yeah, we got pretty emotional. First thing I most emotional, and it's not surprising, because she often does, is my sister-in-law. She was really tearing up during this movie. But yeah, I had some tears forming, certainly, especially towards the end of the film. Before we dive into our main thoughts on the film, the basic plot of it a robot gets, well, a shipment container. rather, of robots gets washed up on this random deserted island, and one of the robots manages to survive, reboot itself, it's trying to find purpose, and again, keeping it relatively spoiler-free before we rip off the spoiler band-aid, but Yeah, it finds its purpose in raising and looking after this poor gosling, not Ryan of course, who is the runt of its litter and you know, it tries to find purpose, it becomes more human along the way, it makes a lot of very annoying animals, we will get onto that. And yeah, overall, it is just a beautiful film. See by that description... You know, see if you were just to read that, that, oh, a robot gets lost in the wilderness and decides that, oh, I'm going to learn how to speak to animals and Dr. Doolittle this up.
00:09:54
Speaker
Would you say this is a film that would have appealed to you on paper? It's hard to say, because I mean, one thing I was going to mention earlier as well is that I went in pretty much blind to this movie, other than knowing that it's about a robot that kind of just is in a wild animal environment.
00:10:11
Speaker
I didn't know if the animals would be talking animals, if it was like a largely silent movie or what the situation was going in. And so when she sat down and just learned the animals language and then you heard them talking, I then was like, oh no, talking animal movie. Hopefully this isn't going to be like super cringy. But knowing the hype around it, I was like, all right, well, they must do it in a good way if people have been so in favor of this film, despite the fact that it's like this talking animal movie. If I had to heard about the premise going in, I might have been, don't know how to reluctant, I might have still watched it eventually, but I might not have been as interested in suggesting it if I'd known the premise going in. To be honest, that would probably be the same. and it's weird because there is a star-studded cast in this and i have to say I kind of laughed when you said about the talking animals because it's almost like a monkey polish and I genuinely didn't realise this until the end of the film where it's like oh god please tell me it's not Aquafina or Chris Pratt or anything it's like granted but have you heard of Pedro Pascal and it's like oh no It was funny, it was Pedro Pascal. I couldn't have told you that that was the case. He reminded me, I mean, again, he was a fox.
00:11:18
Speaker
So there's a certain similarity here, but like I heard it very similar kind of voice to the Zootopia fox guy, whose name I'm blanking on right now. Honestly, the cast is absolutely fantastic. I mean, you've got Lupita Nyong'o as Roz. You have First Stump. reason bill nighy just turning up as bill nighy but as a goose he honestly just turns up in these films and again he doesn't half-ass any of these performances by any means but again it's just bill nighy as a goose isn't it he very much does go full bill nighy as long neck i think is his name yeah he's like one of the nicest geese you'll ever meet as well which doesn't go very far because if you ever met a goose they're just dreadful animals oh yeah they're nasty
00:11:59
Speaker
I mean, you've also got Matt Berry, which I have to say, and they'll probably talk about this later, but I don't feel as if they capitalised on them as well. Matt Berry is Matt Berry every role he's in as well. Yeah, but there's different levels of Berry-ness, though. You know, you've got IT crowd Matt Berry and Toaster London.
00:12:18
Speaker
Yeah, you've got those, and then you've got the kind of What We Do in the Shadows, Matt Berry. Yeah, I feel as if the kingdom downplayed, as we said, the banniness of it. And i'm like, oh, honestly, there was an opportunity to just crank it up to 11. But I suppose, you know...
00:12:34
Speaker
of the entire film. Him running and going farther. Has MacBerry ever played, was to say, What We Do in the Shadows is probably an example that. was going to say, he's never main character. He always seems to be like a side character. But in What We in the Shadows, he's kind of the main character. i mean, in the IT crowd, he's part of the ensemble. So maybe, I know
Voice Cast and Film Setting
00:12:51
Speaker
what you mean though. It's like not a main, but there's a toast of London as well, I think. oh that's true yeah that didn't go very well but of course you've got mark hamill who voices the bear honestly mark hamill is fantastic as a voice actor i never realized it's him until the very end and i was like oh wow we had a similar thing and like while the film was ongoing like i did bring up the cast and i saw his name there but i didn't put two and two together because like i couldn't have told you that that was his voice from hearing it you can pick up certain voice actors voices i'm like okay yeah that makes sense
00:13:22
Speaker
But that one was completely... i had no idea. And of course, you know, I'm just looking at the list here. You've got a wide range of amazing voice actors. You've got Vic Reims. You've got Catherine O'Hara. You've got Dee Bradley Baker as the raccoons. Oh, God. He honestly gets it. So, yes, standard. Dee Bradley Baker is phenomenal at doing animal voices. Yeah, I genuinely think they just, you know, they're having a meeting at this cafe or something and he's lingering in the background and they're like, listen, if we give you a role in this film while you go away, is it an animal?
00:13:54
Speaker
Yes, I'm in. but ah Oh, God. He is fantastic, but yeah, it's always the case. He very frequently plays the same, like, a group of characters. Mm-hmm. Because he's all the clones in Star Wars Clone Wars, and he's all the raccoons in this.
00:14:11
Speaker
And he plays all the animals in Avatar and all that kind of stuff. And on that note, while we dive in... but I was going to make a Clone Wars joke, but better not. While we dive in and see why the wild robot A, hit us in the field so much, and B, is, yeah, just a relatively underrated film. Yeah, let's jump into this.
00:14:31
Speaker
And, of course, we'll be right back as we find our way into the woods after these messages. Welcome to Chatsunami, a Scottish variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime and general interest.
00:14:44
Speaker
Join me, your host, Satsunami, as well as the rest of our Chatsunami team for our takes on these very important pop culture topics. Sir, it's clearly a trap. I accept your page! That three times in the film. Every time that general goes, don't do this one thing, he goes, do you know what I'ma do? It's the exact thing. It doesn't well. She had the pointy teeth. What was that about? She looked like Bilbo when he wants the ring back.
00:15:10
Speaker
She did, didn't she? I just want the lightsaber one more time. Parasite says, no, you will get back into your office and work. No, says the man in Zoom. your Trousers are for the working man. You're bursting into your hotel room. Honey, we need to go.
00:15:28
Speaker
Leave the kids. You can milk an audition. Oh, no.
00:15:35
Speaker
That's the worst thing you've ever said on any of the episodes. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out at our website, chattsunami.com, as well as all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated. Stay classy and have banana. This has been chattsunami.
00:15:55
Speaker
I'm sorry.
00:16:02
Speaker
First impressions can take only six seconds to make, but if you're neurodivergent, those quick judgments about you can be misleading. Because of most people's ignorance around learning disabilities, people think it means you're intellectually incapable.
00:16:16
Speaker
i'm not Rain Man. Every autistic person is a Rain Man. I thought I was talking to people who understood dyslexia and ADHD, but they did not. They freaked out and were like, well, if you've got Tourette's, if it's going to be a problem, then we can just fire you and get someone else.
00:16:32
Speaker
I'm Carolyn Keel, and I host Beyond Six Seconds, a podcast where neurodivergent people share their lives and advocacy. One of my goals is making autism not something that's scary.
00:16:44
Speaker
I really want to help people understand dyspraxia little bit better. Get the real life of Tourette's syndrome out there. Stop thinking we were nothing but a joke. Let's shatter misconceptions and celebrate neurodiversity together.
00:16:57
Speaker
Listen at beyondsixseconds.net or wherever you get your podcasts. You know, I'm not gonna lie, I thought that was gonna be more Tarzan-esque, but that was a hell of a journey and we are back, apologies. So, let's dive into the Wild Robot, which, yeah, honestly, will we start with the characters? Because I feel as if that is one of the most important parts of this film. Yeah, there's some absolutely beautiful characterisations in this film. Is there anyone in particular you want to shine on first off? Well, Well, to be honest, i feel as if the one that ironically enough stands out is the wild robot herself, Roz, which it's quite difficult. And I think this is something that a lot of people don't really understand how complex it can be, is to make a robot seem human, if that makes sense. You know, because sometimes in certain films, if they try to humanise a robot, either they just remain as a robot and you get that kind of weird...
00:17:56
Speaker
uncanny valley area or at the very least you get them just acting like a normal human and then you don't believe they're a robot if that makes sense but i feel as if in this film they absolutely they struck the nail on the head to perfectly with the way that her character changes throughout the film but did you feel the same way for that Yeah, no, I completely agree. And similar to what you were saying, that they had managed to balance having a presentable, almost like Alexa-type robot initially, that you still kind of felt for in her compassion. Like when she initially arrives and is looking for a task, she's holding up this little crab thing, and then the bird swoops down and gets it, and she's just kind like, what happened? You see her progression and her learning throughout the movie how to humanize herself in order to be more compassionate. And also that she kind develops an ownership and a interest in both Fink and also Bright Bill, that she really deeply kind of cares about both of them, particularly Bright Bill. And then she starts feeling very kind of motherly, which is very sweet. you kind of see motherly, but like still from that kind of more robotic perspective. So I think they do balance that very, very well. Because one of my favourite scenes I have to say is when they're building their shelter at the beginning and Bright Bill is insistent on trying to help. So initially she gives in and she puts him up and he puts like a tiny twig on and and then as she's building it, he keeps annoying her until he gets his way and everything and she's just frustrated. And I love the way that She describes it as her task can't be completed efficiently because of the interruptions and whatnot. And as you were saying, she warms to this character as her, I suppose, surrogate son, I'd say. Because this is something I said to you when I was watching this film and I was messaging you throughout it.
00:19:48
Speaker
And I said to you, this film reminds me of a cross between Animals of Faddingwood meets Robocop. yeah It really threw me through a loop. A scene where ros just keeps shooting the the robots in the dick. Seems so unnecessary. Yeah, I know. I don't know why she said your move creep but quite a lot, but you know, we'll never know that. But yeah, it's like half of the film is very child-friendly, you know, and it has quite a core message about looking after the environment, caring about others, that kind
Balancing Child-friendly and Brutal Themes
00:20:20
Speaker
of thing.
00:20:20
Speaker
But they then... Then on the other side, there are some absolutely brutal scenes. At the very beginning, the reason that Rose comes into contact with Bright Bill is because she's getting chased by the bear and the bear nearly kills Rose, let's face it. She rolls down the hill and she crushes his entire family.
00:20:37
Speaker
ah Not just breaking other eggs, you see the dead bird and you're like, oh, go. Oh my god, she literally crushes it. You see this in real time. I had to rewind that scene maybe a couple of times just to be like, no, no, no, no. no no Maybe I'm just missing this. Maybe it's, oh, she knocked them over or something. No, no, she fell on and crushes them. And there's also other points.
00:20:59
Speaker
can't even remember. Oh yeah, later on in the film when, and again, spoilers going forward, Bill has his big migration scene and there's a scene where these robots are shooting at them. And my God, it is brutal. We'll touch on that particular scene later on, but it's just as brutal. It's not quite animals of Farthingwood territory, but let's face it, see, at times it's not far off, is it? You're not super wrong on that.
00:21:24
Speaker
I think some context required for... Oh yeah, go ahead. Yeah. Most the listeners as they likely don't know what Animals of Farthing Wood is. It was a BBC adaptation of what assume was a storybook. One hell of a storybook. going to say, do you know if the Animals of Farthing was a storybook or not? Apparently it was. It was originally a book, yeah. Totally did not Google this. Animals of Farthing Wood was originally a book in 1979. written by the child traumatiser himself, Colin Dan. So if you want your children to have nightmares, make them watch Animals of Farthing Wood and then do a double bill with Watership Down if you really want to traumatise them. Another film about animal cruelty in the forest, apparently. Also a book. Yeah.
00:22:06
Speaker
So if you want your children to read more, but they're getting a bit too uppity to introduce them to these books, they will be traumatised just as we were. The triple bill of wild robots, worshiped down in Owls of Farthing Wood. You know, when the wild robot has a scene where he viscerally crushes a family of geese sleeping, I feel like there's something wrong with British television, but that's a whole other argument in itself. I think I might have stepped out to grab some food or something when the initial kind of like, he hits a tree.
00:22:36
Speaker
Yeah. And then does it fall down onto them or were they in the tree? No, she rolls down the hill. She was in the forest, but but then she gets knocked down. And unlike Robbie Williams, she doesn't get up again and she rolls down and yeah, just crashes right into them. Fortunately, unlike the animals of Farthingwood, which I can't remember if he explained But yeah, it's just basically animals trying to get from point A to B. But unfortunately, they decided to depict all the brutal deaths in it very viscerally for kids. It was really horrific. But yeah, as you said in this, she picks up the feather as if, oh, oh my God. And you're like, oh. And there's even a scene later on where it's like, although they make a joke about it and the possum comes back up and says, oh, it's okay, I'm fine. There's a scene where this possum's like, oh, I have eight children. And then you hear a scream. Oh yeah, it's like seven. Yeah, I spat my tea at that. I was like, Jesus. And of course they have to backtrack and go, oh, I'm okay, mum. There is a cut out there. I bet you they had to add that in because of the studio. That wouldn't surprise me. Oh yeah, there is some brutal stuff in this, isn't there? Again, you know, I'm slightly exaggerating when I say it's like Animals of Farthingwood meets Robocop, but yeah, no, they don't shy away from a lot of the brutality of it, do they? No, I mean, they do and they don't.
00:23:58
Speaker
When Long Neck is killed, they don't show him being shot. They cut away. It's just implied. They are still kind of censoring a lot of the death and the violence and whatnot, but they're not shy at suggesting it, which I think is braver than many children's films that have been coming out recently. Because one thing that I do like about this is there's a lot of show-don't-tell type storytelling in this film. One of which, of course, being when, again, they have the big migration scene and they're going over the... Is it the Golden Gate Bridge? Yes, yes, it is the Golden Gate Bridge. It's like submerged underwater, which... I don't know if that's suggesting it's collapsed or that the water levels have risen to such an extent that they're higher than the Golden Gate Bridge. Yeah, think it's the latter because you see other buildings under the water and everything and you're like, oh, this is not a good future.
00:24:46
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I get it. I don't think water levels will rise high, but I get it. I mean, give a few years. Yeah. We've already got robots, you know, give a few years. Honestly, it's quite good that they have things like that in the film. And again, there are some very juvenile jokes and I'm not trying to be that person of how dare they have juvenile jokes in a children's film. But, you know, for every heartbreaking moment and oh my God, look at the destruction that they've wrought in the environment. You've got a fart joke from a skunk. or something and you're like oh okay or Matt Berry being Matt Berry which again I know I said it but he should have been more Matt Berry-ness in this film but yeah that's probably the only nitpick think I would have of this film that when the jokes that don't land don't land they really don't land the skunk in particular but also the fact that at the very beginning the animals rightfully so because it's their home but they're very hostile towards Roz and I think I was texting you at the time being like man these animals are horrible aren't they yeah like when she gets up and she starts speaking little squirrel is like are you here or heard us and then he's like she says no and then they beat her mercilessly yeah
00:26:04
Speaker
Honestly, see, character-wise, I really don't think there's necessarily a bad character in this film. I mean, there's weak characters, but I wouldn't say there's anyone that's that bad. I mean, I push, maybe I would say, out the main cast that Bright Bill is maybe the weakest. And I don't mean that as a runt joke, I just mean as a character. This is nitpicking, this isn't me saying definitively, oh, he's an awful character, but... I mean, he's generic, I guess. Yeah. I mean, I suppose it kind of has to be because he's finding his way in the world and he's trying to adapt from being raised by a literal robot.
00:26:43
Speaker
You know, you see that at the beginning when he tries to socialize with other geese and, you know, he does the beep boop. I am trying to be your friend and they just completely ostracize him. That's actually what I was about to bring up. that if I have a criticism about how they deal with Bright Bill is that they completely cut that out of him. He doesn't do the beep boops and robot imitation at all after that interaction. You can maybe chalk up to like, oh, he realized it's weird and wanted to be normal and the other geese and so didn't do that. But I feel like it was too sudden he a switch to be realistic if this is how he is acted his entire life. So yeah, if I have a criticism about the characterization of Bright Bill, then that would probably be it. Because I saw an interpretation online of that scene and someone said that the reason that he goes from beep-boop goose as it were to just being a regular goose is because it shows a sign of growth that he is interacting with other geese and, you know, he's finally finding his place and because he was away for so long in the migration and whatnot that he is able to learn and become more goose-like as he should be, which...
00:27:52
Speaker
Again, i totally get that point, but I also agree with you. I do wish that there was maybe a little little bit more of that. Basically, Beep Boop Goose, that's what I want to see more of in this film, Beep Boop Goose.
00:28:06
Speaker
But I mean, I know it's a minor thing, but that is probably the only thing I would say majorly. I was like, yeah, it could have been done better, but it's definitely not something that spoils the film by any means. Speaking of strengths of this film, that of course brings me onto the animation of this film, which definitely takes more inspiration from Puss in Boots The Last Wish and The Bad Guys, which I don't know about you, but I absolutely love this style of animation. I think I've just been calling it the Puss in Boots animation or the Spider-Verse animation, because I he technically did something similar first. It's an interesting art style. I do think there's there's certainly distinctions, especially Spider-Verse, but from like Puss in Boots and and the bad guys and that kind of stuff.
00:28:49
Speaker
I think it a little bit different from what they did, but it certainly is a very different form of animation from what we've seen generally and also especially from DreamWorks. Like DreamWorks,
00:28:59
Speaker
seem to not be doing that 3D CGI kind of style that they had become known for and that Disney kind of started adopting as well. So they seem to have now gone down a different route to be a bit more distinctive.
00:29:13
Speaker
To be honest, I think it is good that they have shifted their style because a lot of the films were starting to look quite samey. You know, for every How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, you know, you had things like Home and... Bee Movie. Bee Movie.
00:29:30
Speaker
You know, you've got the fine line between passable and DreamWorks quality. We used to talk about how much we missed the 2D style of DreamWorks. The Prince of Egypt, the Rotel Dorados, Spirit. There's another one was trying to think of.
00:29:45
Speaker
Sinbad. No, it was another one. What was it? What else was early DreamWorks? Ants. No, that's not the example I wanted to use. You mean you don't like that early, crusty 3D animation? It wasn't Joseph. No, it wasn't Joseph. you remember we tried to watch that and we couldn't get it at work or something? It weird.
00:30:03
Speaker
Yeah, it kept buffering, I think. Yeah. I think I'm talking nonsense. I think it was just those films. Sinbad is one of those films, though. Those kind of films we absolutely adored and you don't really get anything like
Unique Animation Styles
00:30:14
Speaker
that anymore. Mm-hmm. And so seeing something a little bit different is really lovely to experience and hope for more like that. Like we talked a little bit about talking a couple of years ago now, I think with Klaus, that that was like an experimental movie with 2D animation that they made a bit more 3D. It was like a very kind of unique kind of art style there. And I feel like that's the kind of thing we're seeing more of now that people are trying to show different options in the medium other than what everyone else is bringing out
00:30:43
Speaker
So I'm glad to see films like The Wild Robot getting the kind of acclaim that it did, and albeit not getting an Oscar, but the film that did win the Oscar was also a kind of more unique style of animation. So you can't necessarily complain there, whereas it was up against Inside Out 2, Wallace and Gromit, and Memoir of a Snail is the other one, which I've never heard of. Oh, yeah. I've heard of it, but I've never seen it.
00:31:06
Speaker
looks French. Is a French? Probably. It's stop motion. Yeah. No, have heard of that one. But again, it's one those ones that you see it, you think, oh, that looks interesting. And then you put it on the backlog, never to watch it. Australian. Wow, you were way off there. Yeah. apparently but like flow was latvian no true latvian french and belgian so i'm glad to see some variations you have two stop motion movies and two more unique animation art styles and then you have inside out two from pixar which whilst being a lovely film is that same kind of pixar style that we've been seeing for ages and that has not been super interesting Yeah, because between Pixar and Illumination, those are the kind of studios that seem to be taking the more traditional 3D type animation, which, don't get me wrong, they can look absolutely gorgeous and just absolutely incredible, but the way they're turning out films like this, you kind of think, yeah, they kind of blend into one at some point. But here's a question for you. Speaking of design choices, what did you think of the robot, Rose?
00:32:09
Speaker
or say off What did you think about our design? Because I know there was quite a lot of discussion behind the scenes that they were worried that people were going to associate it with things like C-3PO, ironically enough, or eve and WALL-E, that kind of thing. So, yeah, what did you think?
00:32:25
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's interesting. I think that they got over what the robot was pretty well. It was a very multi-use robot, because it seemed to have everything at its disposal at any kind of given moment. She looks largely quite kind of generic, but interesting enough, I liked that she had these stretchy arms and could like fire off her hands and change like how she moved. It was interesting enough in that way. When she imitated the skunk, it was bit of a weird one, but generally the kind of look of her was interesting, and then we saw like loads of her when they were at the farm. I thought that was interesting. and You got to see them doing the tasks that they were potentially like programmed for.
00:33:00
Speaker
And then they sound completely evil Honestly, this is why I said it was like the Animals of Farthing Wood meets Robocop, because in the scene where, right, Bill, he goes in his big migration with long neck and everything, Bill Nye, the goose, of course, and they have to shelter during this storm, which I'm assuming is no doubt a wink-wink, nudge-nudge at the state of the planet, but they end up going into this kind of biosphere You're talking about it's a snowstorm, global warming clearly fake. Oh yeah, clearly. That's why we have to grow our veggies in this big biotome bubble with the robots that I have to say are very, very unstable. I was also going to say this. This super advanced society hadn't accounted for the fact that animals might get into it. And then their solution was to fire laser beams randomly at these small targets that clearly were goingnna going to hit things inside the dome and further damage it.
00:33:56
Speaker
I mean, on the one hand, you could look at that as a criticism of the society in that particular universe that they're not really thinking. That's why they've got global warming and having to depend on robots for growing stuff. But if I take that analytical hat off for a moment, why the hell did they go Skynet on those keys? It wasn't even, you know, like a couple of robots trying to tactically shoot. One of them's driving a combine harvest up.
00:34:26
Speaker
flips it like a warthog in Halo.
00:34:31
Speaker
going on here? They went from zero to a hundred and two seconds. I also have to wonder in this futuristic society why these robots are doing a lot of these tasks. You'd think that there would just be a harvesting robot that would just do this stuff. Why are they driving vehicles? Wouldn't the vehicles just be self-driving? Yeah, because they've got the war robots, I want to say. You know, the big beefy ones that are literally built for war and you're like, huh, that says something about society. But I just can't put my finger on it.
00:35:02
Speaker
If they can build a robot for war and combat, and they can build one for menial tasks, yeah, suppose you're right, although it does paint that funny image of a robot driving a Combine Harvester. How did you crash this, Unit 1212? I've got a brand new Combine Harvester. No, just very sadly. I had a Combine Harvester. Why did we program this robot to have a West Country accent? And why did we program the Combine Harvester to have feelings? I can't feel my legs.
00:35:32
Speaker
but You don't have any legs. You ain't got any legs. You're a Combine Harvester. Oh. I want to see that origin story next. i want to see the Forrest Gump, the Combine Harvester story. What, to be an athlete? Yeah. Run, Roz, run! That was the fastest I ever saw anyone run the hundred meters.
00:35:52
Speaker
ah partly because they had a combine harvester behind them. Oh, but anyway, my fan fiction aside, while we get to the... Again, i don't want to say heart string-tugging moments, but let's face it, they really were. They were more like heart-punching moments. You know, you have the very cutesy scenes where, despite, think, the fox trying to eat Bright Bill as an egg and everything, and trying to teach Rose survival of the fittest within this area... There's a lot of sweet moments between the characters, so I've got to ask, in the WatchMojo style, what were the top moments? Top 10 heartfelt moments in The Wild Robot number four.
00:36:33
Speaker
Yeah, in all seriousness, what were the moments that really struck you
Touching Scenes and Found Family Theme
00:36:37
Speaker
for this film? In no particular order, despite what my WatchMojo subscription license would say, When she made the little course for Bright Bill practice flying in, that was really sweet.
00:36:48
Speaker
And when you could see that she seemed to be dying at one point, the fluid was like leaking out of her. That was really heart-wrenching and sad. We mentioned it earlier when she was making the house and Bright Bill wanted to help. That was very sweet. When she made the little pictures of Bright Bill for the inside the home of him like growing. That was very Klaus-esque, wasn't it? It was, and I think there was a lot of similarities with Klaus in this movie, and we mentioned it, so off recording about that.
00:37:15
Speaker
And then Fink protecting the pictures, saying, no, those are Bright Bill's children's pictures. You can't burn those. Get off of those. Like, that was really sweet. The moment where Roz sat there waiting for Bright Bill, and then she leaves so he doesn't see her is really sad. There lots of very heartwarming moments and the very end of the movie when they reunite inside the dome was really sweet.
00:37:35
Speaker
What about yourself? No, I think you hit the nail on the head there. I think that those are very good examples. Some of the other ones that stood out to me though were the scene where she is trying to help him with the migration and you know, at the very end of that when he finally goes to leave with the rest of the geese and then he goes to her and says, oh I need a boost and everything. That was heartbreaking because that seen as someone who isn't a parent, and I know this will probably hit you harder in a couple of years, but I guess it's how a lot of parents must feel about their children, you know, growing up and no longer needing them, or rather to depend on them as much, and you know, they will literally and figuratively fly the nest. So, again, in this film it's literal, but that empty nest syndrome that all of a sudden Rose, as this parent, has no idea what to do with herself because her task is literally finished. And it's such an interesting way to look at it because the way Rose looks at it is very empirical, it's very objective. She thinks, right, okay, teach him how to swim. Tick.
00:38:39
Speaker
Got it. Teach him how to integrate with the rest of the geese. Ding. Got it. He has to swim, he has to fly, he's flowing the nest. Tick, tick, tick. Whereas looking after, you know, a child and everything, it's not really a tick list. It's something that is constantly going to be ongoing. It's something that is going to be with you for the rest of your life with them.
00:39:00
Speaker
And it's the way she slowly realizes that, that she thinks initially, oh, this is my job done, that I can just activate the beacon and then go home. My task is done. And of course, she learns that there's more to this particular job than she accounted for. And I know there is that joke at the very beginning where she says, oh, I didn't sign up for this and the mother possum is saying, yeah, and none of us did and none of us are born for this, but you learn as you go along and everything. I thought that was just a really sweet way to depict this kind of found family dynamic, which honestly, if you know me and you've listened to past episodes of Chatsunami, you know I love a good found family trope. I'm trying to think of what else got me.
00:39:43
Speaker
Again, all the things about the baby pictures and whatnot, that was really sweet. The bit at the end, I thought she was going to die when she ripped out her own heart. And then it was like, oh no, she's fine. Yeah, I also thought she was going to die. Yeah, I was bracing myself.
00:39:59
Speaker
And she was like, no, no, I'm fine. I was like, oh, right. That's a bit weird. If I had a criticism about the film as well, I'd say that maybe they should have had her die at the end. It wouldn't have been the nice ending. I probably would have more upset about it. I like that she lived, but I think it would have been more impactful had she died at the end.
00:40:16
Speaker
Yeah, because I don't know how the book ends. they're Obviously not Robocop-esque. as I've been joking but yeah I kind of thought that she would power down or something yeah I thought they were going to find the heart and everything and reboot her but there wasn't really that kind of fake out scene which makes me sound like another snake about I thought the scene where she was looking at him he was all grown up and everything but she saw him as a chick in her arms and I don't know I just thought it was a beautiful way to show off motherhood through a robot which sounds really weird They're conditioning us to make it normal for when the robot uprising happens. Exactly, yeah. Tesla boats, who's that? you
00:40:56
Speaker
But yeah, what are your thoughts on that? No, I think it is a really beautiful way that they did end it, if they could have gone either way. i do wonder if they're setting up for a potential sequel. Yeah, think they are. As far as I know, they are.
00:41:10
Speaker
And i was actually wondering why there isn't a sequel yet, but it came out last year, at the end of last year, actually. So I'm assuming there should be a sequel coming out soon. I wonder then if the intention is that she's going to try and change society through what she's learned and change how other robots think and how humans think. Because we didn't really see any humans through the movie. that was I think they kind of cut some into in like a comm centre kind of thing.
00:41:38
Speaker
I don't remember if we actually saw them saying or doing anything. Yeah, no, I don't think... there really was so maybe they'll go for that angle what i will say is one thing that nearly made me gasp at the end was i was expecting to see the very end there's this very sweet scene where they basically have to defend the forest and everything and they manage to drive back the robots that are trying to collect raws and you know it's all teamwork yahoo blah blah blah but But then eventually she realises that for the greater good she has to go back to the factory and get her diagnostic check and whatnot to save the animals. So that's exactly what she does. And it's quite a sad scene of her finally going a away and all the animals are working together now. They're part of a better society.
00:42:21
Speaker
Then at the very end Bright Bill goes into the factory that he got shot in. Or shot at rather. ha. He goes up to one of the robots and he says, oh, Roz, and it turns out she's still got her memories and she's all happy to see him and it's a lovely ending. It's good that he got the right one.
00:42:38
Speaker
First of all, it's good he got the right one, but second of all, he's lucky that none of the other robots spotted him. They're like, intruder alert, intruder alert. they call by harvest. So it's like, not again.
00:42:49
Speaker
Just flipping over on itself. But yeah, it does that DreamWorks thing as well where, are and again, know, not to draw too many comparisons with Klaus, but it does that thing where it has the song at the end and, you know, the credits go over it and it's all the animation in the background. And honestly, as a kind of final closing point, this is just such a beautiful film.
Final Thoughts and Sequel Hopes
00:43:11
Speaker
And I feel as if there definitely should be more types of films like this.
00:43:16
Speaker
And know that sounds like such a bare basic thing to say, but as I said, the animation's fantastic, the writing and the characters are fantastic, the message of it's fantastic. We've had our nitpicks with it, but overall, I feel as if this film does deserve way, way more love.
00:43:33
Speaker
Pretty much the same, in fact, as what you said. I think that this is a film that will be looked back on very fondly. it will eventually kind of get the attention that it rightly deserves. I think that this should be really up there with of high grossing and lots of people having watched and showing their kids and that kind of thing. I think it's this really powerful, important messages.
00:43:50
Speaker
in there and i certainly will be watching this again not necessarily super soon but it'll be on the regular rotation i think and certainly my son is so of an age to be able to watch this and understand it then we'll watch it with him and on that note andrew thank you so so much for not only introducing me to this film and actually getting me to watch it but yeah coming back on to chat tsunami No, thank you so much for having me.
Future Collaborations and Farewell
00:44:12
Speaker
It's been really nice to have a bit of a break from it and be listening in the background to all that you've been doing and seeing all the wonderful, wonderful content that's been coming out. I was sad to miss out on a few of the episodes, but it's good to be back in and hopefully I'll be able to join soon. And we're hoping that when I'm next in the UK, which at the time of release from this should be in like a month or so, we're hoping to be able record something together based on what our schedules are like. We'll see what happens. But yeah, no, fingers crossed that we can get some more recordings for then and then also while i'm over honestly cannot wait for that because well i think martin mccallister is probably the only one i've done an in-person episode with thinking on it from the rotation of jats and amy hosts because haven't done one with adam yet oh i thought you had one with adam no i've been in person to watch stuff for the podcast with them but no i haven't done one in person yet so adam if you're listening your time has come i'm coming for you and on that very ominous threatening note
00:45:06
Speaker
We'll get all three of us together and we'll finally do a first and last again. Oh, absolutely. You know, it's been so long that we planned to do a first and last for Doom, but the last game that we had to play was Doom Eternal. And since that time we've proposed the episode, another Doom game is coming. Oh my god. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. Played the first and the last, at the time, the most recent Doom in preparation for that, and then it ended happening. Yeah, such a shame. But as I said, i'll track him down. i know where he lives.
00:45:35
Speaker
For legal reasons, that is a joke, Adam. if you're listening that is a joke but yeah on that note thank you all so so much for listening to this episode if you want to check out more episodes from ourselves then you can check us out our website chatsunami.com as well as all good podcast apps i also want to give a huge shout out to our pandalorian patrons robotic battle toaster ghosty and cryptic 1991 thank you so so much for supporting the show but if you would like early access to episodes, exclusive content, commentary tracks, as well as our full episode talking about Combine Harvester spin-off, for legal reasons that last one's a joke, then indeed you can check us out at our Patreon page, patreon.com forward slash chat tsunami. Andrea is, of course, the proud editor and lead in podcast. I'm not proud of that.
00:46:25
Speaker
ah Of a, not a spin-off, but he has another podcast called Stop, Drop and Roll Initiative, which myself, you of course, Andrew, Martin McAllister and Robotic Battle Toaster are a part of. It is a Dungeons and Dragons campaign podcast, so definitely go check that out where all good podcasts are found, as well as our socials, which are sdripod over on twitter.com. But as always, thank you all so, so much for listening to this episode. Stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, charge your robot. That too, do not keep them hydrated. I'll break the robot. That's literally how this film starts. Do not hydrate the robot.