Review
Pop Culture Happy Hour
Review
Pop Culture Happy Hour
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
STEPHEN THOMPSON, HOST:
"The Wild Robot" is a gorgeous and moving new animated movie. It follows a helper robot who washes up on the beach of a remote island and learns to blend in with the wildlife. Soon, it's learning lessons about parenthood and sacrifice, while teaching the animals to work together.
I'm Steven Thompson, and today we are talking about "The Wild Robot" on POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
THOMPSON: Joining me today is Nikki Birch. She's a video producer for NPR's Jazz Night In America and also a co-host of the podcast "A Thousand Eyes And One." Welcome back, Nikki.
NIKKI BIRCH, BYLINE: Hey, thanks for having me.
THOMPSON: It is great to have you here. Also joining us is one of our producers here on POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR, Liz Metzger, Hey, Liz.
LIZ METZGER, BYLINE: Hello.
THOMPSON: It is wonderful to have you both here. So the robot in the title of "The Wild Robot" is called Rozzum Unit 7134, or Roz for short. She's played by Lupita Nyong'o. She's still new in the box when she washes up on a remote island after a shipwreck. Given that she's programmed to help whoever opens the box, she spends the opening moments of the film trying to figure out whom she's supposed to serve.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WILD ROBOT")
LUPITA NYONG'O: (As Roz) I am Rozzum 7134.
(SOUNDBITE OF MECHANICAL WHIRRING)
NYONG'O: (As Roz) A Rozzum always completes its task. Just ask.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: But she finds only wildlife, and the wildlife is skittish, skeptical, fearful, and even downright hostile. While fleeing an attack, Roz accidentally crushes a goose's nest, killing the entire family, except for one egg. So she sets about protecting the egg, which hatches a gosling named Brightbill, played by Kit Connor. Along the way, Roz and Brightbill are aided, and sometimes thwarted, by a tricky fox named Fink, played by Pedro Pascal.
What follows from there is a soulful and extremely tear-jerking story about what robots and parents are and aren't programmed to do. That story involves external threats, ranging from harsh weather and conflicts among animals to the question of where Roz herself is supposed to be. "The Wild Robot" is based on Peter Brown's novel of the same name. It's in theaters now.
Nikki Birch, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of "The Wild Robot"?
BIRCH: I was telling my friend that this is the first chapter book that I read with my nephew, Shaun Shaun Shauney Shaun Shaun (ph).
(LAUGHING)
BIRCH: He's going to love that I called him that. He is 11. From the very beginning, we were just, like, in love with it. So I had, you know, high expectations, even though I tried to be like, OK, it's an adaptation.
THOMPSON: There are going to be differences.
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: There are going to be differences, and I won't even talk about them, 'cause I love what they did. And I think the thing for me was that it was so visually striking.
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: Yeah, even though I cried a lot.
METZGER: Oh, yeah.
THOMPSON: Even though? In spite of the fact that I cried...
BIRCH: In spite of the crying.
THOMPSON: ...It was good. That does not compute.
BIRCH: It's, like, very crazy to eat popcorn at 10 o'clock in the morning and cry.
THOMPSON: Not for me, man. That's just...
BIRCH: (Laughter) It's just a regular...
THOMPSON: That's just any given day for this guy. All right, how about you, Liz?
METZGER: I really, really liked it. I think there's stuff that I was like, hmm and ha, but a lot of my caveats come down to, like, the idea that we need to overexplain things for children. But that being said, this is such a beautiful film. It has some pretty good voice acting. Not all of it was my favorite. Again, I think there was a lot of dialogue for a movie about animals, but...
(LAUGHTER)
METZGER: ...That's an animated film, so I need to make peace. I think there's just so much beauty, and there's also some really funny little lines.
BIRCH: Oh, yeah.
METZGER: Like, I was kind of surprised by, like, them talking about death or them talking about things that are, like, heavier, 'cause it's definitely a part of the film, but I cried so much.
(LAUGHTER)
METZGER: I, like, I cried so much. I was in an empty theater, and I was just, like, I feel so safe right now to cry (laughter).
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: Would you say that heartache feels good in a place like that?
METZGER: They could be right. She might be onto something.
BIRCH: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: Yeah. I came down more or less the same way. I was intrigued by the somewhat unusual structure of this movie.
METZGER: Yes.
THOMPSON: Compared to a lot of similar films that kind of work through this act one, act two, act three, and act three, you get kind of a big payoff and, like, a big emotional payoff. And this film, this film disrupts that structure a little bit. Basically, you can break this film into, essentially, three acts. The first act, you've got your kind of "WALL-E"-style world building. It's not wordless...
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Like most of the first part of "WALL-E," but it's still kind of in that same vein, where you're kind of establishing who the characters are and what the central conflict is. The second act of this film is so emotionally intense. Like, it is - if you are a parent, you will have big, big, big, parenting feelings. Even if you are not a parent, you will have big, big parenting feelings about what this movie has to say about parenting.
BIRCH: Right.
THOMPSON: Parents taking their kids to see this are going to go through a roller coaster.
BIRCH: (Laughter)
THOMPSON: And then the third act is kind of wall-to-wall action that then kind of has to, like, oh, right, sentiment.
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: (Laughter).
THOMPSON: But as you've both said, like, this is a movie that is extremely engineered to make viewers cry. And, you know, mission accomplished. I'm easy.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: I think there were points, to Liz's point, where it felt like - it seemed to feel the need to underline...
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Some of that sentiment a few too many times. The score is doing a lot.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
THOMPSON: It is, like, reaching out of the screen with a tweezers and plucking your nose hairs to make you cry just a little bit more.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: Like, as with you guys, it worked on me. I found myself really entertained by it and moved by it where appropriate.
BIRCH: Very charmed. I mean, one of the things - I squealed. I was like, oh, the otters, I remember those guys.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
BIRCH: But it was funny from the beginning.
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: It was funny from the beginning. And, like, I was like, OK, that's the joke that keeps the parents watching, right? But it was funny throughout the whole thing, which I did not expect. Like, I laughed throughout the entire movie.
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: You know, I was really surprised by that. I think they did a good job incorporating humor, especially when some of the topics were so heavy.
METZGER: There is, like, a joke about, like - Catherine O'Hara is playing this mother possum. And she has, like, these, like, seven babies that are all on her back. And there is a point where she was like, I have to, like, take care of my seven babies. And then you, like, hear a scream. And then it's like, my six babies.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WILD ROBOT")
CATHERINE O'HARA: (As Pinktail) You're lucky just have one. As a mother of seven...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character, screaming).
O'HARA: ...Six babies - it's a full-time thing.
METZGER: And, of course, that baby is OK, but, like, it is not shying away from, like, this very, like, real threat of death can happen, and it's very normal. I think so much of that first act is so fun, like - you're right - the very "WALL-E" experience. There's only, like, very minimal dialogue 'cause everyone's, like, an animal animal. We don't understand what they're really saying. You get so much, like, physical comedy or physical exploration that I just think is so cool, the idea that, like, how are you learning, in a way, to be wild? And I think that is a good mixture of, like, wonderment and, like, comedy. I love the sentimental aspect of this. But again, like, there's things where, like, I was like, you don't need that line. We know they love each other. You don't actually have to say I love you to know that this little gosling loves Mommy Roz. Like, we don't have to say, I love you, Mommy Roz. They don't say exactly that. Well, they kind of say it...
BIRCH: I disagree.
METZGER: Oh, really?
BIRCH: Yeah, I do. I think that it is important to teach kids that you can say I love you. I grew up in an era where you're just kind of, like, just quiet, and it's implied by what people do for you. But I think it's important, as someone who's experienced a lot of loss in the last few years, to make sure you are saying I love you to people.
THOMPSON: I agree with Nikki that that's never a bad lesson to teach. I think that this mileage is going to vary for any given viewer of this film. There are moments in which it feels a little bit kind of slathered on when it might have stepped back and been a little more subtle. But the fact of the matter is, I mean, there's a point in this film where there's kind of a discussion of parenting. Kind of a twin discussion of parenting and programming.
BIRCH: Yeah.
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: And kind of how we are and aren't programmed to help others. And I sat in the theater and just involuntarily, at one point in this conversation, just went, wow. Like, actually discussion of how hard and, in some ways, unnatural-feeling parenting can be.
BIRCH: I loved that.
THOMPSON: It made me think a lot about when we talk about kids' movies on this show - we often talk about, like, does it have enough for the parents? You know...
BIRCH: Right.
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...When we talk about "Despicable Me 4," like, does this have enough jokes that appeal to people over 6?
THOMPSON: You know, we had that conversation about a lot of different films. Nikki, as you said, like, there are jokes in this film, and you chuckle all the way through. But what's there for the parents is more of an emotional ride...
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: Right.
THOMPSON: ...Than I've necessarily experienced in all but a handful of kids' movies. And the movies that I would bring up would be movies that are clearly influences here, whether we're talking about "WALL-E" or "The Iron Giant" or "Big Hero 6," where, you know, you have movies involving robots and learning and intense, intense, intense tear-jerking emotion.
BIRCH: I'm not a parent, but I really loved the, you know, between Pinktail, and Roz, the conversation about parenting. There was somebody in front of me who was like, that's real.
(LAUGHTER)
BIRCH: But as we're talking just right now, it also reminds me of that monologue from "Barbie." You know, like, this is what it's like. You have to do this. You have to do that. But my favorite takeaway from that was, like, there is no playbook. You're making it up as you go.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WILD ROBOT")
O'HARA: (As Pinktail) As far as he's concerned, you're his mother now.
NYONG'O: (As Roz) I do not have the programming to be a mother.
O'HARA: (As Pinktail) No one does. We just make it up.
THOMPSON: It's almost like a parenting monologue equivalent to "Barbie." I had not drawn a line from "Barbie" to this film. I think that scene is going to really, really resonate with parenting. Like, it put me in parenting feels like I have not felt in a movie outside of something like "Lady Bird" in a long time.
Yeah. One thing that really jumped out about this film is this is a movie that does not entirely shy away from the darkness inherent in nature, to the point where it's not necessarily a movie that's for every little kid.
BIRCH: I agree with you. I mean, they reach into dark topics - and kind of unflinchingly. You can learn really quick about the food chain in the forest, and everybody's subject to it. And I like that because that's how life is. Not everybody makes it.
METZGER: I mean, there's a reason people, like, think about "Bambi." Like, it is a sad movie. It's - everyone's, like, this is the first time I really sobbed, like, in theaters in some ways. I completely agree. I think talking about death is so important, and it's better to start it early with a little comedic. And also, the later parts of the story, like, touch on the idea of survival, like, the importance of how hard it is to survive when you are in these settings. And I think, like, that is something that is a good way to explore that idea because they're animals, because it's a wilderness. You could be like, well, yes. And then there's also a little bit of yes, but, which I think is the right mixture when you're talking about that topic.
THOMPSON: So I wanted to talk a little bit about the animation style. You know, we've alluded to it a little bit. But, you know, this is from DreamWorks, which has kind of evolved over the years from the slightly crude, in more ways than one, style of, like, the "Shrek" movies to this more painterly, like, artistically diverse, drawing from a lot of different sources, whether it's paintings or Miyazaki movies - or I think about, like, how those "Kung Fu Panda" movies look or how - "How To Train Your Dragon" - that have a more painterly look to them. What did you guys think of the animation of this film?
METZGER: One of the things that I really appreciated is it didn't - and this is going to sound like a slight to the studio, but it did not look like a DreamWorks film to me.
BIRCH: Yes.
METZGER: There are moments where you can kind of see it in some of the character design. I think there's something about, like, certain eye color where I'm like, there's some kind of like "Kung Fu Panda," like, way that we're showing animals, like, maybe some of the ones that are not main characters.
THOMPSON: Right.
METZGER: But it really just surprised me just how simple and beautiful it is. Not that I don't think DreamWorks has that. I do think they do, but I think it has so much of that - just it felt like a storybook come to life. Like, you can tell the influence...
BIRCH: Yes.
METZGER: ...Of Disney.
BIRCH: That's a good way of putting it.
METZGER: You can really feel the influence. I mean, they talked about Miyazaki, and you can see some of that. I think they were talking about in some of the press about, like, "Totoro," and I was like...
LIZ METZGER AND NIKKI BIRCH: Yes.
METZGER: I'm a sucker for all things like that. And I loved that was in this film because, again, I think that's what also makes it for adults. It also makes it feel more like...
BIRCH: Yeah.
METZGER: ...Something else. Like, the sentiment is there. There's just so many little, tiny core elements of this film that make it feel like it's elevated beyond what I was really expecting.
BIRCH: Yeah, same. I think that often the combination of, like, 2D and 3D stuff, CGI can be really clumsy.
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: And feel like they didn't think it all the way through. But they nailed it for me. Like, I'm a big Studio Ghibli fan. I'm a big anime fan. And to see these things kind of come together in a way that just - they nailed it. Like, you've got...
METZGER: Yeah.
BIRCH: ...Impressionist art. You've got abstract art. You can tell that somebody really cared about the way that this looked, and that was one of my favorite things about the movie.
THOMPSON: Yeah. You can almost see brushstrokes...
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...In some of the scenes from this film. Their way of rendering leaves.
METZGER: Oh, my gosh. Or, like, the butterfly leaves that were, like, flying off.
BIRCH: Oh, my goodness. Yes.
THOMPSON: I really didn't want to get through this discussion without mentioning how beautiful this film is to look at and how effectively it juxtaposes kind of some of the iconic structures of, like, the way the robot cuts a certain profile against nature.
BIRCH: Yeah.
THOMPSON: I think it is such a gorgeous film to look at. And that's one of the things that for me made it that much more emotionally resonant, is there were...
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Scenes in the film and kind of stills from the film where you kind of - you almost, like, blink and pause the film in your mind. And you just think, like, I'd put that on my wall.
BIRCH: Absolutely.
THOMPSON: That to me is the sign - and, like, animation has come such a long way in just the last 25 years as, you know, there's more of a combination of kind of computer renderings, you know, with hand-drawn stuff and, you know, films like the Spider-Verse movies...
BIRCH: Yes. That's what I was just thinking about. Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...That are constantly mixing up animation styles. And that's something I think the best DreamWorks movies have done, including - I always keep coming back to "Kung Fu Panda" movies.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: But those films are so gorgeous to look at.
METZGER: Yeah.
THOMPSON: And this film, to me, is right in the pocket of that evolution. And that's one of the things that I really, really appreciated the most about it.
METZGER: I think the lighting is also something I kept thinking about. You see these outlines of the robot and the spaceship coming down. You see these photos of the, like, robot with the lighting of the little gosling in his hand. You're like, oh, my God. This is what we deserve all the time. We should expect this all the time, which we don't always get maybe here in the U.S. But, like, they need to look at this success and learn.
BIRCH: Oh, yeah. Nailing lighting in an animation is something that I always pay attention to because it's - I mean, even in just paintings, how did you get that to look so real?
THOMPSON: Liz, you briefly mentioned the voice cast, but I wanted to touch on it a little bit more. I mean, you have this central performance by Lupita Nyong'o, who is having to give a certain amount of kind of computerized warmth to this voice. I think that's a subtly strong performance.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE WILD ROBOT")
NYONG'O: (As Roz) On a scale of 1 to 10, where 10 is most satisfied, and 1 is least, how would you rate my performance?
(SOUNDBITE OF GOSLING CHIRPING)
NYONG'O: (As Roz) I will register that as a 10.
THOMPSON: All around the margins, you have a pretty all-star animation voice cast. You've got Stephanie Hsu, Catherine O'Hara - Catherine O'Hara, who is in the two top-grossing movies in America right now.
METZGER: Double feature, y'all. Double feature.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
BIRCH: Killing it.
THOMPSON: But Bill Nighy, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, Ving Rhames. What did you think of the voice cast? Did you have any favorite performances?
BIRCH: Matt Berry is always going to be my favorite because I love his voice. No matter - just I think about "What We Do In The Shadows," and he's my favorite character. But it's because of his voice and his vocal performance.
METZGER: Lupita is - I think it was just such a standout performance vocally. A lot of celebrities do voice acting to varying degrees. But I think the thing that I could really tell - when you're making something that's, like, a robot, so, like, as you said, like, kind of this artificial pleasantness, kindness.
BIRCH: Yeah.
METZGER: And then to show, like, when do you start breaking that down? When do you start showing emotions? How are you going through it? Like, I felt there was so much in that performance that I thought everyone else was - I was, like, I thought Kit Connor was a pretty good little gosling. I thought he was this, oh, rebellious teen. But I really thought Lupita is just really, like, grounding this film. I can imagine a version of this film where no one is talking but her.
BIRCH: (Laughter).
METZGER: Maybe in my version, where there's less dialogue.
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
METZGER: But, like, I think, like, that helped me really ground the rest of the world, and I think that really was fun to see in contrast to Stephanie Hsu's character, which is, like, full robot pleasantry, like, automation, a robot that does not interact with that. And so you could really see the differences in that - those performances, which I really liked.
THOMPSON: Yeah. I appreciated the juxtaposition between those two performances. Stephanie Hsu, at one point, this mix of, like, cheer and menace.
METZGER: Yes.
BIRCH: Yes.
METZGER: Super menacing.
THOMPSON: But at one point, her character says that she is - I'm morally neutral.
BIRCH: (Laughter) Yeah.
THOMPSON: And it is one of the most chilling things that a character could say in this film. And I think that speaks to the levels that this film is working on. This is a movie that adults can really appreciate. This is a movie that kids can really appreciate. I think - is it a little too scary for very little kids? I think, yes. Other than that, this is a film that works on multiple levels for multiple generations, and I, for one, highly recommend it. All right. Well, we want to know what you think about "The Wild Robot." Safe to say we liked it. Find us at facebook.com/pchh. That brings us to the end of our show. Nikki Birch, Liz Metzger, thanks so much for being here.
METZGER: Yay. Thanks, Stephen.
BIRCH: Hey. Always fun.
THOMPSON: This episode was produced by Hafsa Fathima and Liz Metzger and edited by Mike Katzif. Our supervising producer is Jessica Reedy, and Hello Come In provides our theme music. Thank you for listening to POP CULTURE HAPPY HOUR from NPR. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all tomorrow.
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