'The Wild Robot' is grand and gorgeous, with big feelings

By Liz Metzger,

Stephen Thompson, Jessica Reedy, Mike Katzif, A Noah Harrison, Nikki Birch

Published October 2, 2024 at 8:22 AM EDT

Lupita Nyong'o voices Roz in The Wild Robot. — Lupita Nyong'o voices Roz in *The Wild Robot.*

The Wild Robot is a gorgeous and moving new animated movie from Dreamworks. It follows a helper robot named Roz (Lupita Nyong'o) who washes up on the beach of a remote island and learns to blend in with the wildlife. After an accident, Roz unexpectedly finds herself the caregiver of a baby gosling named Brightbill (Kit O'Connor) Soon, it's learning lessons about parenthood and sacrifice while teaching the animals to work together.

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Liz Metzger

Stephen Thompson

Stephen Thompson is a writer, editor and reviewer for NPR Music, where he speaks into any microphone that will have him and appears as a frequent panelist on All Songs Considered. Since 2010, Thompson has been a fixture on the NPR roundtable podcast Pop Culture Happy Hour, which he created and developed with NPR correspondent Linda Holmes. In 2008, he and Bob Boilen created the NPR Music video series Tiny Desk Concerts, in which musicians perform at Boilen's desk. (To be more specific, Thompson had the idea, which took seconds, while Boilen created the series, which took years. Thompson will insist upon equal billing until the day he dies.)

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Jessica Reedy

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Mike Katzif

A Noah Harrison

Nikki Birch