Let me be frank, I haven’t liked many movies I’ve watched in my young adult life. Between dumpster fires like “Morbius” and snore fests like Disney’s “Wish,” the last decade has given us some truly uninteresting media. But every nightmare ends eventually, after powering through four years of rushed Marvel shows and unnecessary sequels, we finally might be seeing a hint of light at the end of this excruciatingly long tunnel.
DreamWorks in the last 10 years has been incredibly inconsistent: We’ve had the Good, such as “Puss in Boots,” the Mediocre, such as “Kung Fu Panda 4,” and the Downright Awful “Megamind 2.” But with its newest original, “The Wild Robot,” DreamWorks may have some peak cinema at its hands.
Adapted from the pages of the best-selling novel series of the same name, “The Wild Robot” feels almost 2000’s Pixar-esque in its writing, taking on a mature, serious tone that is light when it needs to be, with the emotional touch perfectly engineered to make everyone bawl. Rozzum 7134 or “Roz” is a static being who develops emotion she can’t define, no less unlocked by the adorable gosling she raises, lovingly dubbed Brightbill.
The film’s plot is an adaptation of not only the first novel by Peter Brown but the second as well – using the first act for Roz to adapt to her new ecosystem, and the second act to defend it from other bots.
Arguably a character of its own, the orchestral soundtrack fills moments that don’t require dialogue to convey the characters’ emotions. In one of the best “show, don’t tell” scenes I’ve witnessed, Roz watches from a cliffside as Brightbill leaves the island for his migration.
“The Wild Robot” is a great film. I can’t wait to see what else this studio might dream up for the near future.
Transformers movies of the 2000’s don’t have the best reputation, with poor writing choices that favor action over character work and that flip from one fabled artifact mcguffin to the next. That dark era has finally come to an end with a new dawn for the franchise.
“Transformers One” is a movie where the characters really shine in their writing. D-16, future Decepticon leader Megatron, goes from a soft-spoken minor to a betrayed revolutionary in a way that feels fluid throughout the film. Meanwhile Orion Pax, future Autobot Commander Optimus Prime, grows into the leader he doesn’t know he was destined to become. The story of these bot-brothers-turned-fierce-foes is gripping and heart wrenching.
The soundtrack of “Transformers One” is nothing short of phenomenal. Taking inspiration from the 1986 “Transformers” film as well as from the award-winning show “Transformers Prime,” composer Bryan Tyler weaves an outstanding accompaniment to this new film.
Unfortunately the marketing was not on par with the movie itself. It underperformed in theaters largely due to the initial trailer’s focus on the more stereotypical “kids movie” nature of many animated features; but if you haven’t seen it, you should. This movie is incredibly underrated and deserves your watch.
