The Wild Robot is one of the best animated productions of the past decade

The engagingly entertaining The Wild Robot is in instant-classic territory, writes Leigh Paatsch.

New to the big screen this week are a heartwarming family gem and a truly horrifying gorefest that will rank among the year’s best movies.

THE WILD ROBOT (PG)

Roz (Lupita N’yongo) and Brightbill (Kit Connor) in The Wild Robot.

Director: Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon)

Starring: the voices of Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy

Rating:★★★★½

Learning her lessons the heart way

There is no real need to dance around the clear and emphatic truth: The Wild Robot is not only one of the best movies of 2024, this powerfully poignant and engagingly entertaining affair also stands as one of the best animated productions of the past decade.

It only takes five minutes or so to establish we are in instant-classic territory here, courtesy of an opening act that provokes nothing but sincere awe, wonder and deep connection.

This is where we first meet a robot that goes by the name of Rozzum Unit 7134, or Roz for short.

This AI-powered multipurpose machine (voiced to perfection by Lupita Nyong’o) has washed up on the shore of a remote island and immediately activates start-up.

The one goal of Roz and other models in her product line is to identify a task and see it through to completion.

Upon detecting there are no humans around to avail themselves of her services, Roz powers down into self-learning mode and observes the behaviour of the plentiful wildlife that lives on the island.

A month later, Roz switches herself on again, and has now gleaned enough fresh data to speak the language of each and every animal on this isolated patch of land.

Roz has gleaned enough fresh data to speak the language of each and every animal on the isolated island.

Better still, Roz has found herself that task her programming has been pining for. She has three months to raise, educate and train an orphan gosling named Brightbill to join the rest of his species for their next migration south.

After taking considered advice from the likes of the wily fox Fink (Pedro Pascal) and the wise possum mother Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara), Roz develops both a clever cunning and emotional empathy that defies her internal wiring.

Adapted from the first in a trilogy of best-selling children’s books by Peter Brown, The Wild Robot is one of those rare all-age productions that effortlessly pleases a crowd while pressing on towards achieving its higher ambitions.

Visually, the illustrative style of the animation immediately has you wishing you could step inside the screen and explore the world within at length. The look and feel of the movie is unyieldingly calming and captivating.

The performances of the voice cast are equally excellent, with a dynamic Nyong’o leading the way with a endearingly nuanced delivery that turns out to be anything but robotic.

If you don’t take your kids to see The Wild Robot this school holidays, only one question remains: what did they do to deserve such punishment?

The Wild Robot is in cinemas now

THE SUBSTANCE (R18+)

Demi Moore in The Substance.

Rating:★★★½

General release

It is a cinematic yardstick that will continue to stand the test of time: the one job of a horror movie is to horrify. When applied to The Substance, all that can be declared is that the job has been brutally well done. If only it had been half-an-hour shorter (the running time is well north of two hours) and not so prone to getting high on its own supply of gore, this could have matched Longlegs for best-horror-flick-of-2024 honours. Goes mighty close, though.

Margaret Qualley as the younger, hotter version of Elizabeth.

And that’s all down to what is a true career-best performance from Demi Moore as Elizabeth, a washed-up Hollywood star who plots a path back to fame and fortune by cloning a younger, hotter version of herself that goes by the name of Sue (Margaret Qualley). The gruesome self-injected procedure that makes this body-swap possible comes with a serious set of rules that both Elizabeth and Sue gradually break, setting the scene for a calamitously grotesque showdown that no viewer could possibly ever forget.

Recommended only to those horror buffs who reckon they can handle the strong stuff.

HAROLD & THE PURPLE CRAYON (PG)

Moose (Lil Rel Howery) and Harold (Zachary Levi) in Harold & the Purple Crayon.

Rating:★★

General release

Gotta feel sorry for poor old Harold & the Purple Crayon. This lethargic adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s classic children’s book of yesteryear (a big influence on Where the Wild Things Are and so many other kids’ faves) gets just about everything wrong, and yet, almost nudges its way into partial favour with an occasional moment of genuine inspiration. The big mistake here is blindingly obvious.

In the book, Harold was an impish four-year-old with a magic crayon who could design his own adventures with fantastical creatures simply by drawing them. In this movie, Harold is a limpish bloke in his thirties (played by Shazam’s Zachary Levi) who owns the very same crayon, and moves through the modern world wearing his very own onesie pyjamas. He befriends an introverted kid with a friend-making impediment, and together they teach each other a lesson or two about, sigh, the healing higher power of imagination. This conceit is handled as clunkily as that other recent imaginary-friend dud IF, despite boasting a superior array of minor characters (and creatures). Co-stars Zooey Deschanel.

Originally published as The Wild Robot is one of the best animated productions of the past decade