The Wild Robot, from DreamWorks Animation, tells a story of not belonging, finding your place in the world, and thinking for yourself. It’s a beautiful message that will resonate with children. It is rated PG and does have a few scary scenes.

The Wild Robot, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, calls herself Roz. Roz finds herself on an island after a shipwreck. Her programming and mission is to complete household tasks, but none of the creatures on the island have any tasks for her. She wanders the island looking for the person who bought her and for a task to do. All she finds are unfriendly animals and a rugged environment.

She struggles with a fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) over a goose egg and finally has custody of the egg. Somehow her task becomes taking care of the egg/gosling and helping it eat, swim, and fly by fall.

All the animals are afraid of the monster robot. She befriends the fox and when the egg hatches she names it Brightbill (Kit Connor). She saves all the animals from a blizzard and everyone becomes her friends. The animals have to be friends with each other as well, at least temporarily, in order to survive the blizzard.

They all become cheerleaders for Brightbill learning to swim and fly. The head goose, Longneck (Bill Nighy), gives Roz advice for how to make sure Brightbill will be ready for the fall migration. Brightbill goes into training for a long flight.

With voices by Stephanie Hsu, Ving Rhames, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, and Catherine O’Hara, there are possums, bears, hawks, raccoons, and other creatures interacting in the story. They are all cute and lovable. Roz is full of surprises and can turn herself into all sorts of funny shapes and do amazing things. Kids will love it.

That’s the story, but the message is about feeling lonely and left out, feeling like you don’t belong. Brightbill has to find his place, and so does Roz. Roz has to overcome her programming and think for herself, which is another strong thematic story element.

Finding love with your own family or a found family and thinking critically are two themes that many children need right now. The Wild Robot delivers that message is a delightful, colorful, heartwarming way.

Both children and parents can enjoy this one. It’s nominated for the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film for 2025, as well as for music and sound awards.

It’s streaming now on Peacock.