Tag Archives: Drama

The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (2024)

27 Sunday Apr 2025

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(For Day 27 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on a detail of a painting, but I think I’ll go off-prompt today and cover a movie I’ve been meaning to review for a while.)

The legends that matter endure through time.
The others are lost with a final breath,
Were not so luck’ly preserved in rhyme,
And died an unremembered death.

What could have saved the tales so lost?
A copied scroll or a memorized line?
What bade a once-loved myth be tossed
Ere passing history’s finish line?

What wonders, horrors, joys, and fears
Have gone extinct with fossils none?
The stories mute for want of ears…
I wish I could read oblivion.
___________________

If you imagine a Venn diagram with anime fandom and Lord of the Rings fandom as the two circles, I would be squarely in the middle of the shared area. Therefore, an anime spin-off film set a couple hundred years before The Fellowship of the Ring was right up my alley from the start. Focusing on one of the legendary tales of the horse-riding nation of Rohan, the story follows Princess Héra (Gaia Wise), daughter of King Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), as she defends her nation from the invasion of Wulf (Luke Pasqualino), a former friend bent on vengeance.

The most common criticism I heard about War of the Rohirrim was about the choppy animation, and yes, character movement is a bit stilted at times, particularly at the beginning. Even using a 3D rotoscope-like technology, Sola Entertainment as a studio can’t match the butter-smooth animation of MAPPA or Science Saru, so we can only imagine how different the style might have been in the hands of a different studio. But the animation is still good throughout and even excels in the big action moments, and best of all, the style compliments Peter Jackson’s version of Middle-earth with some outstanding backgrounds and scenery. (Besides, the previous standard for LotR animation was Rankin/Bass or Ralph Bakshi, and this is still a cut above those.)

Beyond the animation, I’ve heard all the complaints, from the plot being too long, the characters one-note, the story being basically female-forward fan fiction since Héra isn’t even named in the Tolkien appendices from which the plot was drawn (and the film doesn’t explain why she was supposedly left out of the official history). And yet, I really liked this movie, my inherent love of the franchise winning out over all else. None of those grievances detracted from the experience of being able to visit Middle-earth again, with Howard Shore’s Rohan theme setting the epic mood and some hype-worthy set pieces bringing the action. A friend who saw it with me thought it went too anime at times, with clearly human characters pulling off superhuman feats as if they were elves, but I saw such moments perhaps as embellishments, considering the story is told as a legend of Rohan by the narrating voice of Eowyn (Miranda Otto). I also thought Héra was a good example of a “strong female character,” by simply rising to the challenge set before her rather than harping about gender differences or whatnot, similar to Miyazaki’s Nausicaä, who was cited as an influence by Wise.

All in all, The War of the Rohirrim is an epic story that continues the tradition of Peter Jackson’s world. Even if it was simply an expendable side project so New Line could hold onto the Tolkien rights, that just makes the care and quality that was put into it that much more impressive. It broke my heart then that, whether due to disinterest or poor marketing, the film flopped last December, failing to even earn back its budget. I don’t deny that it had room to be better with smoother animation or more interesting dialogue, but it met my high expectations for a Middle-earth movie and, in my opinion, deserved better.

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Dead Man Walking (1995)

26 Saturday Apr 2025

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(For Day 26 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was simply for a sonnet, in my case, a Shakespearean. I enjoy this form, since it lets me delve into heavier themes and my sonnet for Time of Eve is one of my personal favorite NaPoWriMo posts, so here goes another.)

Is death deserved and who decides the guilt?
The question haunts the conscience of mankind.
“Thou shalt not kill,” foundation for us built,
But punishment frets our reluctant mind.
The fear the felling blow perhaps may land
On innocence mistaken for the crime
Delays the price that bloody sins demand
And stretches out their pending ending time.
And what finality to halt a heart,
Declaring second chances null and void!
Not “vengeance is the Lord’s,” but ours, in part,
More death where life’s already been destroyed.
An “eye for eye” or “life for life” is fair
But leaves so very much beyond repair.
__________________________

MPA rating: R (for language and intensity)

It’s rare to find a film that manages to cover every angle of a controversial issue as deftly as Dead Man Walking while also remaining an engaging story. Based on the non-fiction book by Sister Helen Prejean, the film follows the plain-clothes Catholic nun (played by Susan Sarandon) as she becomes the spiritual advisor to Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), a convicted rapist and murderer on Louisiana’s death row. All the arguments for and against capital punishment get their say, and while Sister Prejean’s faith puts her on the pro-life/anti-death side, her conversations with the families of the murder victims make the grief of the opposing side completely understandable. She is criticized for even considering offering comfort to Poncelet as he awaits his execution, and at times, he acts like the unsympathetic monster everyone believes him to be. Yet, just like the old “no atheists in foxholes” saying, Poncelet’s need for forgiveness and human compassion becomes more and more apparent as the end draws nearer.

I get that Braveheart was the epic juggernaut for the 1995 Oscars season, but the sheer emotional power behind Dead Man Walking makes the fact that it wasn’t even nominated for Best Picture a travesty. And the same goes for Nicolas Cage winning Best Actor over both Penn and Richard Dreyfuss in Mr. Holland’s Opus! At least Susan Sarandon won an absolutely deserved Oscar for her nuanced performance, often just sitting and listening to others but mirroring every emotion of the audience with her expressive eyes. Penn proves his acting prowess at every turn (it’s gratifying that he at least went on to win two Oscars to make up for this loss), and his final scene is a harrowing and devastating gut punch, similar to the end of Dancer in the Dark. Director and writer Tim Robbins made a poignant masterpiece with Dead Man Walking, one worth opening up uncomfortable discussions around capital punishment and justice, themes that remain timely even thirty years later.

Best line: (Sister Helen) “Mr. Percy, I’m just trying to follow the example of Jesus, who said that a person is not as bad as his worst deed.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Trap (2024)

26 Saturday Apr 2025

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(For Day 25 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about an experience with live music. Considering most of this thriller takes place at a concert, it seemed like the obvious choice.)

A thrill runs through the crowd and me,
For I am the crowd in part.
Here to laud our artist’s art
Dance and sing with all our heart,
Scream their name till they depart,
Loud is the crowd and me.

No telling who’s here in the crowd and me,
Obscurity safe in swarm.
Stay in the median; stick to the norm;
Cheer when they look at you gladly conform.
This is your cover from out of the storm,
Shrouded in crowd and me.

A drop in the ocean, the crowd and me,
Where malice is easily hid.
I’m like that guy, that girl, that kid,
So in the know, I’m off the grid,
And nobody knows the things I did,
Proud in the crowd and me.
_________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

M. Night Shyamalan had such a slump after his initial success that any film better than his low points is a welcome treat in my reckoning. In Trap, a Philadelphia fireman named Cooper (Josh Hartnett) takes his teen daughter Riley (Ariel Donoghue) to a massive concert by her favorite pop star Lady Raven (the director’s daughter Saleka Night Shyamalan). While there, he notices increased police presence and learns that the event is intended to capture the serial killer known as “the Butcher,” and since Cooper is the Butcher, he is forced to get creative in escaping.

Seeing Trap the first time in theaters was a fun watch, if a bit far-fetched, and I recall discounting the more vocal criticism I heard against it. Then watching it again with a family member made me notice just how… artificial the dialogue is. Cooper’s interactions with his daughter, a fellow parent, and various people he fools all feel stilted in a way that is likely owed to Shyamalan’s weakness as a writer, but it also kind of works in this context since Cooper’s whole life of normalcy is a facade meant to keep others away from his psychopathic secret. And Hartnett really sells the character, managing that stilted charm and shifting on a dime to darker intentions beneath, the kind of psycho performance that proves an actor’s chops.

Despite that mixed benefit of the script, the film still hinges on a lot of suspension of disbelief with how trusting everyone is and how easily Cooper manages to evade authorities. It’s also a blatant nepo commercial for Shyamalan’s daughter’s pop music career, but I can’t really fault him for wanting to give her the Taylor Swift treatment. Luckily, she is quite talented, and the background of original pop songs gives the film a memorably unique setting. I’ll admit on the second watch that Trap is yet another flawed Shyamalan thriller with unfulfilled potential, but it’s still decently entertaining and, for me, shows his quality is thankfully on the upswing.

Rank: Honorable Mention

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Here Today (2021)

25 Friday Apr 2025

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(For Day 24 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about “people making music together,” ideally with a reference to another poem or song, so I took a comedian’s metaphorical view.)

Music can sound like many things,
Beyond the range of voice and strings.
To Andrew Lloyd Webber, the yowls of cats;
To Dracula, ‘tis the shrieks of bats;
To Beethoven, a silent dream;
To Pollock, friendship with a theme;
To writers, their pithier paragraphs;
But in my case, it’s laughs.

I’ve trained my ear here over the years,
And many a friend has shared premieres:
A generous bellow is melody mellow,
And chuckles transport me more than any cello;
A snicker is symphony; cracks, a cornet;
And two people cackling’s like a duet.
I’ve been a conductor of smiles, my dear,
A banter-and-beam balladeer.
________________________

MPA rating: PG-13

Directed and co-written by Billy Crystal (alongside SNL writer Alan Zweibel), Here Today is my kind of film, the sort that critics acknowledge as pleasant while criticizing its sentimentality. Well, maybe I’m just sentimental because I thoroughly enjoyed it! Crystal plays aging comedy writer Charlie Burnz, who is trying to hide his developing symptoms of Alzheimer’s from his coworkers and estranged children. Through a serendipity of spite and epinephrine, he builds an unlikely relationship with a singer named Emma (Tiffany Haddish), who becomes the friend and confidante he needs most right now.

Crystal still boasts an effortless comic touch and manages to mix it with deep pathos as his character feels his life, his work, his memories of love slipping away. I’m generally not a fan of Haddish’s loud-mouthed comedy, but she reins it in somewhat while remaining an endearing contrast to Charlie. (It’s neat knowing they became real-life friends too.) There’s some awkward uncertainty over whether their bond will veer toward romance, but thankfully it stays meaningfully platonic.

Along with some nice cameos, Here Today has several great scenes that could be deemed corny with the right cynicism, like Charlie’s flashbacks to his wife, his epic comedic meltdown during a live show, or Emma’s impromptu singalong at a bat mitzvah, but I like to keep my cynicism low enough to enjoy a film like this. Its release sadly suffered from the lingering pandemic slump, but, in my book, Here Today is another charmer to Billy Crystal’s credit.

Best line: (Charlie) “I’m writing something, and I have to finish before my words run out.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Flow (2024)

23 Wednesday Apr 2025

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(For Day 23 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem focusing on birdsong. For some reason, I went with a bird of prey’s screech instead of the more pleasant bird sounds. It’s not even that applicable to this film, though there is a bird of prey in it. I’m also sick, which is why I missed yesterday, so I’ll have to catch up later.)

The cry of a bird of prey,
Sharp, shrill shriek,
Looking down from the sky,
Strong far above the weak,
Razor talons, knife beak.

Eyes follow every move,
Sharp, skilled sight,
Spotting each potential meal,
Every morsel worth a bite,
So unlucky lacking flight.

The dive of a bird of prey,
Sharp, still stop,
Then down, down, angle steep,
Silent in its violent drop,
Reaper of the flesh crop.
___________________

MPA rating: PG

As a cat lover and a fan of serious animation, the trailer alone was enough to interest me in Flow, the little Latvian film that could, and did win the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. Told through a small collection of animal characters entirely without words, the story depicts an increasingly catastrophic flood and the way the wildlife handle their shared struggle for survival. It particularly follows a dark gray cat, who ends up sharing a boat Life-of-Pi-style with a capybara, a lemur, a Labrador Retriever, and a secretary bird.

The wordless interactions between the animals transcend language and are brilliantly rendered via the dynamic animation, surprisingly using only free Blender software, and, without any explanation of what is happening, the viewer is simply along for the ride, taking each danger as it comes with the animals. And despite an absence of human characters, the animals manage to represent human traits without being outright anthropomorphized, such as the lemur’s fascination with shiny things that triggers grief when it loses its possessions to the rising tides. Though a supernatural turn toward the end felt confusingly out of place, Flow is a fascinating adventure in the tradition of silent films, short, sweet, and visually magical; it’s a fine animated film, but I still contend The Wild Robot should have won instead.

Best line: Any meow from the cat

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
807 Followers and Counting

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

19 Saturday Apr 2025

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(For Day 19 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a story poem “in the style of a blues song or ballad,” and the mention of crimes and murder ballads brought to mind this classic.)

The money could run and the tellers could hide,
But that meant fun for Bonnie and Clyde.
Never was a danger from which they shied.
Ride or die were Bonnie and Clyde.

The banks would quail at the loss of pride,
Left in the trail of Bonnie and Clyde.
Withdrawals like theirs couldn’t be denied;
Ride or die were Bonnie and Clyde.

Warn all the wimps and stay inside
If you get a glimpse of Bonnie and Clyde.
Quick with a trigger and wild-eyed,
Ride or die were Bonnie and Clyde.

Gotta get caught to be cuffed and tried,
And they were not, not Bonnie and Clyde.
Famed and feared both far and wide,
Ride or die were Bonnie and Clyde.

King and queen of the homicide,
None came between ol’ Bonnie and Clyde.
Couldn’t last long till they lost their stride;
Ride and die did Bonnie and Clyde.
_______________________

MPA rating: R (for violence, though closer to PG-13 by today’s standards)

I saw Bonnie and Clyde more out of deference for its reputation than personal interest, since I’m not typically a fan of crime films known for their violence. (This was before the passing of Gene Hackman that made the recent watch even more worthwhile.) But I was very pleasantly surprised.

Faye Dunaway’s Bonnie Parker and Warren Beatty’s Clyde Barrow are quintessential anti-heroes, earning sympathy with their romantic chemistry and Depression-relevant targeting of banks yet allowing their bad choices to spiral further and further into infamy. They eventually form a gang with Clyde’s brother Buck (Hackman), Buck’s excitable wife Blanche (Estelle Parsons), and a mechanic accomplice C. W. Moss (Michael J. Pollard), terrorizing the countryside and evading the law, for a while at least.

The film is full of little moments that make the characters more than one-dimensional villains, like the head-butting between Bonnie and Blanche or the brief kidnapping of a young couple (including Gene Wilder in his film debut) that reveals Bonnie’s aversion to any reminder of death. Bonnie’s brief reunion with her mother (Mabel Cavitt, a local extra chosen for the role) especially brings home how much their crime spree has ruined a chance at a normal life, something with which they may never have been satisfied anyway. I also quite liked the inclusion of a poem the real Bonnie Parker wrote about themselves, which would have made my Poems in Movies list had I known about it then.

Bonnie and Clyde is famous for its taboo-breaking depiction of violence, though it’s quite tame compared with even TV shows these days, and it serves the story well, especially in the famous final scene. The film is also beautifully shot, and all the major performances excel and were Oscar-nominated, though Estelle Parsons (probably the weakest link) was the only one to win, along with the cinematography. Combining history, romance, and tragedy, Bonnie and Clyde certainly deserves its status as a classic.

Best line: (Clyde, responding to Bonnie’s poem) “You know what you done there? You told my story, you told my whole story right there, right there. One time, I told you I was gonna make you somebody. That’s what you done for me. You made me somebody they’re gonna remember.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
806 Followers and Counting

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973)

19 Saturday Apr 2025

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(For Day 18 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about singing in a car, incorporating a song lyric. Well, I went the simpler, time-saving route of a couple haikus. Doesn’t everyone do this at some point in NaPoWriMo?)

Friendship only lasts
As long as the unforked road.
After that, farewell.

The West was not won;
It was lost, shot by dead shot.
Its carcass is home.
________________________

MPA rating: R (for violence and nudity)

There’s something to be said for the clear black-and-white heroics of the old-fashioned western, with the likes of John Wayne and Gary Cooper, but I can appreciate the grayer areas represented by films like Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Directed by Sam Peckinpah, the film dramatizes two big names of the Old West, notorious outlaw Billy the Kid (Kris Kristofferson) and his former friend-turned-sheriff Pat Garrett (James Coburn). After Garrett becomes a lawman, he warns the unperturbed Billy that he’ll have to bring him to justice, and so he does, with many deaths, escapes, and betrayals along the way.

Coburn and Kristofferson make a great pair of leads, the former sporting an icy glare confirming when he means business and the latter full of smirking charisma even when he’s being threatened. They’re surrounded by a who’s who of excellent character actors of the time, most notably Bob Dylan in a self-insert kind of role on the sidelines, owing to the fact that he also wrote the score and the anachronistic but strangely fitting song “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” used to haunting effect during several death scenes. The shootouts are often the best parts, particularly Billy’s escape from custody, where he shoots and drops a one-liner straight out of a Home Alone gangster movie.

While Garrett’s pursuit of Billy is clearly driven by justice, there are several reminders of the blurred morality of the West, from Garrett’s visit with prostitutes (one of the more unnecessary R-rated scenes) to Billy’s defense of a Mexican family being raped by men working under a local cattle baron. By the end, both men have killed enough to be guilty, and neither is pleased with the prospect of felling a friend. Though bloodier than I like in its violence, as was Peckinpah’s trademark, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid is quite an engrossing western, fueled by the excellent performances of its dual antiheroes.

Best line: (Billy) “Ol’ Pat… Sheriff Pat Garrett. Sold out to the Santa Fe ring. How does it feel?”
(Pat) “It feels like… times have changed.”
(Billy) “Times, maybe. Not me.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

Look Back (2024)

18 Friday Apr 2025

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(For Day 17 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem about friendship, drawing inspiration from the works of surrealist painters and friends Remedios Varo and Leonora Carrington, like this one perhaps. And what better to pair it with than a film about two female artist friends.)

It’s wonderful and harrowing,
Widening and narrowing,
To know that someone better
Is looking o’er your shoulder,

Better at your chosen art,
Finishing the things you start,
Being there to urge you better,
Fire from a smolder.

Admiration in their eyes,
Even as you fantasize
How to match their passion better
Eye-to-eye beholder.
____________________

Rating: 13+ (about a PG)

Imagine if Quentin Tarantino directed Terms of Endearment or David Cronenberg produced Brian’s Song. That’s the kind of bewildering tonal shift reflected by manga artist Tatsuki Fujimoto, best known for the dark and gory Chainsaw Man, also creating Look Back, a one-shot manga volume adapted into this hour-long tearjerker with a 100% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Grade-schooler Ayumu Fujino (Yuumi Kawai) revels in the praise she gets as her class’s resident artist, drawing short manga strips for the school paper, so she is shocked when another girl named Kyomoto seems more talented than her. This spurs her to improve her drawing even more, and eventually the two girls form a collaborative friendship, working together on mangas throughout high school and driving each other to improve. That drive eventually breaks apart their partnership and leads to unforeseen tragedy.

No doubt pulling in personal experience and sorrow over the 2019 Kyoto Animation attack, Look Back certainly proves Fujimoto’s range as a writer. The story may be short and simple, but that only makes its mastery of emotional and visual storytelling even more impressive. Set to a moving score by Haruka Nakamura, a flurry of gorgeously drawn montages manage to depict so much in such little time: the obsession of practicing to fend off fears of inferiority, a growing friendship as Fujino helps the shy Kyomoto out of her shell, the glow of passion and success yielding to business as usual. By the time the story shifts into a brief what-if scenario, every reminder of the early scenes becomes a reason to sob, as well as be inspired. Despite its limited runtime, it’s a touching masterpiece.

Best line: (Fujino) “Keep your eyes on my back, and you’ll grow too.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

Marty (1955)

17 Thursday Apr 2025

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(Yes, I missed yesterday’s post, but I have the poem and will catch up when I have a little extra time for the review. Meanwhile, for Day 16 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem pairing a place with a particular song, so I went with “Unchained Melody,” a favorite of my parents, which came out the same year as this film.)

Out on the sidewalk outside a dance hall,
A man and a woman were side by side,
Lonely surrounded by strangers.
Romance was on the minds of all,
But these two were done, undanced, untried,
Fated to stay as mere strangers.

A slow dance was drifting outside to the street,
“Unchained Melody,” and the mood was set,
The cars and dogwalkers be damned.
And somehow shared bitterness came to be sweet,
Though little had changed in their lives as yet.
The morning could still leave them damned.

But streetlamps were candlelight under that tune;
The concrete gave way to a dance floor below,
And they didn’t mind being passed over.
Their loneliness withering under the moon,
They would have been happy to bask in its glow
And play that song over and over and over.
_________________________

MPA rating: Approved (G)

Modern dating is rough, as many will acknowledge who have been burnt out by dating apps, ghosting, and a general feeling of being unwanted. I know people who feel hopeless when it comes to finding love and scoff at encouragement, and I’ve had moments of despair myself. Yet it’s important to keep in mind that such feelings are not a new phenomenon and were represented quite poignantly in the Best Picture winner of 1955 Marty. Ernest Borgnine plays the title character, a homely butcher who has resigned himself to the single life. At the urging of his very Italian mother (Esther Minciotti), Marty reluctantly agrees to go to a local ballroom and connects with a woman named Clara (Betsy Blair), shy and similarly despondent as she is consistently regarded as a “dog” by her dates. Against all expectations, these two “dogs” wonder if they have found the person for whom they’ve been waiting.

Known to me previously as the answer Herb Stempel was forced to get wrong in Quiz Show, Marty is such a short and simple romance. It has no clever twists or enemies-to-lovers tension, just a sweet and meaningful date between two people close to giving up. Borgnine is a perfect lead here, his workaday looks and expressive face serving the character well and deservedly winning him a Best Actor Oscar, while Blair shares a cutely understated chemistry with him, reflective of the fact these two just met yet are hoping that their hopes have been answered. From the unexpected finding of love to the need to defend it when others scorn it, Marty is that welcome reminder that even old films can be utterly relatable.

Best line (though I really love the final scene): (Marty, to Clara) “See, dogs like us, we ain’t such dogs as we think we are.”

Rank: List Runner-Up

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting

The Wild Robot (2024)

15 Tuesday Apr 2025

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(For Day 14 of NaPoWriMo, the prompt was for a poem describing a place in terms of the animals and natural sounds, so I thought of a certain humanless island from a recent animated film.)

The island was peaceful, no humans as kings,
Serene with the sounds of dying things.
Nature was spinning the circle of life
That ends with a cry and then silence.
The ocean was beating its breast on the rocks,
As the yelp of a whelp and the laugh of a fox
Echoed through trees as indifferent as death,
So soothing (ignoring the violence).

The geese were declaring their edge over ducks,
The does were all teases outrunning the bucks,
The woodpeckers gifted headaches to the squirrels,
And nothing was likely to change.
But then a new creature came, bringing new noises,
The whirring of servos, the shock that a voice is,
No fur and no feathers, just a fool metal jacket,
A new kind of racket, exciting and strange.
________________________

MPA rating: PG

My favorite film of 2024, The Wild Robot is further proof that DreamWorks can match and even surpass Disney at its best. Based on a 2016 children’s novel by Peter Brown, the first in a trilogy, this animated adventure set in the future sees an unprogrammed robot, ROZZUM Unit 7134 or “Roz” (Lupita Nyong’o), wash up on an unpopulated island full of unfriendly wildlife. Seeking some meaningful service to offer, Roz stumbles into the care of a baby gosling eventually named Brightbill (Kit Connor), raising it with the aid of a crafty fox (Pedro Pascal) and gradually weaving herself into the ecosystem in a way none would have guessed.

The early scenes of Roz exploring the island, before she is able to communicate with the animals, bring to mind the beginning of WALL-E, near-wordless storytelling at its finest. And once she does make contact, the film is surprisingly candid about the dog-eat-dog nature of nature, slipping in some darker-than-expected humor for a kids movie. The film’s emotional core lies in Roz’s connection to Brightbill, a poignant bond of adoptive motherhood that is likely to draw out tears from the tenderhearted, especially when backed by Kris Bowers’ moving, instantly iconic score.

The animation is also a sheer joy to behold, a gorgeous watercolor style that puts other 3D animation to shame with its warmth and natural detail, and, although I quite enjoyed Flow too, it’s a crime that this didn’t win the Best Animated Feature Oscar. Nyong’o brings an excellent balance of robotic coolness and burgeoning emotion as the voice of Roz, while Pascal is a special delight as the wise-cracking fox she befriends. And did I mention the score? It still gives me goosebumps.

It’s true there’s nothing particularly new about The Wild Robot’s themes, borrowing from the likes of The Iron Giant and Wolf Children, and the latter half has some holes (the exciting climax feels a bit pointless by the end). But this fable of a robot learning humanity even without humans around is exceptionally well-crafted otherwise and will always hold a special place in my heart. I’m skeptical whether the planned sequel can match it, but I hope so.

Best line: (Roz) “Sometimes, to survive, we must become more than we were programmed to be.”

Rank: List-Worthy

© 2025 S.G. Liput
805 Followers and Counting