The Wild Robot appears in an aspect ratio of approximately 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, the film boasted a top-notch visual presentation.
Sharpness was fine across the board. Virtually no softness appeared, as the movie delivered satisfying definition.
No signs of jagged edges or moiré effects occurred, and edge haloes were absent. Of course, print flaws never manifested themselves.
Robot came with a general pastel sense that usually favored the forest setting that dominated the tale. The colors showed a good sense of vividness and worked well.
Blacks were dark and deep, while low-light shots offered nice clarity and smoothness. This became an appealing visual presentation.
Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack offered a lively soundscape, especially during the action-oriented sequences. Those fleshed out the spectrum in an involving way and gave us nice chances for movement.
These allowed the surrounds to play an active role. The various channels got a good workout in this engrossing soundscape.
Audio quality seemed pleasing. Speech always sounded distinctive and concise, while music was peppy and rich.
Effects offered solid reproduction, with clean highs and deep lows. I liked this mix and thought it gave the movie life.
When we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Chris Sanders, producer Jeff Hermann, editor Mary Blee, production designer Raymond Zibach, head of story Heidi Jo Gilbert and head of character animation Jakob Hjort Jensen. All six sit together for this running, screen-specific look at the source novel and its adaptation, story and characters, cast and performances, music, visual design and animation, editing, and related topics.
Expect a thorough and engaging commentary here. The track covers the appropriate domains and does so in a brisk and informative manner that makes it an enjoyable listen.
Including a 32-second intro from Sanders, we get an Alternate Opening that lasts four minutes, eight seconds. Called “Commercial for Rozzum”, it introduces the ROZZUM Unit 7134b line to set up the lead for the viewer.
As Sanders notes, this got reworked to appear later in the film. That choice works better, as the audience doesn’t need this exposition at the movie’s start.
We also locate a Deleted Storyboard Sequence called “The Overprotective Mother”. Also including a 45-second Sanders intro, it spans a total of three minutes, 13 seconds.
It depicts the ways Roz’s mothering impacted Brightbill. We get an interesting look at a potential character path.
Some featurettes follow, and Moments from the Mic lasts two minutes, 28 seconds as it shows the actors as they record lines. I like this kind of footage and this becomes an entertaining reel.
Meet the Cast goes for six minutes, 34 seconds. It brings notes from Sanders, Blee, Hermann, and actors Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Mark Hamill, Kit Connor, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, and Stephanie Hsu.
As implied, we get thoughts about cast, characters and performances. It mixes insights and happy talk.
Next comes Assembly Required. This 10-minute, 25-second reel offers comments from Sanders, Nyong’o, Zibach, Blee, Jensen, head of look Baptiste Van Opstal, look development supervisor Lisa Slates Connors, modeling supervisor Hyun Huh, character effects supervisor Damon Riesberg and sound designer Randy Thom.
“Assembly” covers visual design, art and animation as well as audio. Despite the usual happy talk, we locate a good examination of these domains.
Feeling Alive fills nine minutes, eight seconds. Here we get notes from Nyong’o, Pascal, Hsu, Hamill, Sanders, Hermann, Zibach, Connor, O’Hara, Gilbert, author Peter Brown and co-producer Heather Lanza.
This one digs into the source novel as well as its adaptation and character/story domains. We get decent overview, though I’d like to hear more comparisons between book and movie.
With Wild Sounds, we find a six-minute, one-second featurette. It gives us info from Sanders, Nyong’o, Hermann, composer Kris Bowers, singer/songwriter Maren Morris and members of Sandbox Percussion.
“Sounds” digs into the flick’s music. Like its predecessors, it combines praise and useful notes.
How to Draw (22:06) splits into four different characters “Roz” (5:50), “Fink” (5:03), “Baby Brightbill” (4:43) and “Pinktail” (6:28). For “Roz”, Sanders teaches Nyong’o how to sketch her character, whereas character designer/story artist Genevieve Tsai guides us through the other three.
Will I ever attempt to sketch any of these roles? No, but these tutorials give us good insights nonetheless and prove informative.
Finally, Fly Your Own Brightbill goes for 10 minutes, 39 seconds and shows us how to create a Brightbill kite. This does less for me than “How to Draw” but artsy-craftsy kids will like it.
Though it can seem awfully evocative of other animated films, The Wild Robot works well anyway. It creates a charming mix of drama, comedy and emotion to deliver an engaging tale. The Blu-ray delivers excellent picture and audio as well as a reasonably positive roster of supplements highlighted by a fine commentary. Expect both a quality film and a strong Blu-ray.
