Senior Film and Media Reporter
The Wild Robot | National Read-a-Book Day with Lupita Nyong'o
Lupita Nyong'o, Catherine O'Hara and the cast of "The Wild Robot" have a suggestion for moviegoers planning to see their new animated film: bring tissues to the theater.
The film, a sci-fi survival tale about a robot stranded on a deserted island, debuts Sunday night at the Toronto Film Festival and may bring a few tears to moviegoers' eyes. As the android ROZZUM Unit 7134, named Roz (voiced by Nyong'o), learns to adapt to the harsh conditions, she gradually builds relationships with the island's other animals — O'Hara voices a wisecracking mother opossum named Pinktail, Kit Connor plays an orphaned gosling named Brightbill, Mark Hamill is the cantankerous grizzly bear Thorn — and begins to raise Brightbill. But teaching the runt of the litter to eat, swim and fly in time for migration season proves to be harder (and more sentimental) than Roz is programmed to handle. Stephanie Hsu voices another robot named Vontra, but let's just say her character isn't going to resonate with any audiences.
“I only saw it once, but it was heartwarming at the end of the day,” Nyong’o said in the studio at Variety’s Toronto Film Festival, sponsored by J.Crew and SharkNinja. “And that kind of crying is worth it.”
