animals on the island, some of whom offer friendly parenting advice. A fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal) becomes Roz’s closest friend.

The gosling, whom Roz names Brightbill (Kit Conner), soon grows up but is still smaller than the others in the flock. Roz’s homing beacon was stolen by some raccoons when she landed on the island. However, she finds the wreckage of some other robots and gets one of their beacons. Now possessed with some maternal instincts, Roz won’t activate the beacon until she’s taught Brightbill to fend for himself. Fortunately, the flock’s older leader, Longneck (Bill Nighy), tells Roz he’ll monitor Brightbill when the flock migrates south for the winter. Thanks to Roz’s teachings, Brightbill can swim and fly, and he soon stays with the rest of the flock on their journey. In the meantime, Roz, Fink, and the other animals on the island hunker down for the winter. Afterward, she activates the beacon, thinking she’ll soon be returning home. Unfortunately, Roz learns that the rescue ship presents an even greater danger to the island’s animals than a harsh winter.

The Wild Robot is based on an acclaimed series of children’s books by Peter Brown, and director Chris Sanders has captured the visual look and style of the books. Roz evokes memories of Disney’s WALL-E, even though the two robots’ builds aren’t similar. Roz is drawn to be likable, and aided by Lupita Nyong’o’s vocals, gets viewers, young and old, to care for her. All the animals are drawn in the Disneyesque likable style, even Fink the fox, who admittedly hung around Roz just so he could get some food to steal.

Like the best animated films, The Wild Robot appeals to both young and old. However, unlike many current popular animated films, The Wild Robot”doesn’t include a lot of jokes deliberately designed to go over the heads of pre-teens while amusing the adults in the audience. Instead, most of the humor is physical slapstick or the types of jokes that have universal appeal. The natural appeal of “The Wild Robot” to adults in the audience is emotional. At its core, it’s about a “mother” bonding with her son and eventually having to let go. Adults understand this, either as parents or as children, who have experienced the sensations of separation.

The movie doesn’t sidestep other emotional issues. Life in the wild is challenging, with dangers from nature (freezing winter conditions in one sequence) or predators. The movie is frank about the distinction between predators and prey, with carnivores swooping down to devour cute babies as part of the course of nature. Disney’s The Lion King was a remarkable film, but one thing it didn’t show audiences was Mufasa and Scar chowing down on some of the other creatures from the circle of life that would be their customary fare. The Wild Robot fudges this point by having the animals bond together and call a truce at a critical moment in the film, but it will give children a much more realistic view of nature than cutesy jungle films.

The Wild Robot has emotion, humor, visual style, and an appeal for both young and old, all things that animated films like Transformers One lack. In the last half hour, The Wild Robot explores the futuristic corporate world that created Roz and others like her, and it becomes somewhat routine. But for most of the movie, it’s a refreshing experience. The Wild Robot is one of the rare animated films with genuine originality. Some elements will feel familiar to audiences, but no one will leave the theater thinking they’ve seen the movie dozens of times before. It also won’t bore either children or adults. This film should win next year’s Best Animated Film Oscar. Wouldn’t that be wild?