We took some time to go see The Wild Robot today, which I realized part way through was based on some popular kids books by the same name. I haven't read the book, so I went in without any preconceived notion of what the it would be. But from what I hear, the movie is sort of a combination of the multiple books with a lot of creative license.
I thought the story was good and it was pretty fun to watch in the theater. There wasn't a lot of comedy, or laugh out loud scenes, but I think all of the kids enjoyed it (even our teenager who didn't want to go). I really liked the themes about sacrifice and family.
What I came away most impressed about though, was the artwork. I was blown away by the quality of the artwork and really liked the style of it throughout the movie (The storm clouds and sky were always really cool). I tried to find some example screen grabs posted online, but couldn't find much. Some of the scenes that I remember thinking were just beautiful. A few of them that I remember off the top of my head were: a scene with a huge moon and lots of pine/fir trees, the scenes where the forest was burning (flames were a vibrant bright pink against the plants in the forest), the scenes of the owl and birds flying through the sky, and a scene which showed some whales swimming underwater near the golden gate bridge which was just amazing!
I would recommend seeing this movie in a theater with your kids. They will love the movie and you'll get to enjoy the details of the artwork. Definitely worth the price of a matinee ticket (discount from normal price) on a Saturday morning. Especially if you use the tickets as an incentive to get the kids' chores done in the morning!
