'The Art of The Wild Robot', Book Review, Jawad Mir

0:08Jawad MirWelcome everyone to another episode of Kingdom of Dreams podcast. Today, I'm gonna do something different, which I've been trying to do for a while, just haven't been able to get around it, and we'll try to see if I can pull this off consistently, maybe two times a week, maybe three times a week. We'll see what happens. But essentially, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna go through all these books that I have, and sometimes the ones that are upcoming, which talk about behind-the-scenes stories of films, animations, series, documentaries to have you not. And, today I have a very special book written by Jerry Schmitz, The Wild Robot. The top of the book has a cover which can be sort of taken off. As you can see, a beautiful illustration here. But when you take it off, you'll see a great piece of artwork featuring Roz and Brightbill. And I'll just kinda go through the book page by page as much as I can. So the front, the opening has this beautiful illustration of Roz sitting on these rocks in a, in a cardbox and rocks, and with the water hitting, the waves hitting the rocks.

1:15Jawad MirIt's a beautiful illustration. Here we have table of contents and some artwork. As you can see, it has amazing breakdown on all the story elements and all the characters. So there's, you know, you get to meet the characters Roz, Fink, Pink Tail, obviously Brightbill, and there's introduction and forewords by different individuals. Introduction by Chris Sanders, who's the writer-director, and preface by Peter Brown, who's the author of the original book, and foreword by Lupita Nyong'o, who's, who also plays, Roz, as, AKA Wild Robot. So this is a foreword, and, you know, with some beautiful illustrations and some preconceived, artwork of, the Wild Robot or Roz, which I felt here that it looks a lot like Iron Giant, which came out in, you know, early 2000. I think it was 2004 or '3 or '5, which this movie gets inspired a lot of, you know, some elements from that film.

2:26Jawad MirThis is a migration illustration, as you can see here. And one of the quotes in the film, which, director Chris Sanders, talks about in this book is the whole theme, of this film, was kindness is a survival skill, basically. And that's what this film tries to promote throughout, that how you have to be kind to others regardless of, you know, what you may think or what you may feel, which is very much needed in today's world. Here is this, beautiful illustration of a deer. You know, a lot of stuff in this film reminded me of especially the forest sequences, even the final, finale of Bambi. If you haven't seen that, go check that out. It's almost an 80-year-old film and one of my classic favorites. A very dark film, even for its time, and, I was reminded a lot of that. This is a introduction by Chris Sanders, and, it has all these little blurbs from executive producers, from storyboard artists, from head of stories.

3:35Jawad MirLook at this. I mean, I love this. I can, I can literally pull these out, which I won't of course, and frame them. This is the section on the island, which by the way, there's another edition of this book, which is called Deluxe Edition. I think it's pretty much this book, but it comes in a bigger case and houses all these storyboard illustrations, which you… I will link you, in the description on this video. And then we have, well, they're right there, "Kindness is a survival skill." And then we have quotes from Jacob Jensen, head of character animation. You know, he's, he talks about, "Aside from oozing kindness at its core, there's a bitter sweetness to the book that attracted me to this project. When Chris described the film as coming with a built-in heartbreak, I knew that was chasing something personal and meaningful to him. To me, the story is about surrendering to something that transcends oneself, in this case, the awesome responsibility of parenthood. It's also about her-heroism of the mundane acceptance of chaos, as well as rejecting defining yourself by your programming, but rather by choices you make."

4:45Jawad MirAnd that's pretty much what the core of this film is as Jacob Jensen pointed out. And, yeah, I mean, it… I can, I cannot speak enough about this film. I absolutely love this film. It's, it's one of the best animated, if not probably in the top three animated films, ever made. This is the book cover of the original Wild Robot book. There are some lovely quotes here by executive producer by Dean DeBlois and Kristen Lau. Look at this. This is all early works, right? And, one of the things this book talks about, where the director talks about... This is a beautiful illustration. I mean, I love this. This is probably like a preconceived, the butterfly sequence. This is probably, that's what that's about. And it says summer here. One of the things that Chris Sanders talks about is that how they wanted Roz to h-have no facial structure, so you don't see a smile, you don't see a sad emotion, and which they were able to pull off really well without it being annoying at the same time.

5:49Jawad MirWhat was so amazing about, the facial structure is that even though you can't see any emotion, you felt every single thing that Roz was thinking, and that goes into the whole character sketch, the character buildup, what they did to make that something that you can relate to. I mean, look at this is a beautiful illustration. Section on Meet Roz and, beautiful artwork here. All early works. Nico Marlet, character designer, says, "I was isolated for three years at home with my dogs." I'm assuming he's talking about, COVID. "Actually, I was like Roz with my three dogs, and to me, this is what the movie's all about. Animals are good for your soul. This I know for a fact." And then Chris Sanders has a quote here: "Roz has a very strong silhouette, but the details were not there.

6:49Jawad MirIt was very good landing zone to strive for because it gave us a lot of room to be creative." The protagonist in this film, Lupita, she talks about that how she was able to spend a lot of time with the animators, which helped transform the character, to what it was. And, one of the s-sound designers, I forget his name, and I might see it as I'm flipping through, he said that it took them two years to pinpoint the exact voice, of Roz, which I think is phenomenal. But if… 'cause if you hear Lupita in, you know, a-as who she is in real life and you compare it to Roz, they're completely different, but they're not. And Lupita's voi… sorry, Roz's voice really carries the film, which obviously is done by Lupita. Here's more conce-concept work, illustrations.

7:51Jawad MirJacob Jensen, the head of character animation, his quote, talks about, "Chris and I," Chris as in Chris Sanders, the writer-director, "have worked together both on How to Train Your Dragon and The Croods, so I'd, I would describe it as a relaxed familiarity and shorthand we have developed. Chris is big picture sort of director in that he leads with a light touch, leaving his collaboratives to excore… collaborators to explore and contribute. You have to pay close attention to how he reacts to things and what he will say insofar as what's important to him about any given moment you're working on. Nothing makes you want to push yourself more than when you feel trusted." And that's true. I love this illustration. I mean, look at the depth and the detail in this. Same here. I wish they sold these. I'm sure they ca… they can because people would buy them. You know, we live in a digital world, but, we need more print stuff. Raymond Zibach, who's a production designer, he had a lot to say in this book.

8:53Jawad MirHe talks about Daniel created D… I'm not gonna say his last name because I don't wanna butcher it. "Daniel created a number of beautiful paintings of Roz camouflaged into the environment while she was discrming… discovering the animals on the island, and in some moments, even trying to mimic them." Head of, story, Heidi Jo Gilbert, she talks about, how she worked with visuals and sound, more importantly than just visuals, which is something that tr-traditionally you do in animation, to, for it… for her to sort of a… be able to come up with ideas. And it's sound is so important, not just in animation, any form of, storytelling, which a lot of people don't think about because you can, you can, and I've said this many times on this podcast, an audience can forgive bad visuals, but they cannot forgive bad sound. And bad sound doesn't necessarily mean, like, distorted audio, but also, like, you know, you have to have the right fit. Like, for example, for Roz, it took them two years to find the right voice, so that's important.

9:58Jawad MirThis is the butterfly sequence, which is probably gonna become, like, the icon… one of the iconic scenes in cinema's history. Michael Loguidice, effects supervisor, he says, "The first images from production that I saw were gorgeous concept paintings of the island. Our VFX, our visual effects supervisor, Jeff Budsberg, showed them to me during a brainstorming session about brushstroke techniques, and I just immediately loved the style and wanted to know more about the project. When I found out the goal was to maintain the same style in the film, I knew w… I wanted to be a part of it." And that's what's so great about, aside from the story and everything else in this film, is the painting element. It was there in Puss in Boots 2 as well, which came out last year by DreamWorks. But this just sort of takes it to another level because what it does is the film, the entire film sets, in a, in a, on an island, you know, in, with trees and, ocean and nature, everything around them. And to have that in a visual paint, like in a painting style with all the 3D, characters was ju… it was just a perfect blend.

11:04Jawad MirEvery little detail, was a perfect blend. Visuals. This is again another iconic painting. I think I would love to get this somehow and frame it, here somewhere or part of my studio. More beautiful work. I'm not sure. I think these are illustrations. Yeah, these are not scenes from the film. Definitely these are like sort of pre-vis, and these are also illustrations. These are like all storyboards. Here's a section on Meet Bright, Brightbill. And look at that. That's phenomenal. The egg hatches, there's a sound, on the soundtrack by Kris Bauer. There's a minute and a four second, track on the hatching, which I recommend you get it on Apple Music or Spotify. It's a beautiful soundtrack. That one minute and four second is probably one of the best tracks in the entire, in the entire score.

12:09Jawad MirThis is beautiful. Totally love this. This is the actor that, played Brightbill, Kit Connor. I mean, look at these illustrations. You know, what's so important about these books is that even if somebody who's not a moviegoer or into animation… When I say moviegoer, I should say movie buff. If people actually even got these books for, like, a day or two and didn't even read everything and just went through the visuals, it just says so much about what goes into making these films. Like, it's a four to five-year-long project, maybe even longer in some cases. Meet Fink. Pedro Pascal nailed this character. I thought it was one of the best characters in the, in the film, and that the arc of this character was phenomenal because, you know, foxes are known to be very clever and very, conniving and all that. And you see how this character transforms, which I'm not gonna reveal in the film for those who haven't seen it, but how it, the character, transforms from beginning to end.

13:12Jawad MirThis is more or less, I think, the final look of Roz. This is a lo… Ro… not Roz, sorry, Fink. Fink, reminded me a lot of Disney's Fox and Hound. Nothing to do with the premise or the character, just the colors that I saw, it just kinda brought back Fox and Hound for me. Pinktail is probably… and it's Pinktail and the family. Pinktail is played by Catherine O'Hara, Home Alone mom, and, she's also in the new movie Beetlejuice. Pinktail is the humor relief as well as the motherhood character in the entire film, and the kids that Pinktail has, I mean, you guys are gonna get a kick out of it. It has some of the most amazing short lines that really hit home in terms of humor, in terms of boldness. Really well done. That's a picture of Catherine O'Hara. Forest full of animals, so these are the rest of the characters. There's a lovely sequence with the raccoons in the beginning of the film, which people will enjoy. Thorn, which is played by who… was played by, I did not know this until the credits rolled because they show who played who, Mark Hamill, obviously, AKA Luke Skywalker.

14:23Jawad MirBut you cannot tell, it's Mark Hamill because the voice that he has is just so different. And hi-his character plays a very important role in the film, especially towards the end. Paddler had also an integral part to the entire film. It… That's, that's what a good story does. Every main character has a goal. And, you know, whether it's a protagonist or a supporting cast, they all have their little goals which combine in an overall arc of the story, and that's what this film does really well. I'm not saying other f-films don't, but this one does it really well. Every character is there for a reason, and every character has its own goal. This is obviously the other part of the film, where Roz comes from. I'm not gonna talk about it very much, but, like, a futuristic, city, if you wanna call it. Here are some more illustrations. Meet Thunderbolt. That was, played by Ving Rhames, another good character.

15:27Jawad MirVery small role, but a important role for sure. And this is Meet Long Le… Longneck, another integral part of the film. The oldest, the wisest, and the biggest goose on our island is Longneck. From migration, the migration from story to screen. That was a breathtaking, sequence, and that's all I'm gonna say about it. A little quote from Chris Sanders. "Roz is so single-minded about getting this task done," states Sanders. "Initially, it's just the way she's programmed, but she becomes obsessed with the task that is Brightbill." Cinematography. I'm gonna read a quote here. It says, "The opening of the migration sequence provided us with the opportunity to present a big sense of scale to our world through the aerial photography and vast landscapes with a flight documentary feel." Yeah. It's, it's true. It's so true. Section animation, music. I do urge you guys to get the soundtrack from, Apple Music or Spotify.

16:31Jawad MirAnd it's, it's totally integrates with the soundtrack, but it live, lives on its own too. Sorry, it totally integrates with the film, but it lives on its own too. The world of universal dynamics. That's a chapter in the film. I'm not gonna dive too much into it, but just giving you guys a little bit of visuals. The winter sequences were one of the most breathtaking sequences. I mean, you actually feel that you're physically there, the way they s… were able to put the characters in this environment, and you feel that you're there and you're feeling their pain. Yeah, this film is a combination of, to me, it got small elements from Iron Giant, E.T., WALL-E, Bambi, Black Stallion. Yeah, there's just so much in there and, you know, but it s… ma… it stand on its own. It's not like it copied anything. It just got influences from there, and it's, it's in its own self and its own film.

17:31Jawad MirYeah, we're almost coming to an end here. I would love to get this printed. This is breathtaking. Beautiful. This is Wandra. I'm not gonna say much about it, but you guys will figure it out by when you watch it. It's played by Academy Award nominee Ste… Stephanie Hsu. Sorry if I ruined that name. Section. Again, I'm not gonna talk much about this. This is more towards the end of the, film. Yeah, and that's pretty much it. I totally urge you guys to go watch the film if you haven't. And this is the entire team, the amount of work that goes into making these films. I'm so glad that they put that in there. And the final page. And that's it. So if you guys haven't seen The Wild Robot, do check it out. It is in theaters. I urge you to watch it on the big screen, not on streaming platform.

18:32Jawad MirDo watch it on streaming platform when it comes out, you know, after, watch it a second time or third time. But you definitely gotta see the movie in the theaters at least once, if not twice. Book. I put the description, a link in the description for this book, as well as the deluxe edition. Totally worth having it. It teaches you about behind-the-scenes stories, but also, like, a collector's item down the road. And yeah, you know, thank you so much, guys, for tuning in as always. This is a, an attempt. Hopefully, I can make this happen a little bit more, to be doing all these behind the scene, kind of, you know, going through the book and talking about the film and some behind the scene stories. Yeah, there's, there's a lot to cover, and I really wanna thank you, as always, for listening in, you know, to all these conversations. The interviews and the conversations, with directors, cinematographers, screenwriters, and everybody behind the scene will continue, you know, as they have been. And I thank you so much for constantly coming back and, you know, learning and hearing these conversations. I truly appreciate it.

19:34Jawad MirThank you so much.