Right now, the Animated Oscar seems to be a two-way race between “Inside Out 2” and a film that just had its world premiere at Toronto.
Chris Sanders’ “The Wild Robot” is getting very positive reviews out of TIFF. Deadline, Variety, The Film Verdict, Vulture, Collider, RogerEbert, IndieWire and THR. There are some ‘Iron Giant’ comparisons being made.
As with anything that screens at TIFF, I’d wait it out a bit to see if the ‘Wild Robot’ gains any traction in the coming weeks. A lot of films get overpraised here, but Sanders’ film is definitely off to a very hot start with these early reactions.
The current films in contention for the Best Animated Oscar are “The Wild Robot,” “Inside Out 2,” “Memoir of a Snail,” “Piece by Piece,” “Flow,” and “Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl.” Surprisingly, I’ve been hearing very good things about “Transformers One,” so let’s call that one a dark horse contender.
“The Wild Robot” tells the story of an intelligent robot called Roz, stranded on an uninhabited island. To survive the harsh environment, Roz bonds with the island's animals and cares for an orphaned baby goose.
The voice cast includes Lupita Nyong’o, Pedro Pascal, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Kit Connor, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames. “The Wild Robot” is written and directed by Sanders, best known for films such as “Lilo & Stitch,” “The Croods,” and “How to Train Your Dragon.”
“The Wild Robot” debuts in theaters on September 27.