The Wild Robot Combines 6 Favorite Animated Movie Robots Into One

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for The Wild Robot

The Wild Robot’s Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) is the next great robot in animation to debut on the big-screen. Already incredibly popular and beloved by audiences, Roz joins the ranks of many other iconic robots in animation. While there are certainly ways in which Roz is unique and distinct, it can also be argued that she serves as a dynamic hybrid of many different animated robots who’ve been seen in past animated films.

In The Wild Robot, Rozzum Unit 7134 finds herself on a remote island after a storm causes her to crash while en route to the humans she was meant to be delivered to. In the absence of humans, Roz eventually learns how to communicate with the island’s various wildlife, while also trying to find tasks to fulfill according to her primary core programming. To that end, Roz begins growing and adapting, becoming both a mother and protector with thoughts and feelings of her own, in spite of her robotic existence. To that end, here are six favorite animated robots whom Roz most resembles in The Wild Robot.

6 Omnidroid From The Incredibles

Adaptive Learning And Similar Abilities

In Disney and Pixar’s The Incredibiles, the villain Syndrome creates the Omnidroid, a large superhero-killing robot that’s capable of adaptive learning. A large sphere and optical apparatus on top with four large legs, the head and legs can all retract into its body, allowing the Omnidroid to take a ball-like form for faster mobility and unique tactical advantages. Eventually, it also grows smart enough to override its commands, resulting in the Omnidroid turning against Syndrome by the movie’s end.

Similarly, Roz also possesses adaptive learning thanks to her Alpha-One Thirteen processor. Likewise, The Wild Robot’s ending sees her able to take a ball-form by retracting her head and limbs in order to protect her adoptive son Bright Bill (Kit Connor). Roz also overrides her original programming as the movie continues, allowing her to develop feelings and emotions while also serving as a better mother.

A113 is a classic Hollywood Easter egg used by alumni of the California Institute of the Arts and those who study character animation.

5 Eve From Wall-E

Visual Design And The Ability To Love

Roz also resembles Eve from Pixar’s Wall-E. An all-white robot with glowing blue eyes tasked with scouting Earth, the discovery of a planet in Wall-E’s possession motivates the robot to deliver the evidence of plant-life to humans as they travel the stars who’ve been waiting for their world to be cleaned up. However, Eve ends up developing a relationship and feelings for Wall-E over the course of the movie.

While she might not be able to hover like Eve, Roz does share some visual similarities to Wall-E’s Eve. Likewise, she also develops the ability to care and love beyond the confines of her original programming. Likewise, Roz manages to maintain her emotional self and memories despite going back to live with humans, not unlike how Eve’s love and spark/kiss helped Wall-E maintain his emotional self and memories even after he’s been nearly destroyed.

4 The Iron Giant

Protector And Autonomous Components

Roz has a lot in common with the beloved Iron Giant. Long seen as one of the best animated movies of all time, 1999’s The Iron Giant is a tale about a young boy (name Hogarth) who teaches a gigantic robot from another world how to be human. Likewise, the same boy’s love for the Iron Giant helps the robot override his more destructive programming in favor of protecting the boy, eventually sacrificing himself to save Hogarth’s life (though the movie’s ending does tease the Iron Giant’s survival).

To that end, Roz and the Iron Giant both have autonomous pieces that can move independently and come back together to be reassembled. Likewise, The Iron Giant’s opening scene has a sailor in a storm mistaking the Iron Gant for a lighthouse. Similarly, Roz acts as a lighthouse during a storm for a family of otters trapped in the ocean. As such, it does feel like a very clear homage.

Additionally, Roz also evolves into a protector just as mighty as the Iron Giant. She defends the island’s various animal creatures from the other Rozzum bots sent to retrieve her. Futhermore, Roz also similarly sacrifices herself to save Bright Bill just as the Iron Giant sacrificed himself to save Hogarth. However, Roz also ends up surviving by the end of The Wild Robot as well.

3 Baymax From Big Hero 6

Both Programmed To Complete Tasks and Help Others

In Big Hero 6 and its various spin-off series, Scott Adsit voices the amazing helper robot known as Baymax. Created by Tadashi Hamada, whose brother Hiro continued working on the robot after Tadashi’s death, Baymax is designed to assist others. While his primary function was for healthcare, Baymax is able to grow beyond this core function in various ways, helping people overcome their various fears and insecurities while also becoming a superhero with Hiro and his friends.

It’s not hard to see the resemblances between Roz and Baymax, particularly in their visual design with the white coloring and round heads. Likewise, Roz was also built to help complete various tasks, and she also wants to receive satisfaction ratings for her service much like Baymax after he administers care. Furthermore, they also learn how to develop beyond their core programming.

2 Rodney Copperbottom from Robots

See a Need, Fill A Need

Coming from a world entirely populated by free-thinking and sentient robots, 2005’s Robots from Blue Sky and 20th Century Fox has Ewan McGregor’s Rodney Copperbottom as its lead protagonist, a young robot seeking to live by the motto of his mentor known as Bigweld: “See a Need, Fill A Need”. To that end, Rodney made it his mission to help and repair other robots as best he could, looking for any and all ways to fix and make the world around him better.

To that end, this is very similar to what is seen with Roz in the Wild Robot. Initially, Roz struggles to find her purpose despite her desire to complete and assist with tasks on the island she’s found herself on. This is much like Rodney who also struggled before he was able to find her ultimate purpose and way to fill needs.

Roz eventually finds her purpose in The Wild Robot by becoming a mother to the young gosling Bright Bill, feeding and caring for him while also helping him learn how to swim and fly before Winter so he can successfully migrate south with the island’s other geese. Eventually, Roz is able to protect and care for more of the island’s animals, meeting and filling needs just as Rodney eventually does by the end of Robots.

1 Carl From Meet The Robinsons

Extending Limbs, Roz Develops Similar Anxieties

Roz also shares some similarities with Carl from 2007’s Meet the Robinsons. Voiced by Harland Williams, Carl appears to be just as free-thinking and sentient as any of the movie’s other human characters. Built by an adult Lewis/Cornelius Robinson in the future to help the Robinson Family, Carl also has the more specific instructions to keep an eye on Cornelius’ son Wilbur.

Having a golden body, Carl also has limbs that can stretch incredibly long distances. Likewise, Roz displays the same ability in The Wild Robot on various occasions. However, the true similarity between Carl and Roz in their shared anxiety over their desire to care for and protect their respective charges.

Carl is pretty high-strung in Meet the Robinsons, especially after Wilbur’s actions in the past that bring a younger Lewis to the future, an action that could have resulted in Wilbur erasing his own existence on the timeline if things were to go wrong. In a similar vein, Roz shares similar struggles and anxieties while trying to parent and care for Bright Bill. At one point, she even expresses an exasperated and very motherly confession that she doesn’t know what she’s doing while worried about Bright Bill’s overall safety and well-being. As such, it’s a very touching comparison, one that’s also quite comedic.

Dreamworks’ The Wild Robot is now playing in theaters.