The Wild Robot review – lost-in-the-jungle Roz joins animation’s robot greats

It’s a recurring theme in animation: the robot lost in hostile territory who finds that its best tool for survival is a soul. DreamWorks’ latest, a handsome adaptation of Peter Brown’s children’s book, directed by The Croods film-maker Chris Sanders, follows in the metal footsteps of pictures such as WALL-E and The Iron Giant – by any measure two all-time animation greats. It’s a testament to the quality of this sharply written and richly detailed movie that it holds its own in such illustrious company.

The Wild Robot is a quality production throughout, but one of its key assets is Lupita Nyong’o’s superb voice work. As the robot Roz, who is stranded on a jungle island populated by wild animals, Nyong’o fully inhabits her character’s arc, from synthetic, Siri-style AI perkiness to the world-weary wounded quality that bleeds from every word at the end. It’s sentimental stuff, certainly, but the picture’s unexpectedly dark humour outweighs any maudlin tendencies.

• In UK and Irish cinemas