The Wild Robot is an eccentrically animated, joyously hopeful adventure about being different and pulling together. It follows a star-crashed robot nicknamed Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) as she stumbles through an Earth recaptured by nature. Though unaware of her origins, Roz is designed to complete tasks of any form—mental and physical, at least—and thus embarks on helping the wildlife she encounters. Though clumsy and disconnected from the natural world at first, animals deeming her a freak and monster, she rescues a goose egg from the initial crash site which hatches and imprints on her. With the help of a sly but lonely fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal), who tried eating the egg before acquainting with Roz, Roz obtains a new task: raise the goose to complete independence. She quickly discovers there’s more to taking on such daunting challenges as friendship and parenting than task completion. She must learn to feel, even with all the pain feeling harbors, to help her goose Brightbill (Kit Connor) grow and feel as well. Only then can they both find where they belong.

Wild Robot is one of DreamWorks’ most creative original films in years. Starting with a cheerful introduction to Roz, inducing chuckles with every wobbly step or unintentionally terrifying offer for help to wildlife, the film draws viewers in with her calamitous charm on top of a detailed angular animation style and blue-green-brown palette of natural beauty. Roz is a force of optimism and endurance from beginning to end, obtaining and finishing tasks with automated enthusiasm at first. Add that in with her clumsy nature on the globe’s non-mathematically construed landscape, and you get a robot who’s amusingly relatable even in her most automated actions. Fink, sarcastically witty but lonely as the only fox around, is a solid companion for her, as he demonstrates some of the most human traits: humor and companionship. “Humor comes from misfortune?” “Right!” Roz asks and Fink respectively replies before they reek prank-filled havoc on others. Through him, she learns the importance of sticking by not your tasks but your people—and having fun with them!—as Fink demonstrates fierce loyalty towards her and Brightbill even though the latter would usually be dinner. As Brightbill grows older, he also comes to teach Roz as much as she does him; he teaches her the importance of honesty and sensitivity while reinforcing the other themes of togetherness and loyalty. Despite their differences and disadvantages, this unlikely trio is unstoppable and irresistible when together, allowing themselves to feel for everything in and around them.

While the bonds between Wild Robot’s central three are funny and touching, the trio also doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Fink grew up scrounging and surviving with nothing reliable but his fur’s color; Roz, a white machine of exactitudes and wiring, is a monster that scares everyone else away; Brightbill was the runt of his killed litter, bullied by other geese for his resulting small size. As Roz begins feeling, she instantly feels out of place—adrift in some world she does not know of, with no recollection of her past or purpose, and nothing but screams and scolds from the life she can find. They find that missing communal strength through each other, choosing to turn around and use that to change others’ perspectives. They decide to open themselves and others up because, even if no one can see the farthest existential threat, it’s coming, and they can only get through those hurdles together.

Thus, The Wild Robot is a wild time of hopeful unity in trying times. It can be a bit uneven, especially with big time jumps, and could be 10-20 minutes shorter overall. Nevertheless, this film will surely please all ages with themes of humanity’s destructive nature, ostracization, nature’s gifts, and open-mindedness leading to prosperous peace.

Opens in theaters Friday, 9/27