The Wild Robot sequel must avoid a mistake that hurts many franchises

While 2024 had many successful animated films, one of the year’s biggest success stories was The Wild Robota film that tells the story of a robot called Roz who arrives on a desert island and ends up taking care of a goose called Brightbill. The Wild Robot It has received rave reviews since its release, reaching out to audiences and critics alike, with much of the praise centering on the central relationships between the main characters.

While the announcement of The Wild RobotThe confirmed sequel comes mostly with excitement to see a continuation of this incredible story, there is also always the worry that a sequel to a beloved film will come out and disappoint when compared to what came before. The Wild Robotthe cast and creative team are clearly good enough at what they do to make the best animated film of 2024, But there is a trap that many sequels fall into that can be a problem when it comes to The Wild Robot 2.

Wild Robot sequel needs to keep focus on characters, not world-building

The characters are the most important part of the film

The best part of The Wild Robot it’s the characters and their relationships, most obviously the parental bond between Roz and Brightbill, but also the dynamics that evolve between all the other animals on the island. Roz and Brightbill’s complex and wonderful relationship carries the film, and This is something the sequel cannot change if it wants to maintain quality from the first film. Seeing Brightbill leave Roz is one of the most emotional scenes in The Wild Robotand this is only possible because of the way their relationship was built during the film.

The Wild Robot the sequel will obviously continue the first film’s story, creating a new journey for the established characters to embark on, but the film has to be careful to continue building on the relationships started in the first film. Although each character began and completed a character arc in the first film, The Wild Robot The sequel has to find a new way for these characters to grow and change, otherwise they risk stagnating and looking too much like the original.

The Wild Robot 2’s world-building shouldn’t come at the expense of its characters

Worldbuilding is good, but it doesn’t need to be the focus

The Wild RobotMost of the worldbuilding comes in the form of show, don’t tell, where the story of what happened is shown through the film’s visuals and scenes, rather than through any characters telling you what is happening and what state the world is in. finds. This has an excellent effect in many scenes, such as when the geese are migrating and the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen underwater, suggesting some sort of weather disaster. The film is able to convey this information without any heavy explanationenhancing the wonder and mystery of The Wild Robot.

The Wild Robot 2 will involve more world-building simply by being set in a human city, but it should maintain the same balance that the first had. The world is already interesting and the film has many tools in its arsenal to expand it without having to take anything away from the character’s construction. The wild robot escapesthe book sequel managed to avoid this problem and maintain the same quality standard as the first, so the film sequel already has some kind of plan to work with.

The Wild Robot Sequel’s Character Focus Will Maintain What Made the First Film Special

The sequel can’t lose the heart found in the original

Despite its more complex themes and character relationships, The Wild Robot is, at its core, a very simple story told very effectively, with no crazy twists or world-building elements. In its simplest form, it is the story of a robot who learns to be a mother, saves some animals and, finally, in The Wild RobotAt the end, fight some other robots. Obviously the film has more narrative depth than that, but it’s actually not that complicated of a story, which is what allows the film to keep the focus on its characters.

With that in mind, The Wild Robot 2 should absolutely follow suit. With many movie sequels, there can be a desire to surpass what came before, and while this is necessary to some extent to keep the sequel from feeling stale, trying too hard to make the sequel bigger simply for the sake of it can make it difficult for the true heart to shine through. of the film. The Wild Robot is an excellent film, and its sequel should ensure that it expands on the first while staying true to what made it great.