Why Roz still recognizes Brightbill at the end of The Wild Robot

The following contains spoilers for The Wild Robot, currently playing in theatersat the end of The wild robotROZZUM 7134 “Roz” (Lupita Nyong’o) still recognizes Brightbill (Keith Connor), despite the former having her memories wiped when she resumes work for Universal Dynamics. The relationship between the two, who eventually come to see each other as mother and son respectively, is the driving force behind the entire story. Although they experience some turbulence when the truth comes out about the accident that killed Brightbill’s family, they are still able to make amends and reaffirm their love before Roz decides to leave the island.

Brightbill finds Roz again on his next migration, with the group using Roz’s town as a quick layover. That’s when he rushes to Roz, only for her to pick him up like she always has and hold him close. This moment makes The wild robot‘s ending is perfectly bittersweet, with Roz returning to the factory so she can set things right and keep the animals safe before finally returning one day. You still recognize Brightbill, and your love for him, proves that the real Roz is still there – but how is that possible after she’s been reprogrammed?

As Roz acknowledges Brightbill in the human city after reprogramming

She briefly explains it in the movie

Although Universal Dynamics may have thought they were wiping Roz’s memories when they fixed her, they actually weren’t. Roz hints at Brightbill in the movie That She keeps her memories locked in another place, pointing to where her heart would be rather than her head. This is not something that universal dynamics would ever think to calculate; Roz, as a robot, is not supposed to have feelings like humans do. Roz overcame her coding, however, and this allowed her to find different ways to store such previous memories and feelings.

This is basically what happens when Brightbill tells Roz that he loves her after she is captured. She had just been powered down in the middle of a memory wipe, and yet Brightbill had no problem bringing her back. Roz was then able to safely conclude that if she were to return and allow them to wipe her memories again, Brightbill would have no trouble bringing the real her back again. It’s a touching testament to the strength of their relationship, and the idea that love really trumps all else.

What Roz recognizing Brightbill means for their future after the wild robot

It is a gateway into their next story

Now that Roz recognized Brightbill and acknowledged their familial love for one another, It is likely that Roz will start planning her escape back to the island. The wild robot is based on a book by Peter Brown, which has since become a trilogy, and a potential sequel would likely follow the second book in the trilogy, The wild robot escapes. Roz starting to plan her escape is exactly how the book begins, and Brightbill reactivating Roz’s memories allows that to happen in a very natural and sensible way.

This also proves just how genuine their care is for one another, and the truth that they will do whatever it takes to help one another. With Brightbill already taking the chance to visit Roz in her town without knowing for sure if she would remember him, there is reason to believe that he will continue to take such risks to help her escape. in The wild robot escapes Brightbill helps guide her back to the island, though they face many obstacles on their journey. All of this can immediately emerge from the moment of recognition of reasons.

The reunion of Roz & Brightbill is important to the themes of The Wild Robot

Love conquers all else

The reunion between them is much more than a sequel setup, however. Roz managing to get her programming to recognize Brightbill proves that love is more powerful than technologyWhich is a core theme of the entire movie. Roz literally overrides and rewrites her own programming to find a way to care for Brightbill, something that comes from her genuine care and love for him rather than any sense of duty. It has become more of a chore for her to finish early, something that is evidenced by her reluctance to leave the island before he returns.

That was a perfect ending, with The wild robotThe post-credits scene lightens the mood even more. It really drives all of its core themes, from motherhood to kindness as a survival skill. Roz’s life was forever changed by Brightbill, and vice versa. They could only survive through each other, because Rosa would not have become what she needed to be without his love and Breitbil. L would submit to natural selection. Go ahead, the reunion between the two in The wild robot will only become more important.