I closed out my TIFF run this year, with the latest animated effort from Dreamworks. Based on the children’s book by Peter Brown, Sanders not only directed the film, but adapted the story as well, and it’s going to be a family classic to be sure.

When a robot, Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) awakes from her shipping container to discover that she is not where she’s supposed to be, and is on a remote island with no human customers, she begins to bond with the local wildlife to survive. She inadvertently finds herself becoming the ‘mother’ of a tiny gosling, and now has a task, to keep him fed, teach him to swim and to teach the young Brightbill (Kit Connor) to fly.

With some questionable help from a fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), Roz steps into motherhood, and begins the greatest of all tasks, rearing a child.

Lovingly told, with gorgeous animation, there are a number of strong themes and messages brought to life by a talented cast of actors. Alongside Nyong’o, Connor and Pascal are Mark Hamill, Catherine O’Hara, Ving Rhames, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu and Matt Berry.

As fall approaches Brightbill will have to learn to fly, and after that task is completed will Roz return to the factory, or will there be more work for her to do, not only as a mother, but as a member of a community?

The magic of animation is on full display in this film, coupled with the voices of some fantastic actors, it’s hard not to be moved by the story here. The idea of being bigger than ourselves, that we can control our instincts and become something more.

There are some wonderful moments, and the film has something for everyone, and will no doubt score Sanders and his creation another Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

Nyong’o is wonderful, and I love Pascal getting to lean into comedy. This one was a delight, and seemed like the perfect way to close out the festival, seeing as how I started with an animated feature this year.

This is going to go down as an animation classic, make sure you and yours get to see it. And, if it does well, it’s not like there aren’t a couple more books in the series to adapt.

The Wild Robot gets a wide release on 27 September.