The best family film of the year

Wall-E and Iron Giant, that's Rozzum.

Or Roz for short. She's the latest crazy creature to capture moviegoers' imaginations and the star of The Wild Robot, the best family film of the year.

DreamWorks Animation's “Robot” immediately joins the ranks of that studio's most memorable films, such as the wondrous “How to Train Your Dragon” and “Kung Fu Panda.”

Around the time Dragon was released in 2010, I began to prefer DreamWorks to the critically acclaimed Pixar and its happy-go-lucky Ivy League blobs.

Like this cold-blooded but heartwarming adventure about a one-winged fire-breather, “Robot” doesn't want to be the class of know-it-alls who tease adults with puns and overly clever “aha!” p.

Instead, writer-director Chris Sanders (of, you guessed it, “Dragon”) goes straight for his character’s souls — and ours.

Roz is a futuristic robo-assistant, similar to an Alexa or Siri, that can walk, adapt and help around the house. However, she is of little use when her shipping package washes ashore on a distant island inhabited only by animals.

The android is nibbled on, scratched, chased, attacked and rained on. So Roz goes into a hibernation-like “learning mode” and tries to get Dr. To fully get to know Dolittle and understand what the furry rascals are screaming about.

Your plan is working. It's a shame that what the possums, beavers, porcupines and bears are screwing over is “monsters”! and “kill it!”

Roz is loathed, completely alone, and desperate to leave until she accidentally crushes all but one of the eggs in a fallow nest.

Your job is to help the surviving baby bird grow up. And from there, “Wild Robot” becomes a tearjerker about parenthood, its highs and hardships. Without saying so, it's a wise and sweet ode to adoption.

The gosling, whom Roz refers to as 0001 and then Brightbill (Kit Connor), believes that the mega-metal is his mother.

“I don’t have the programming to be a mother,” says Roz, voiced by Lupita Nyong’o.

But Fink (Pedro Pascal), a feisty fox, insists that she just needs to teach the feathered fellow to “eat, swim and fly by fall.” Then the herd moves south for the winter.

It only takes a few months for a goose to grow up. We get a “Rocky” montage with Billie Eilish.

That all sounds nice and cuddly, but Sanders doesn't shy away from the dangers of untamed nature (these violent beasts are not the forest creatures of Sleeping Beauty) or the fear and confusion of youth.

Brightbill, a dwarf, wants to learn more about his kind, which leads to tantrums and resentment. Roz still sees it as her mission to help him fly out, so to speak. However, their purpose – and affection – continue to evolve.

She's not unlike Brent Spiner's data from Star Trek: The Next Generation suddenly turning maternal, if you can imagine that.

The situation is getting darker. There are also explosive action sequences and the occasional, if gentle, admission of death that might be scary for the youngest viewers.

Whether it's the fireworks of battle or family, Sanders' image is consistently great.

Since it's about both nature and machines, “Robot” doesn't visually lean too heavily on either. It has neither the distancing elegance of an Apple commercial nor the magic-free photorealism of “Planet Earth.”

Instead, the film chooses a stark middle ground that delivers unexpectedly lush images, such as when a kaleidoscope of butterflies jumps from a tree or the geese hop through the air. And Roz gradually becomes one with her mossy new surroundings.

But what I love most about The Wild Robot is that it doesn't use the increasingly boring formula: “Here are a few jokes for adults and a few Tic Tacs for kids.” Everything about this film is for everyone.

It's a breathtakingly human film – about a bird and a bot.