Fink, Roz, and Brightbill (0n Roz’s palm) in The Wild Robot (TIFF)

 A humanoid robot washes ashore on an unknown island. Her only contacts are with the local wildlife, who don’t take kindly to her presence, and the harsh forces of nature. Designated as ROZZUM unit 7134 (or Roz for short), she dutifully offers aid to all who might require it for remedial tasks, per her programming as an all-purpose helper robot. But, as Roz (voiced by Lupita Nyong’o) gradually learns, sometimes there’s more to a creature’s existence than just what programming dictates.

It’s a simple message, and accessibility is what makes The Wild Robot such a marvelous animated film. DreamWorks movies have long swung on a pendulum of quality, from iconic franchise starters like Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon to deeply underwhelming releases like last year’s Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken. The Wild Robot immediately skyrockets itself to the upper echelons of the studio’s animated releases, delivering an emotional blend of found family relationships and nature vs. nurture dynamics with gorgeous, almost Miyazaki-esque visuals. Nor does it talk down to viewers about tough themes like death and survival, instead charting a path that finds beauty and hardship in both.

Viewers don’t learn much about Roz’s past as a Universal Dynamics drone until late into the story. Much of the first half details her time acclimating to the island. The local critters scamper away from her antics or regularly attack and beat up Roz (per cartoon logic, robots can violently lose limbs without getting Hollywood censors worked up) because her parts might make for good den material. Even after she successfully deciphers the animals’ language, they view Roz as a freak to avoid.

In the process of her stay, Roz accidentally destroys a goose’s nest, leaving behind one egg that hatches. The offspring immediately sees Roz as its mother. Parenting isn’t exactly a part of her database, so she seeks the aid of a fox, Fink (Pedro Pascal), despite his viewing geese as a delicacy. (Fink is also an outsider to the other animals.) Thus, the duo decides to raise the gosling, eventually named Brightbill (Kit Connor), until he’s capable of migrating, with their unusual surrogate family dynamic quickly becoming the heart of the story.

Several other animals make up this wildlife ecosystem, from the overworked maternal opossum Pinktail (Catherine O’Hara) to seasoned goose leader Longneck (Bill Nighy), not to mention cameos voiced by Mark Hamill and Ving Rhames. Each imparts something onto Roz, and she, in turn, is transformed, evolving from spouting obliviously automated platitudes to something more human as Roz’s connection with Brightbill deepens. It’s familiar territory for director Chris Sanders, who cut his teeth on similar outsider-heavy stories like Lilo & Stitch, and he imbues this one with a tone that successfully balances the goofy, serious, and serene with absolute confidence.

In adapting Peter Brown’s middle-grade novel, The Wild Robot creates a style that blends Miyazaki with Genndy Tartakovsky. Except for a few skunk jokes, its laughs never sink to the juvenile humor or dated pop culture gags that DreamWorks has employed one too many times in the past. The movie just feels smart, even if it blasts through plot points. Scenes that would make up the climax of another movie are quickly dealt with here and folded into Roz’s growth as the animals’ protector, giving the storyline the feel of several anthology chapters squeezed into one feature. But it certainly works.

Amplifying all this, of course, is the color palette, where warm natural hues make up the trees, landscapes, and rivers during the summer, only to devolve into bleak and dangerous visuals during storms or wintertime. While not overly stylized like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, there’s a still painting quality to this animation, and it makes each scene feel incredibly gorgeous, a splendor balanced out by unusually frank conversations about survival of the fittest and whether predators and prey can coexist. Combined with Inside Out 2’s success this summer, it’s nice to see more animated movies that trust kids to handle adult subject matter without much hand-holding.

The Wild Robot is one of DreamWorks’ best films in recent memory and another reminder of animation’s emotional staying power. It takes risks, challenges its own status quo—both animalistic and mechanical—yet knows how to keep the audience invested in Roz’s story. Moviegoers will want tissues, but even better, they’ll crave a second viewing.