Netflix’s #1 movie right now is an animated story about a robot with near-perfect reviews

A robot crash-lands on an island — and, just like that, Netflix has a surprise animated hit on its hands.

Just added to the streamer a few days ago, this DreamWorks feature is currently the #1 movie on Netflix in the US, and the response from both critics and viewers has been overwhelmingly positive. We’re talking a 96% critics’ score and an audience rating of 98% on Rotten Tomatoes (as of this writing). In other words: if you haven’t seen it yet, you’re probably the only one.

Adapted from Peter Brown’s best-selling children’s book, The Wild Robot follows the story of a ROZZUM unit named 7134 — “Roz,” for short — who finds herself stranded on a remote island after a shipwreck. As she tries to survive in the wild, Roz ends up doing something wildly unexpected for a machine: She starts to care. About the animals, about her surroundings, and about the strange new life she’s building. It’s a survival story, but it’s also about connection — and what it means to belong in a place you weren’t designed for.

Roz is voiced by Lupita Nyong’o, and the supporting cast is stacked with talent: Pedro Pascal, Kit Connor, Catherine O’Hara, Bill Nighy, Stephanie Hsu, Mark Hamill, Matt Berry, and Ving Rhames, to name a few. The film’s director Chris Sanders (of How to Train Your Dragon fame) brings a gentle touch to the material, mixing moments of action and wonder with long stretches of meditative quiet.

When The Wild Robot first premiered in theaters back in September, the buzz was instant. The visuals drew comparisons to Castle in the Sky and The Iron Giant, but critics were quick to point out that this story stands on its own. The Hollywood Reporter praised the film’s painterly visuals and emotionally grounded tone, noting that its combination of photorealistic animation and storybook-like landscapes makes for “delightful and immersive scenes.” 

Now that The Wild Robot is streaming, it’s clear the movie’s second life is just beginning. Families are discovering it, animation fans are rewatching it, and word-of-mouth is giving it serious momentum. It’s gentle, gorgeously animated, and full of heart — which might just be why a quiet little robot movie has taken over Netflix.