Sometimes, you watch a movie only because your child insists. That's how I ended up spending a recent Saturday evening watching The Wild Robot with my family. My daughter really wanted to see it. My son was disinterested. My wife was ... willing.

The animated DreamWorks film, adapted from a book by Peter Brown, is about a helper robot, ROZZUM-7134, who is the only surviving member among a cargo of robots shipwrecked in a typhoon. She -- so designated because the robot has a feminine voice -- is programmed to complete tasks, but there's no one living on the island but animals. Roz powers down for several months, or years, until her processors decode the language of the animals (after which, for the convenience of the audience, the animals seem to speak in English -- apparently, the animals all speak the same tongue, and have human-like feelings and intelligence). With that accomplished, she endeavors to find someone to serve.

It doesn't help that she's clumsy in the wild, and the animals all think she's some kind of monster. Then, when she accidentally crushes a goose nest, she finds a single unhatched egg and accepts its protection as her assigned task. When it hatches, she places the gosling on the ground, mission accomplished, and prepares to signal for rescue.

But then a fox, Fink, tries to eat the helpless baby bird, and Roz's protective instincts kick in. Now, her assigned task is helping to raise the bird, teaching it to find food, swim and fly, and ultimately reuniting it with the island's resident flock of geese before they form up and fly south for the winter. Fink initially agrees to help because he hopes to snatch the gosling away as a snack, then because he realizes that his assistance earns him food and shelter from the helpful robot.

And then, they become friends.

The Wild Robot is a coming-of-age story for the gosling, whom Roz names Brightbeak, who was born a runt and, without her aid, likely would have died soon after hatching. It's a story of growth and acceptance for Fink. And it's mostly about Roz, who overcomes her programming to develop feelings and relationships beyond what her coding should allow.

Of course, there are dangerous situations to overcome as well, including a hazardous flight south, an unusually harsh winter, and a team of killer robots who are sent to retrieve ROZZUM-7134 so the design team can figure out what went wrong with her software.

It's a cute movie with a lot of heart, although I'm not sure it earns all of the emotional beats it throws at the audience. There are certainly some heavy-handed themes of empathy and acceptance, which in today's world ain't a bad thing. And it leaves some questions at the end -- primarily, in my mind, what does a predator eat once it swears off meat? The animation itself is gorgeous, especially with regard to the island's natural beauty and the fluid, lifelike motions of the animals.

The Wild Robot features the voice talents of Lupita Nyong'o as Roz, Pedro Pascal as Fink, and Boone Storm and Kit Connor as Brightbill (hatchling and gosling). Other notable contributions include Matt Berry as Paddler, a grumpy beaver; Bill Nighy as Longneck, a wise old gander; Catherine O'Hara as Pinktail, an overworked possum; Mark Hamill as Thorn, a curmudgeonly bear; and Ving Rhames as Thunderbolt, a helpful falcon.

The children's book the movie is based on is the first in a three-book series, so sequels could be on the way.