With its comedy-first approach, Dreamworks Animation rarely attempted the kind of sweeping storytelling found at rivals Disney and Pixar.

"The Wild Robot” opened No. 1 in theaters nationwide this weekend, riding in on a wave of critical acclaim. The movie's release coincides with the DreamWorks Animation's 30th anniversary.

That beginning encapsulates the perception of DreamWorks Animation in a nutshell — as the decidedly less ambitious, less artful cousin to Pixar. And it’s hard to say that reputation is totally unearned.

DreamWorks' The Wild Robot stands far above their recent films, highlighting how disappointing it is when they don't live up to their potential.

Undoubtedly it’s easier for animation studios to have an in-house style, but this isn’t the path DreamWorks Animation decided to take when adapting the illustrated children’s novel The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, where a ROZZUM unit 7134 robot gets stranded on an isolated island teeming with wildlife.

Both classic and innovative, the film stars the voice of Lupita Nyong’o, who gives carefully nuanced life to a robot lost — but finding itself — in nature.