If you’re in search of a great movie for the whole family’s enjoyment this weekend we highly suggest The Wild Robot.

Based on the book The Wild Robot by Peter Brown, the epic adventure follows the journey of a robot—ROZZUM unit 7134, “Roz” for short — that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.

We were touched by the film and enthralled with Roz’s adventure, voiced by non other than Lupita Nyong’o herself, who told us that she prepared for her voice acting role much like she would for any other, only she had to be prepared to work on every part of the film at any given moment.

“I think a lot of the preparation is similar to being on camera, the difference though is that the only tool to have to convey my message is my voice so I have to develop a vocal vocabulary in order to do that, and that is its own special kind of creative exploration,” Nyong’o told GlobalGrind. “I would say also what’s unique about doing voice, is that unlike live action, where on any given day you’re working on a scene or two, in vocal work you are working on every part of the movie every time you’re in the booth, so it’s all over the place. It’s a workout, but I enjoy that kind of challenge.”

Source: Courtesy / DreamWorks Animation

That workout ultimately put a severe strain on Nyong’o’s vocal chord, forcing her to go silent for three months in order to heal from a polyp that developed.

“Roz’s voice evolves as she changes right?” Nyong’o explained. “At the start of the film my I developed this very programmed optimism inspired by AI voices like Alexa and Siri, which is very different from my vocal placement, so it’s quite the vocal workout and in the process of doing that I went a little too hard and I injured my vocal cords. I developed a polyp and was quiet for three months in order to heal myself.”

“I learned that it’s fun to talk, it humbles you when you can’t use your voice because we don’t always think about what it takes to use our voice and I learned that simple things that I do in my life actually require my vocal chords, like working out — I didn’t realize how much I engage my throat when I work out,” Nyong’o told us about her period of speechlessness. “Even just humming, you can’t hum without using your vocal cords right? You can’t think of music without engaging your vocal cords, so that was tough.”

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Fortunately, Lupita persevered and was able to successfully heal her vocal cords without surgery. We saw a lot of Lupita’s determination reflected in her character Roz, who starts the film as a strange thing in a strange place but finishes having found community.

“What I love about Roz is that she doesn’t know that she doesn’t fit there,” Nyong’o told Global Grind. “She doesn’t have the programming to be self-conscious — which is so beautiful. I wish I could have that attitude where you’re not aware that you are not welcome and in a sense she overcomes her foreignness or her alienation by being true to herself. That’s such a great lesson that you can change your environment and you can prevail by being open to adaptation, but also remaining true to yourself.”

Such an incredible message for the kids right?! Speaking of which, Nyong’o told us she has been loving working on a project that has a young audience.

“I thoroughly enjoy speaking to a child audience,” Nyong’o said. “I’ve had the opportunity to engage very closely to children with the release of my children’s book [Sulwe] where I’ve done readings and all of that. There’s something so pure about speaking to kids. They keep it real. They’ll tell you when they don’t like something and they tell you when they do so to see the enthusiasm with which kids are already responding to this they love the book by Peter Brown The Wild Robot and that is translating to their eagerness to see this film and I’m sure that when they do see it they’ll only grow even more fanatic about it.”

The Wild Robot is in theaters everywhere September 27.