The WildThe Wild
Go wild with the hysterical adventure the New York Daily News calls “truly infectious!” Disney uncages the laughs in the hip and hilarious comedy THE WILD. When a band of furry friends escape from the city zoo, they discover that New York City is the biggest, craziest jungle of all. Now, faced with a new journey and the challenge of a lifetime, they must work together if they are going to survive on the outside. THE WILD is ferocious fun that will have your whole family roaring with laughter.A cuddly koala who wants to be fierce, a squirrel in love with a sarcastic giraffe, an addle-pated anaconda, and a lion with a secret set off from their cozy zoo to rescue the lion’s adolescent cub from an accidental kidnapping. After braving the dangers of the big city and stealing a boat, they find themselves in the African jungle, where a renegade herd of wildebeest have decided they want to change their position on the food chain (understandable, really). The Wild is hodgepodge–it’s never clear why these mismatched creatures are friends and plot elements seem haphazardly plucked from Finding Nemo, Madagascar, and Ice Age: The Meltdown (though the latter two were made at the same time as The Wild, so it’s just unfortunate for this movie that they came out first). Despite a general air of manic desperation, The Wild does have its strengths: The animation is richly realistic, leading to some gorgeous depictions of light (not exactly a selling point for kids, but adults can appreciate it). Several characters pop out–a pair of sewer crocodiles sound like NPR’s Car Talk guys; William Shatner (Star Trek, Boston Legal) is effectively scary as the cult-leader/choreographer of the wildebeest; and comedian Eddie Izzard lends some of his trademark smart and silly humor to Nigel, the disgruntled koala bear. Successful bits and pieces don’t make for a great movie, but they keep The Wild from the brink of disaster. –Bret Fetzer
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(out of 93 reviews)
Review by Graboidz for The Wild
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After going to “The Wild” this weekend with my two kids, I gotta say I don’t understand all the bashing of Disney and this film? Maybe “The Wild” isn’t on par with “The Lion King” or “Toy Story”, but it’s far from being a snoozer like “Chicken Little” or “Home on the Range”. There may be similar characters in both “Madagascar” and “The Wild”, but each film stands on it’s own, and both are pretty enjoyable. “The Wild” was a lot of fun, had some laugh out loud moments, and featured some fantastic animation. The soundtrack was fun, and while the songs may be older, who cares, they fit the spirit of the movie. Eddie Izzard’s koala bear steals the film, and had my son and daughter laughing all afternoon. I am not sure what some of these other movie goers were expecting from “The Wild” and why it was such a major disappointment, but I say that if you enjoyed “Madagascar” then you will like “The Wild” too. Anything featuring the voices of Keifer Sutherland and William Shatner is worth taking a look at.
Review by Kevin J. Loria for The Wild
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They say Hollywood is a “race for second place,” so you might say that DISNEY’S “THE WILD” is first to be second. Talking animals from an NYC zoo, ending up in an exotic foreign place, facing their fears to become better…talking animals. If this sounds familiar you may have already seen it DREAMWORKS’ MADAGASCAR released less than a year ago. I’m not pointing fingers here, Disney has been supposedly working on this for 9 years, but THE WILD comes across as a “second-hand lion,” watered down and “toothless.”
The only differences, apart from the film and production company names, are style and voice casting. Whereas MADAGASCAR’S visual style is more cartoonish, THE WILD’s approach is ultra-realistic in details. While Madagascar had characters voiced by Ben Stiller, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer, the voice casting for THE WILD is up to Disney’s high standards: Respected leader SAMSON (guess HIS species) is voiced by Kiefer Sutherland , street savy Benny the Squirrel by Jim Belushi, dim-witted Larry the Snake by Richard Kind (of “the Producers”) and Janeane Garofalo as Bridget the Giraffe. Don Cherry, Canadian hockey announcer cameos as the penguin MC. One possible breakout character is Nigel the British kolala, voiced by Eddie Fizzard, trying to shed his cuddly image, later becoming idol to a pack of wildebeests along with their choreographing leader dancing to the beat of different drum, Kazar, voiced brilliantly-straight by William Shatner (who provides voice for another animated animal in the upcoming “Over the Hedge.”)
The WILD’S Director Steve Williams and producer Clint Goldman helped to revolutionize CG character animation during their long association with ILM (“The Mask,” “Jurassic Park,” “Terminator 2″), and were responsible for the popular Blockbuster commercials featuring Carl the rabbit and Ray the guinea pig. The film is scored by Academy-nominated composer Alan Silvestri ( known for the” Back to the Future Trilogy,” and “Polar Express”), the soundtrack is also filled with familiar tunes by such r recording artists EVERLIFE, COLDPLAY, LIFEHOUSE, and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Other new material provided by ex-”Monty Python” member Eric Idle and fellow songwriter John Du Prez, the team responsible for the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, “SPAMALOT” writing and performing the song, “Really Nice Day” for THE WILD.
As the animals embark on a dangerous journey to rescue one of their own, THE WILD, like its DREAMWORKS counterpart, is suitable for children with themes of teamwork, friendship and father-son relationships ( Samson’s son’s desire to get out of his father’s shadow and have his own adventures). Overall it comes down to this: If you haven’t seen MADAGASCAR you will enjoy this film infinitely more.
Review by for The Wild
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The movie was so awesome! Samson (Kiefer Sutherland, 24), Benny (Jim Belushi, According To Jim), Nigel (Eddie Izzard), Bridget (Jeaneane Garofalo), and Larry (Richard Kind) are living in New York City with their little cub of family adventure sekking lion cub Ryan (Greg Cipes, Teen Titans) to live in New York Central Park Zoo. Ryan gets lost in those green boxes and ships them to Africa. Samson, Larry, Bridget, Nigel and Benny are searching for Ryan and be able to take on the most firecest wildebeest Kazar (William Shatner, Over The Hedge) to save Ryan.
Okay. 10 reasons why I love this movie:
10. New York City
9. The Dancing Scene at the end of the film
8. Searching for Ryan
7. Comedy
6. Drama
5. Adventure
4. Difference between Finding Nemo, Madagascar and The Lion King
3. The animals running around New York City
2. Good for kids and adults, even teenagers
1. Favorite Character in the movie: Ryan
This movie was so amazing and awesome. Finding Nemo, The Lion King and Madagascar mixed together in one movie that will be charted on the Hit Movie List of 2006. This movie will beat out many films in 2006 like, Hoodwinked, Doogal, Curious George, Over The Hedge and Ice Age 2: The Meltdown. The Wild will be the No.1 Disney Animated Movie of 2006. You should see it in theatres and if you haven’t seen it in theatres yet, it will be your chance to get it on DVD soon.
Review by Blitz Patel for The Wild
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I don’t really care what these other people are saying, this movie was really good. It’s the perfect movie for young children to watch with adults, or kids of any age. It’s very entertaining and a success as a animated movie (better than Madagascar).
Review by Pamela M. Harrison for The Wild
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I expect QUALITY from Disney, and I didn’t see quality with this film. It felt like a runner-up knockoff, and not something that anyone actually invested time or effort in. Ok, the animation was interesting, but not interesting enough to hold me for the entire length. It had a few laugh out loud moments, but for the most part, I was bored. And the sound mix on the DVD is awful — the music swamps the dialogue through much of the movie.