User reviews

Similar to Madagascar but not the same this is the story of a zoo lion and his friends who race off to save the lion's son who has been shipped back to the wild. The movie is the race to find the son before he gets to the wild and what happens once they get there.

I have to start by saying the voice cast is top notch here. Everyone does an excellent job. However I must single out Jim Belushi and Eddie Izzard as turning in classic animated performances. Belushi plays a street smart squirrel who is in love with a giraffe and he is a ball of fun. Its clear why he is the best friend of Keifer Sutherland's lion. He is a joy to behold.

Even better is Eddie Izzard as Nigel, a koala who is totally crazed. Izzard is in constant motion and is constantly chattering about everyone and everything and he effectively turns a movie about a lion and his cub into a movie about a deluded koala with a tenuous grasp on reality. Izzard's Nigel will probably go down in history as one of the great cartoon characters of all time.

This is a movie with fantastic animation. It all looks great. The director and some of his crew are from the effects team that made Terminator 2 and other big budget special effects movie look so great.

The problem with this movie is that it was made by guys who until this film made their living making soulless special effects for soulless action films. The net effect is a soulless film. There is no pacing, there is little sense of danger. Worse the characters inhabit a world that isn't real. In this world, especially in the New York scenes, no one exists except the characters. They drive all through the city and encounter no one. There are no other cars on the street. To be frank there is no sign of life anywhere. Its terrible. It kills the film. Its sad but as alive the actors are their animated characters, while looking good, come across as dead constructs.

Still the movie is worth seeing. Eddie Izzard, with an assist by Jim Belushi make it worth seeing. Clearly abandoned by Disney in theaters, you should make a run by this on home video or cable, where its less than the sum of its parts construction will be less annoying.

I definitely didn't hear much about this animated Disney flick upon its release in 2006. In fact, I just rented it the other day, and I believe I had heard of it by then, but didn't know much about it, so I didn't know how well it had been received in general. I was hoping for a decent animated family flick, but when I looked this particular movie up on IMDb, I saw its low rating, and after that, I didn't have very high expectations. The best I could hope for was slightly above average, and unfortunately, I didn't even get that, even though it looked like I might around the beginning.

Samson is a lion who lives in a zoo in New York and is the father of a cub named Ryan. Samson claims he is from the wild, and often tells stories about his days out there. One night, Ryan finds himself taken away in a green box on a truck! Samson, as well as other animals at the zoo, see the lion cub taken away, so Samson sets out with some friends (a giraffe named Bridgette, a squirrel named Benny, a koala named Nigel, and a snake named Larry) to try and find Ryan. They manage to make it to the New York shoreline, where the lion cub is taken away on a boat. Samson and the gang manage to get on another boat and set out on a journey across the ocean, where Ryan has been taken. After they arrive on the other side, they find themselves in the jungles of Africa, searching for Ryan. Unfortunately, they are in danger, as Samson comes clean and confesses that he never did live in the wild, so he has no experience in this environment! To make matters worse, they will have to face an evil wildebeest named Kazar and his clan, who are determined to turn from prey to predator!

This Disney film's biggest merit is the animation, which is probably the only thing I can't say anything critical about. Without a doubt, the animation is absolutely stunning, with some very nice jungle scenery! Unfortunately, not much else about the film can match the animation, if anything. None of the characters really stand out too much, that's one thing, and the humour is another problem. I did laugh quite a few times at some of the slapstick, but found that the humour was often kind of lame, such as Nigel saying, "I've got popcorn up my bum," and a mother hippopotamus' reaction to seeing Ryan talk to her offspring. So, while I've definitely laughed less at comedies, overall, I am not impressed with the humour here. I don't know what else to say about "The Wild", except that the story is also a bit bland, and not quite as touching as it probably should be. In conclusion, there really wasn't much about this film that impressed me, and I can see why it's not the most widely recognized computer animated feature to come out in recent years.

The Wild was advertised as a movie for kids, and it lived up to it's billing. I saw it this past weekend with my 5 year-old. It had a good story line and enough action and music to keep him entertained. He has already asked can we buy it when it comes out on DVD. Since it is a clean movie I will happily get it for him. I didn't have to cringe or be on edge because of suggestive dialog or foul language like Ice Age 2 has. I don't enjoy exposing my son to entertainment that contains language he cannot repeat. If you want to treat your kids to a real kid's flick, take them to see this. It's not a contender for an Oscar, but you'll enjoy it, too.

If the case on the DVD didn't say Disney, I wouldn't have believed it. Disney has been synonymous with quality in everything...but not in this case. This was so bad, my little girl asked if she could go to bed before it was half over. Go to bed! She hates going to bed, but she'd rather go to bed than be subjected to this piece of...trash. And a 'G' rating? Really? The adult humor and innuendos? All that violence and scenes of fright? A 'G'? Please. Whoever was in charge was trying to rip off other Disney movies with every new scene. In case you haven't gotten it yet, it stinks. There, I said it. And Disney, please don't even think about sequel here, it couldn't get much worse. Rent Madagascar instead. The Wild makes Madagascar look like an Oscar contender.

At first, this appears to be a rip-off of "Madagascar," with New York City zoo animals leaving the comforts of "home" for the wilds of Africa. However, it is a totally different story and feel to it, more serious and sentimental than "Madagascar." Personally, I like "serious and sentimental" but not in animated movie, at least not to the degree it was in here. I preferred the other "NYC zoo" film to this one because "The Wild" lost almost all of its great humor in the last 20-30 minutes.

The first 50 minutes of this film was spectacular. I was thinking, "Wow, another great animated film. How many is that in the past year or so?" The jokes were excellent, the characters mostly funny and the animation superb. The dark, rich colors in here are magnificent. This is a beautiful movie! The minor characters are the best in here: the snake, koala bear and squirrel. Eddie Izzard, Richard Kind and Jim Belushi, in particular, are great in their voices of these characters. The two crocodiles that the wandering zoo animals meet in the sewers are hilarious. They produced the biggest laughs, at least with me. The major characters: the lion (Keifer Sutherland), his cub (Greg Cipes) and the giraffe (Janeane Garafolo) were all a little too much on the serious side.

Speaking of serious: the last third of this film totally switched gears. I wonder how this went over with very young kids and their parents? It got too serious, frightening in spots (for little ones) and then the usual corny Disney ending. It's too bad: this could have been super if they had just continued doing what was working the first 50 minutes.

1st of all, I tend to agree with other users who said that The Wild isn't an original. Yeah, in a way it is not an original. Disney seem to reuse their characters, and follow a somewhat same storyline, like their previous movies.

The storyline goes that the cub, Ryan was fed-up being compared to his Dad, and wished to be in the wild. But unlike the previous Disney movies, the poor Ryan was taken to the wild by accident. So his dad & their friends went on a trip to find and rescue Ryan.

So the adventure started! They found their ways through the urban New York, down the sewer and other places you'd usually do not find that animals there.

The animation is top notch, with details on the color texture, with smooth movement by the characters. The voice-over is also superb, especially Kiefer Sutherland's lion & the cuddly koala bear, Izzerd.

All in all, the movie is good for the whole family, be it a toddler or a teenager as it has very good moral values. The story do not have foul language, unlike Ice Age. The only drawback that this movie has it that the characters are very much alike the previous Disney movies such as Open Season and Madagascar. But apart from that, this movie simply rocks!

This movie was presented to the Dutch press in a small viewing room, but we sure got a good look at it. And really: this movie isn't bad at all. But compared to Chicken Little everything looks great I suppose.

The bad thing about The Wild is the appearance of its characters. They all look like they were borrowed from a toy store. That's probably good for merchandise, but for the movie that's plain bad. In a time in which even giant gorillas can make a believable performance thanks to CGI you can wonder why Disney chose for this option.

The first 20 to 30 minutes, when all the action takes place in the zoo, is very entertaining. There's a wonderful scene that involves curling and the escape out of the zoo is big fun. But when the animals enter the wild the movie becomes rather dull. The finale is okay though.

Of course people will compare this movie to the overrated Madagascar. But because of the story - a young lion wants to be as cool as its father - it resembles The Lion King more than the Dreamworks movie. So here's the good news: I think that viewers who liked Madagascar, will enjoy this movie too. It fills up the time until the real Disney computer animated blockbuster of this year will be released: Cars.

Saw a preview screening last night, and it was really fun. First, the movie is visually gorgeous. The texture (hair especially!) work alone is enough to recommend the film to animation enthusiasts. To all the comparisons with Madagascar I will add that The Wild is much funnier. And judging by the 10-year-olds sitting with me, kids will love it. As the movie was made by C.O.R.E. in Toronto, was directed by a Canadian, and stars a lot of Canadians -- there are a few Canadian jokes (and sports) in the movie that international viewers might miss. It also has a fun self-referential attitude in the humor that's enjoyable without becoming gimmicky. To build on the previous poster, it is not Citizen Kane -- but has much funnier animals. It's a movie that does what it sets out to do -- entertain you. And it does that very well.

Not funny AT ALL, too much slap stick and not enough actual clever writing. Poor Keefer, it's a pity the only lines he really has are sappy attempts at being sentimental or repetitive calls for his son. All I can say is thank god for Blag( the beloved Kronk from Emporor's New Groove) and Eddie Izzard who were the only successful installments of humor. Character's were unmemorable and over abundant.

And if you can't see the glaring similarities from Finding Nemo or Madagascar you're in denial. (same accent for pidgin and lemur king, same need to get out to "THE WILD", Son needing Independence sparked by a hurtful comment about being in their father's shadow, significance of a roar...etc)

To be enjoyed by the VERY young to be quite frank. Absolutely dreadful.

I only went to see this movie because my daughter wanted to see the lion.

Don't be like me, just stay home, but if (Like ME) your little ones just have to see this movie, go rent Madagascar and Finding Nemo both for $2 at Blockbuster and save yourself the trouble.

This was literally an hour and a half waste of time.

I don't get it, Disney has some movies that are coming out later this year that will be good (Cars and Pirates of the Caribbean off the top of my head) so I don't see why they ripped themselves off with this one.

It's not like they need the money this bad, they make sequels to every movie that they have ever thought of (Sometimes more than 3 sequels to it) they should save the theaters for the actual GOOD ones.

Long Story short, SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Well I hired this film out yesterday along with two others and must admit i was expecting to be the same old stuff in Disney films, but i was pleasantly surprised.

I thought it had good characters in and that the actors and actresses that did voice overs really took on the persona of the animal they were betraying and it made me laugh my favourite actor within film was Eddie izzard as he is so cool but saying that as i mentioned every one of them did good job.

Where watching this film is concerned defiantely give it a go as i think many people will be surprised i have not seen Madagascar but think this was under rated due to them coming out around about the same time, i am definitely added this to my collection when i get time.

I know what many of you are thinking. How is this film going to be any different from Madagascar. Disney and Dreamworks are in direct competition. The wild was in production for quite sometime due to the fallout of Pixar and the discovery of a new animation team to finish the film. It just so happens that Madasgascar was rushed and released before the wild, making Disney look like the bad guy. That being said I have to be honest and say the two are similar..... by premise only. Both films contain a group of animals escaping the New York Zoo to go to the wild. That alone leaves plenty of room for creativity and THE WILD accomplishes just that. I thoroughly enjoyed this film from beginning to end. Its quite charming, full of jokes, has an amazing attention to detail and visually stunning. I actually found myself HOWLING at some parts of this film. Everyone at the premiere came to a consensus that the wild is a great movie. Children and parents were both laughing in hysterics. Plus the movie includes morals and lessons to be learned for the kiddies. I understand that many of you are reluctant to see this film given the timing. But I urge you to give it a chance. It is worth your $10 dollars at the box office, and you just might be surprised.

This was probably the worst movie I have ever seen in my life. It lacked any plot line, the jokes just weren't funny, and the animals looked like something from a horror film. I saw 'The Wild' with two young children (age six) and two of my good friends. The children weren't even fooled by it. One of them remarked, "So, was that supposed to be funny?" I understand that in the film business the "early bird gets the egg" and in this case the "early bird" was 'Madagascar.' But, it wasn't 'Madagascar' that it copied. It was really just a bad remake of 'The Lion King.' Every aspect of the movie was stolen from another, and I'm not kidding. Also, the dialogue was just ridiculous. Here's a sample: "Get away from us, turkey jerky!" As you can see, this movie was just plain ridiculous. The character's were absurd, and unbelievable, the plot was nonexistent, and it was really a rip off. Don't waste your money to see this dreadful film. You're just going to walk out and be disappointed.

I went to the Premiere this weekend of THE WILD and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was concerned about the same thing that everyone else was.

Is it going to be like Madagascar mixed with the same theme as Finding Nemo?

To my surprise I did not even once think about either of those films while I was watching THE WILD. There were some great jokes and gags and it had the pacing of a good action film. This movie is nothing like either of those movies. I encourage everyone to see this movie for themselves and am curious what they think of it. There is a couple plot holes and weak story points. But other than those few moments it's a fun film to watch. The look is refreshing because it doesn't look like every other CG feature in the world. My final statement is this. Kids will absolutely love it. And the parents will be entertained and won't be bored.

... just a mediocre one.

First, to the people who claim The Wild (2006) is "incomparable" with Madagascar (2005): have you seen the two films? Their premise is identical, their characters frighteningly similar and their setting indistinguishable. Animals escape from New York City zoo, are shipped off to Africa, have trouble readjusting to the wild of the jungle. Yeah, mindblowing difference.

I did not care for Madagascar and I feel it is important to debunk the myth that 'The Wild' is a cardboard rip-off of the former. In fact the two were penned simultaneously – or The Wild slightly earlier – but Disney got the short end of the stick and DreamWorks finished their product sooner and in order for the releases to not coincide, the premiere of The Wild had to be postponed to 2006. This is bad news for Disney since the novelty of the film's premise has already worn off following Madagascar.

Of course, the story is infinitely more complex than 'zoo animals shipped off to Africa' if you want it to and indeed behind the surface of The Wild lies deeply-rooted father-son problems between Samson the lion and his cub Ryan. This is the catalyst of the journey; Ryan escapes and Samson and his band of zoo animals set off to find him. They race through New York City at the back of a garbage truck as Coldplay booms poignantly to the epic skyscraper environment. They find their way to the harbour with the help of two streetsmart alligators in the sewer and soon board a ship that takes the quartet to the wild of Africa. Here in the jungle, in a twist of the food chain, the mighty gnus are the antagonists and not the lions.

Africa is more beautifully crafted in The Wild than in Madagascar and so are its characters. The animation is fluent and crisp down to the last golden hair on the mane of Samson the lion. There is also a wealth of kooky sidekicks embroidered with their assigned quirks and treated with meticulous animation: turtles, penguins, bugs, lizards, and geese – all are exquisitely animated. The latter does not make a movie on its own (my favourite animated comedy is Ice Age, which avoids fancy animation) but it is a goldmine on which to fall back on when the plot suffers.

Onto the humour side of things – in one sentence, it works fine. The Wild opens with a Lion King spoof that becomes a running joke in the film and indeed The Wild can in many ways be seen as The Lion King of the new millennium. The curling gag is a stroke of genius; Nigel the koala is a pleasant diversion and finally the cruel way in which the other characters treat their friend the snake is gloriously entertaining. Regrettably this is as funny as it allows itself to get and with the exception of Eddie Izzard not a single cast member is able to project any charisma on-screen.

'The Wild' is highly unremarkable but watch Madagascar and then watch this and you will notice a slight – but significant – elevation in overall quality. Although it is ultimately quite charmless in cast and content, style and substance, a film that stretches a mere 85 minutes remains very well-condensed (I am bitter from having watched the far too long 2-hour Disney 'Cars').

6 out of 10

One thing I hate is Disney and Dreamworks always taking each others idea's. Shrek = Disney's fairy tale movies, Shark Tale = Finding Nemo, This = Madagascar, Ratallion = Flushed Away. There are other movies I can't think of. The more they try the more there worst. It was one of the most worst movies I have ever seen along with Epic Movie and others. The idea takes both Madagascar (Animals getting lose and running away) and Finding Nemo's (A dad looking for his son) plot's. After two minutes you will hate this movie and anyone who liked it have no humor. Although rated "G" I think this movie will boar little kids and big kids and adults and everyone. Total rubbish if you didn't see it don't. 1/10