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"I Thought "March
Of The Penguins" Would
Make Me A Star" |
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Directed by Steve "Spaz"
Williams - Written by Ed
Decter, John J. Strauss
Starring Kiefer
Sutherland, Greg Cipes,
James Belushi, Janeane
Garofalo
Distributed by
Disney/Buena Vista -
2006 - 94mins - Rated G |
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Richard Propes'
Review
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C+ |
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Hitting the streets in 2006. |
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By now you've
undoubtedly read or heard numerous individuals who instantly compare
"The Wild" to the fairly recent "Madagascar."
It is, after all, a fair comparison.
Both films feature animals escaping from a zoo for the jungle. They
both experiences animals having a wide variety of experiences and, of
course, both provide laughs while teaching us heartwarming life
lessons.
I'll even confess that I had no intention of seeing "The Wild." Heck,
these days, if I'm not signed up for it on IndependentCritics I don't
usually see it. With a fellow critic initially signed up, I had no
hesitation in leaving this film alone.
Then, of course, there's that thing everyone experiences when you're
my age and still single. Inevitably, when you get invited out
somewhere with a friend THEIR kids always come along.
So, I found myself in a theatre watching a film I didn't really care
to see.
Surprisingly, "The Wild" is a modestly entertaining, visually
appealing (borderline slick) film with fun characters, great voice
work and quite a few laughs.
The film centers around a lion cub, Ryan (Admit it. You laughed at
"Ryan the Lion."), As voiced by Greg Cipes, Ryan is a youthful,
energetic and appealing character that should immediately attract the
interest of young children. One day, mischievous Ryan accidentally
finds himself in a shipping crate destined to be shipped off to the
jungles of Africa. His father, Samson (Kiefer Sutherland) escapes from
the zoo with a few friends and begins a global mission to rescue his
son.
His companions? Hmmmm. Let's see. There's Benny the Squirrel (James
Belushi), Bridget the Giraffe (Janeane Garofalo), Nigel the Koala
(Eddie Izzard) and Larry the Anaconda (Richard Kind). Along the way,
they encounter numerous characters, notably Kazar the Wildebeest
(William Shatner), who longs to be the king of the jungle.
In addition to the inevitable comparison to "Madagascar," it's hard
not to chuckle at the squirrel, not realizing he's a squirrel. It's
sort of like "Ice Age: The Meltdown," but even more reminded me of
that squirrel/bulldog romance in "Little Nicky."
"The Wild" is G-rated fare that is aimed squarely at children.
Truthfully, I can't fathom it pleasing adults. However, the film has
lots of action, solid CGI (almost TOO realistic) and characters that
are essentially designed to appeal to every type of child. It would be
hard to imagine any child not leaving "The Wild" and feeling connected
to at least one of the animated characters.
Ultimately, most adults are destined to feel distracted watching "The
Wild." Director Steve "Spaz" Williams takes an almost spastic approach
to camera work that is often distracting and, at times, feels out of
balance. There are several unexpected close-ups and weird angles that
will likely annoy more serious moviegoers, but children may very well
find them exciting.
With an $80 million budget, it's frightening to me to think that a
group of studio executives sat around a room and green-lighted this
film so close to "Madagascar." "The Wild" will likely come in a
distant second to "Madagascar," but will find life on DVD. |
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© Written by Richard Propes -
Email Me! |
TC Candler's Comment
n/a
Jacob Hall's
Comment
n/a
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