THE WILD

by Joe Barber on Apr.22, 2006, under Joe Barber's Movie Reviews

MOVIE REVIEW: “THE WILD”

I have noticed a rather dusturbing trend developing at the movies in recent months. More and more, studios seem perfectly happy to throw out any kind of animated junk-and sometimes live action movies-with a G or PG rating to sop up every bit of the “family film” crowd’s money. You would think after seen the genuinely entertaining and highly profitable films produced by the Pixar/Disney relationship, executives would carefully weigh their options and strive for excellence. At the very least, you would expect them to want to make their films fun to watch.

Sadly. this is rarely the case. Time after time, folks looking for films to enjoy with their children get recyled drek, like “Dogal” or gross out garbage, such as “Benchwarmers.” Quality efforts, such as “Ice Age” and its recently released sequel, are few and far between. All this makes the arrival of Disney’s “The Wild” in theaters surprising and disappointing. It’s hard to fatyhom how the studio that gave us “Beauty and the Beast” and “Toy Story” could offer up such a lame and unoriginal movie.

Ripping off themes from “Madagascar” and Pixar’s own “Finding Nemo”, “The Wild” begins in the New York City Zoo, where Samson the Lion is the top attraction. His cub, Ryan, is having trouble finding his inner beast, so Samson encourages him with stories of life in the wild. When Ryan is accidentally loaded onto a boat being sentv to the jungl, Samson and his best friends go on a desperate rescume mission to bring the cub back. Along the way, a major secret is revealed and questions of acceptance and identity are explored.

There is nothing very new in “The Wild.” The computer animation is competent, but often feels flat and lacking in eye-catching detaail. Though the voice cast, led by “24″ star Kiefer Sutherland as Samson, tries hard, they siimply can’t enject any life into the story. Jim Belushi (Benny the squirrel), Janeane Garofolot (Bridget the giraffe), Eddie Izzard (Nigel the koala) and Tichard Kind (Larry the python) are all appealing performers, but only William Shater, as the leader of a group of wiilderbeasts who have decided to become preadators instead of prey, manages to truly stand out.

If you’re looking for a film to enjoy with the kids that you’ll all have a good time with, see “Ice Age 2″ again or pull out a Pixar classic from your video shelf. And take heart-the latest Pixar/Disney efort, “Cars” hits theaters in June. In the meantime, pass on “The Wild” or as I call it, “The Young and the Restless.” During and after seeing it, your young will be restless, too.

MPAA RATING: PG for mildly off color humor JOE’S RATING: ONE STAR