Official Synopsis:
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.
Our Take:
Disney’s The Wild had the unfortunate role of being the second computer animated animals-escaping-from-the-zoo film in the span of a year. As such, it was also the less popular one, but that's not entirely surprising; it's not a terribly interesting film.
In a way, I give Disney credit for trying to do something a little bit different. With most of today's CGI films completely overdoing it with the pop culture references and hip in-jokes (see: A Shark’s Tale), The Wild instead tries a more straight-up, timeless story approach. Now, I'm not sure if it's because of that or despite that, but the film still ends up being a largely bland, lifeless entity. The animation has a funny sort of CGI/claymation hybrid look, and the characters just don't have much to make them memorable, with the exception of Jim Belushi's Benny the squirrel.
Looking at it objectively, the film probably doesn't work for me because, more than any other animated film I've seen in recent years, this one plays to the really young crowd. I can imagine that four- and five-year-olds will have a ball with The Wild. It's filled with physical humor, sight gags, colorful creatures and backgrounds, and loud noises. And being geared for kids isn't a bad thing by any means, but it's hard to translate that into box office success sometimes, and its certainly hard to generate any interest from adults.
Mirroring that lack of success is a pretty unexciting DVD. Here's what comes on it:
* Deleted Scenes (5 minutes) - Five short deleted scenes.
* Music Video - "Real Wild Child" by Everlife.
* Eddie Izzard Unleashed (3 minutes) - Watch the British comedian record the voice of Nigel.
* Meet Colin: The Rock Hyrax (2 minutes) - A parody featurette about a crew member who provided a voice of a minor character.
Even for a lesser Disney title, 13 minutes of extra features does not a great DVD make. If there are really young kids in your household, The Wild might be worth a spin, but otherwise, skip this one.
Overall Picture:
Movie: C
DVD: C+
- Mike Spring
Editor
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