THE WILD

2006, Walt Disney Pictures

Animated

Rating: G

Approx. 94 mins.

THE STORY:

Ryan the lion cub (Greg Cipes) wants to be wild and intimidating like his father Samson (Keifer Sutherland), who he believes used to roam the wild before ending up in the zoo. Try as he might, he just can't seem to rival his father in ferociousness. Nor can he see that his father loves him regardless.

Ryan stumbles into a crate on the zoo grounds and Samson watches as his son is accidentally shipped to Africa. Together with a band of animal friends (Jim Belushi, Eddie Izzard, Jeanine Garofalo), Samson rushes to his rescue. When they all arrive in Africa they discover a volcano about to erupt and the pressure is on to find Ryan and evacuate.
Through the drama, Ryan discovers that his father is not the lion he thought he was, but also realizes that earning his father's respect for being scary is not as important as earning his love for being himself.

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• Twit

VIOLENCE:

• Fighting
• Wildebeest killed by falling rock and/ or volcano 

TEACHING POINTS:

• Parental love is not conditional
• Being yourself is more important than being the person you think others want you to be
• Honesty is the best policy

THE UPSHOT:

If the premise of a group of animals from the New York Zoo escaping, turning up in Africa and then trying to get back home sounds familiar, then you are undoubtedly familiar with the Madagascar franchise. In comparison with the latter, The Wild just pales. The first Madagascar film came out in 2005, so I can't even give The Wild points for originality.

The only things I actually liked about this movie were Eddie Izzard and Jim Belushi. Unfortunately, the two lion voices were excruciating-- listening to Samson is like listening to Jack Bauer phoning it in. Add in William Shatner as the bad guy, and you just have to wonder if this was someone's idea of a joke. The animation is also very lackluster. The story is very male-centred and revolves around proving masculinity through force and the ability to intimidate.  

My 4 year-old loved the animals, but had very little recollection of the story by the next day. Not worth the 94-odd minutes.

1/5