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Features: DVD, Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 1.78:1, Dolby Digital (5.1); Dolby Surround Sound, Bloopers, Deleted Scenes, Music Video, English, Spanish, French Subtitled
An adolescent lion (Greg Cipes) is accidentally shipped from the New York Zoo to Africa. Now running free, his zoo pals must put aside their differences to help bring him back.
"...the animation is lively and impressive..." David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com
"...a good director, snazzy visuals and some really funny animals..." Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
"...the animation is lively and impressive..." "David Cornelius, eFilmCritic.com"
""...a good director, snazzy visuals and some really funny animals..."" "Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune"
Editor's Note
Ryan, a lion cub, worships his father, Sampson (Kiefer Sutherland), the brawny, brave, uncontested king of a New York City zoo. The film opens as Ryan listens adoringly as Sampson recounts yet another tale of roaring wildebeests into submission on the African savannah. While the zoo animals cavort, Ryan slips into a metal crate bound overseas for a chance to see "the wild" for himself. Now Sampson, with the help of his loyal friends Benny the squirrel (James Belushi), Nigel the koala bear (Eddie Izzard), Bridget the giraffe (Janeane Garafalo), and Larry the snake (Richard Kind), must brave the New York City jungle and then the actual jungle to save his son from the clutches of a crazed wildebeest with aspirations to carnivorousness (William Shatner). To make things worse, Sampson confesses that his heroic stories were fabrications; he's completely lost in his wild surroundings, unable to fight off a rabid poodle or eat a sassy hyrax.Since ANTZ hit the cineplexes in 1993, computer-animated films about chatty animals have proliferated, but THE WILD is perhaps the first that is heavily influenced by its immediate predecessors, taking a little plot from MADAGASCAR, adding healthy doses of the ICE AGE films, and borrowing heavily from the father-son sentiments of THE LION KING (the animals actually pass a Times Square theater playing THE LION KING). However, originality isn't the draw here: it's the world-class voice-acting by Hollywood heavies, and the non-stop slapstick antics that will have children screaming with delight. Amid all the ridiculousness, parents will appreciate the wry asides by Eddie Izzard's koala bear.
| Features | Blooper And Blunders -- Eddie Izzard Unleashed | | Deleted Scenes -- Commentary By The Film's Creators | | "Real Wild Child" Music Video -- Performed By Everlife | | Widescreen Presentation | | Audio: English Dolby Digital (5.1); Dolby Surround Sound | | Subtitles: English, Spanish, French |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Buena Vista |
| Release Date: 9/11/2009 |
| Running Time: 82 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2006 | | Catalog ID: 3708803 | | UPC: 00786936248951 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English, French Dubbed, Spanish Dubbed | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew | Alan Silvestri - Original Music By | | Beau Flynn, et. al. - Producer | | Ed Decter, et. al. - Writer | | James Belushi - Voice Of | | Janeane Garofalo - Voice Of | | Kiefer Sutherland - Voice Of | | Scott Balcerek, et. al. - Editor | | Steve Williams - Director | | William Shatner - Voice Of | | "Beau Flynn, et. al." - Producer | | "Ed Decter, et. al." - Writer | | "Scott Balcerek, et. al." - Editor |
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"THE WILD is filled with softness and texture....It allows for inspired voice work for Eddie Izzard as a snooty koala bear and William Shatner as a menacing wildebeest..." 04/14/2006 p.E20Los Angeles Times
"[I]t has some truly spectacular animation....Williams here creates backdrops so dense you can all but feel them pressing in." 04/14/2006 p.E8 Total Film
3 stars out of 5 -- "The animation is better, the jokes intended for your children are better, the jokes intended for you and not your children are much better, the songs are better, and it's more fun." 06/01/2006 p.61 Chicago Sun-Times 8 of 10
"The movie has a lot more action than ""Ice Age: The Meltdown,"" which was essentially one long trek. There are savage beasts (wilde and other), exploding volcanoes, rivers of lava, and so on -- some of it maybe too intense for the youngest kids...The director, Steve ""Spaz"" Williams, has a way of cutting on dialogue to unexpected closeups. That gives us a subtle feeling that the movie knows in advance what will happen next, when in theory it should seem to find out just when we do. I also think the framing of some of the characters is too close; they hog the foreground and obscure the background." - Roger Ebert
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