2006 film by Steve Williams
The Wild
is a 2006 animated
adventure comedy film
directed by animator
Steve "Spaz" Williams
(in his director debut) and written by
Ed Decter
,
John J. Strauss
, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. It features the voices of
Kiefer Sutherland
,
Eddie Izzard
,
Janeane Garofalo
,
Jim Belushi
,
Richard Kind
,
Greg Cipes
, and
William Shatner
. The film's plot centers around Samson, a male
lion
who loses his preteen son Ryan when he wanders off and accidentally gets shipped from the
Central Park Zoo
to
Africa
, he teams up with a group of animals as they embark on a journey to rescue his missing son and take risks to evade dangers along the way.
Produced by
Walt Disney Pictures
, Hoytyboy Pictures, Sir Zip Studios and Contrafilm,
[1]
[2]
it was animated by
C.O.R.E. Feature Animation
. It was released to theaters in North America on April 14, 2006, by
Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
and earned $102 million (equivalent to $154,161,770 in 2023) on an $80 million (equivalent to $120,911,192 in 2023) budget. The film was a critical and
commercial failure
, with severe criticism given towards its animation and similarities to
DreamWorks Animation
's
Madagascar
, Pixar's
Finding Nemo
, and Disney's very own
The Lion King
.
Plot
[
edit
]
At the
Central Park Zoo
, Samson the
lion
tells his preteen son Ryan stories of his adventures in the Wilds of
Africa
. Ryan wants to go to the wild too to learn how to roar like his father, but Samson disapproves of the idea.
When the zoo closes, all the animals are free to roam. Samson and his friends, Benny the
squirrel
, Bridget the
giraffe
whom Benny has a crush on, Larry the dim-witted
anaconda
, and Nigel the unlucky but popular
koala
compete in a turtle
curling
championship. Ryan and his own friends accidentally cause a stampede which heads to the game and endangers the animals.
Samson and Ryan have a falling-out and Ryan runs off before Samson can apologize. He later sneaks into a green
Intermodal container
which is rumored to be heading to the wild. Just as he regrets his decision, Ryan suddenly gets locked inside the container, which is then being loaded onto a freight truck, eventually shipping him away in the process.
With the help of a pigeon, Hamir, Samson, and his friends go after Ryan, hiding in a garbage disposal truck, but Benny falls overboard. After passing through
Times Square
and nearly being crushed in the truck, the group encounters a pack of
rabid
dogs, and instead of standing his ground, Samson escapes through the sewer rather than fighting as his friends expect for him to do. There, they take directions to the docks from two friendly streetwise
sewer alligator
brothers, Stan and Carmine.
The next morning, they steal a
tugboat
during a hectic escape from the
harbor
. After reuniting with Benny, who has followed them with a flock of
geese
, Samson manages to drive the boat with Larry's help and the geese lead them to the right direction toward Ryan's ship.
A few days later the boat runs aground in Africa, where all the animals in the area are being evacuated by the carriers, as a nearby
volcano
is about to erupt. They witness Ryan run into the jungle, but Samson is unable to find him. After failing to eat a
rock hyrax
named Colin, his friends question if he has ever been in the wild before, to which he forlornly confirms. The rest of the group heads back to the ship, but Samson continues to search for his son. While walking, he sees plants and rocks changing colors, which he attributes as his instincts working.
Nigel is abducted by a herd of
wildebeest
who reside in the volcano and their leader, Kazar, pronounces him "
The Great Him
," based on an "
omen
" he received when he was young: about to be devoured by lions, a toy koala fell from a plane and scared the lions away, saving his life. This experience made Kazar believe that "The Great Him" will help him and his kind create a change in the
food chain
that will allow prey to become predators and vice versa. In order to do that, he thinks the wildebeest have to eat a lion. Bridget and Larry are also captured and planned to be eaten as well.
Ryan hides up in an old tree, but a gang of vultures attacks him under Kazar's orders. The branch breaks and traps his paw. Samson hears Ryan's cries and runs to save him, scaring off the vultures. The two reunite but are interrupted by the wildebeest. Ryan is shocked when Samson tells him to run. They retreat to a tree where Samson reveals the truth about his past: he was actually born in a
circus
and was unable to roar just like Ryan. Because of this, Samson's callous father stated that he would've roared better if he was born in the wild and allowed him to be sent to the zoo, where he lied about his origins to avoid embarrassment. The wildebeest discover them and push the tree over the cliff, with Samson still hanging on. Ryan is captured and taken to the volcano.
After a run-in with a group of female German
dung beetles
, Benny finds Samson and gives him the confidence to be himself, even if he is not from the wild. They soon find out that Samson's "instincts" were actually two chameleons named Cloak and Camo who have been leading Samson to the volcano so he would help them defeat Kazar's army. Samson uses the chameleons' camouflage abilities to sneak into the volcano, but when his disguise blows off due to the intense heat of the mountain, Kazar orders his army to attack. Seeing Samson in danger, Ryan climbs onto a catapulting device and launches himself at Kazar, finally letting out a roar. With Kazar distracted, Samson easily overpowers him. Ryan tells Samson that he is happy to have him as a father. The other wildebeest are touched by this and refuse to serve Kazar any further, having grown fed up with his delusions. Samson then gains the courage and roars powerfully enough to push back a charging Kazar. The group and the wildebeest flee, leaving Kazar to die in the erupting volcano.
Everyone manages to escape on the boat and travel back to the Central Park Zoo in their New York home.
Cast
[
edit
]
- Kiefer Sutherland
as Samson, a kind and caring
lion
who is the
leader
of the
Central Park Zoo
animals.
- Jim Belushi
as Benny, a heroic
Eastern gray squirrel
who is Samson's best friend. He is the only one who knows about Samson's past.
- Eddie Izzard
as Nigel, an eccentric British-accented
koala
and co-leader of the zoo. He has an intense loathing for the zoo's koala plush toys portraying him as "cuddly".
- Janeane Garofalo
as Bridget, an insecure
reticulated giraffe
. Benny has a crush on her, but she does not reciprocate until the end.
- Richard Kind
as Larry, a cheerful but dim-witted
green anaconda
.
- Greg Cipes
as Ryan, an inquisitive 11-year-old lion cub, and Samson's son.
- William Shatner
as Kazar, a megalomaniacal
black wildebeest
and tyrannical leader of a herd of wildebeests who seeks to change the food chain by eating an animal so that "Prey become Predators" and vice versa.
- Colin Hay
as Fergus, a
flamingo
.
- Miles Marsico as Duke, a
red kangaroo
joey and one of Ryan's friends.
- Jack DeSena
as Eze, a
hippopotamus
calf and one of Ryan's friends.
- Don Cherry
as Penguin MC, a
Southern rockhopper penguin
.
- Christian Argueta and David Cowgill as Hamir, a
pigeon
.
- Lenny Venito
as Stan, an
American alligator
who lives in the sewers and is Carmine's brother.
- Joseph Siravo
as Carmine, an American alligator who lives in the sewers and is Stan's brother.
- Patrick Warburton
as Blag, a black wildebeest and Kazar's assistant.
- Colin Cunningham as Colin, a
rock hyrax
.
- Jonathan Kimmel
and
Eddie Gossling
as Scab and Scraw, a pair of
Ruppell's vultures
who serve as minions of Kazar.
- Kevin Michael Richardson
as Jason, Samson's callous father and Ryan's grandfather.
- Nika Futterman
as Dung Beetle #1
- Julianne Buescher
as Dung Beetle #2
- Chris Edgerly
as Cloak, a sarcastic
common chameleon
.
- Bob Joles
as:
- Greg Berg
as Third unnamed vulture
- Bob Bergen
as:
- Jason Connroy as Flamingo
- Debi Derryberry
as:
- Dung Beetle #3
- Monkey Girl
- Terri Douglas as The Koala Toy, a
pullstring
koala
plush
which Nigel feuds with.
- Jeannie Elias as Monkeys
- Eddie Frierson
as Unnamed penguin
- Jess Harnell
as:
- Jason Harris Katz
as Victor, a
Magellanic penguin
- Josh Keaton
as Rhino
- Carolyn Lawrence
as:
- Danny Mann as Geese
- Mona Marshall
as:
- Woman
- Lionesses
- Dung Beetle #4
- Paul Pape
as Man #1
- Fred Tatasciore
as:
- Kari Wahlgren
as:
- John Du Prez
as Several wildebeests
- Eric Idle
as Wildebeest
- Miss Coco Peru
as Mama Hippo
Non-Speaking characters including
Release
[
edit
]
In March 2006, for a month-long "spring break" engagement exclusive to the
El Capitan Theater
, theater patrons were treated to a live performance of exotic birds which were accompanied by their keepers from the
Los Angeles Zoo
and Botanical Gardens before a screening of the film.
[7]
Home media
[
edit
]
The film was released on DVD and VHS on September 12, 2006. The DVD was accompanied with a filmmakers' commentary, five deleted scenes, bloopers, and a music video of
Everlife
's "
Real Wild Child
".
[8]
However, the VHS version was only an exclusive for the Disney Movie Club. On its first weekend, the film debuted at number one selling 787,779 DVD units.
[9]
At the end of its initial home video release, the film earned $43.2 million.
[10]
On November 21, 2006, the film was released on Blu-ray.
[11]
Reception
[
edit
]
Box office
[
edit
]
During its opening weekend, the film grossed $9.6 million (equivalent to $14,509,343 in 2023) at the box office, ranking fourth behind
Scary Movie 4
,
Ice Age: The Meltdown
, and
The Benchwarmers
.
[12]
The Wild
grossed $37.4 million (equivalent to $56,525,982 in 2023) in the United States and $64.9 million (equivalent to $98,089,204 in 2023) in other countries for a worldwide total of $102.3 million (equivalent to $154,615,187 in 2023).
[6]
Critical response
[
edit
]
On
review aggregator
website
Rotten Tomatoes
, the film has an approval rating of 19% based on 112 reviews and an average rating of 4.50/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "With a rehashed plot and unimpressive animation, there's nothing wild about
The Wild
."
[13]
On
Metacritic
, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
[14]
Audiences polled by
CinemaScore
gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.
[15]
Jonathan Rosenbaum
of the
Chicago Reader
wrote that "The CGI characters seem less like artwork than humans wearing animal suits, but despite the overall ugliness and sitcom timing, this has enough action, violence, and invention to keep kids amused."
[16]
Roger Ebert
of the
Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film three stars out of four. He praised the film's animation, but acknowledged the film's realism ventured towards the
uncanny valley
. He remarked that the "framing of some of the characters is too close; they hog the foreground and obscure the background. And the fur, hair and feathers on the creatures look so detailed, thanks to the wonders of CGI, that once again we're wandering toward the Uncanny Valley."
[17]
Marc Savlov, reviewing for
The Austin Chronicle
, wrote "The animation is top-notch, and the film sports some of the most realistic and colorful fur, feathers, and hair this side of Fashion Week in Milan. However,
The Wild
feels as though much of its backstory, along with most of the good jokes, have been cut out along the circuitous path to your neighborhood cineplex, resulting in a finished film that will probably delight the under-10 set, while leaving everyone else marveling at how bored they are."
[18]
Carrie Rickey of
The Philadelphia Inquirer
gave the film two stars out of four writing: "Though dull, there are three reasons one might want to see the film: The computer animators' ability to realistically represent animal fur is nothing short of dazzling. So detailed are the lion's mane and squirrel's tail that younger viewers could mistake it for a petting zoo."
[19]
Comparisons to
Madagascar
[
edit
]
Critics considered
The Wild
to be heavily derivative of the 2005
DreamWorks
film
Madagascar
. Claudia Puig, reviewing for
USA Today
, suggested that
The Wild
was "the most wildly derivative animated movie in ages. It borrows its theme from
Finding Nemo
and
Cats & Dogs
, copies elements of
The Jungle Book
,
The Lion King
and
All Dogs Go To Heaven
and has a shockingly similar plot to
Madagascar
."
[20]
Similarly, Justin Chang of
Variety
felt "Samson's rescue mission directly channels the father-son Sturm und Drang of both
The Lion King
and
Finding Nemo,
though absent the former's powerhouse dramatics or the latter's eye-popping visual splendor." In summary, he wrote that "Uninspired character animation and obnoxious banter aside,
The Wild
is ultimately done in by the persistent stench of been-there-seen-that."
[2]
Similarities include its setting in New York's
Central Park Zoo
, similar animals as characters, and the primary plot of introducing zoo animals to the wild. The name of the film and the tag line, "Start spreading the newspaper", a play on the opening line from the "
Theme from New York, New York
", were both used as integral plot points in
Madagascar
.
A few critics defended
The Wild
as the superior film. Michael Wilmington of the
Chicago Tribune
wrote "
The Wild
is better, mostly because it has some truly spectacular animation and because the cast is just as likable?even, in some cases, preferable."
[21]
Mike Sage of the
Peterborough This Week
wrote "don't be mistaking this for a
Madagascar
rip off, when it was that sloppy
DreamWorks
turd that only managed to make it to theaters first because of corporate espionage".
[22]
Without addressing which film was the original concept, Tim Cogshell of
Boxoffice Magazine
simply wrote "for the adult who may very well have to experience this film, and who may have experienced
Madagascar
,
The Wild
is better. 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."
[23]
Accolades
[
edit
]
Jen Rudin and Corbin Bronson won the
Artios Award
for Best Animated Voice-Over Feature Casting
[
when?
]
. The film was nominated for the 2006
Stinkers Bad Movie Award
for Worst Animated Film.
Soundtrack
[
edit
]
The musical score is composed and conducted by
Alan Silvestri
who also composed
Lilo & Stitch
.
The scores "Tales from the Wild", "You Can't Roar", and "Lost in the City" are only a few of the score tracks on the soundtrack. The soundtrack is available from
Buena Vista Records
. "
Free Ride
" by
The Edgar Winter Group
& "
Come Sail Away
" by
Styx
is featured in the trailers.
Video game
[
edit
]
A video game for
Game Boy Advance
based on the film was released to coincide with the film, with
Climax Studios
developing the game and
Buena Vista Games
publishing. Players get to play as Benny the Squirrel and Samson the Lion as they go through New York, the sea, and Africa to find Ryan, while battling the wicked blue wildebeest Kazar. The video game is "E" rated (for "Everyone") by the
ESRB
, with a note for Mild Cartoon Violence.
Literature
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
"The Wild (2006)"
. British Film Institute. Archived from
the original
on January 5, 2017
. Retrieved
January 4,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
Chang, Justin (April 12, 2006).
"Review:
The Wild
"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
October 9,
2013
.
- ^
"
THE WILD
(U)"
.
British Board of Film Classification
. Retrieved
September 17,
2014
.
- ^
a
b
"The Wild (2006) - Steve "Spaz" Williams, Steve 'Spaz' Williams, Steve "Spaz" Williams, Steve Williams | Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related | AllMovie"
.
- ^
"The Wild (2006) - Financial Information"
.
The Numbers
.
- ^
a
b
"
The Wild
(2006)"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved
December 5,
2019
.
- ^
"El Capitan Theatre Goes Wild for Spring Break"
.
Los Angeles Times
. April 7, 2006
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
"A Wild DVD"
.
Animation World Network
. September 14, 2006
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
"United States DVD Sales Chart for Week Ending September 17, 2006"
.
The Numbers
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
"The Wild (2006)?Video Sales"
.
The Numbers
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
"
The Wild
Blu-ray"
.
Bluray.com
.
- ^
Gray, Brandon (April 17, 2006).
"
'Scary Movie 4' Cracks Easter Record"
.
Box Office Mojo
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
"The Wild (2006)"
.
Rotten Tomatoes
.
- ^
"The Wild Reviews"
.
Metacritic
.
- ^
"Cinemascore"
. Archived from
the original
on December 20, 2018.
- ^
Rosenbaum, Jonathan (April 27, 2006).
"The Wild"
.
Chicago Reader
. Archived from
the original
on April 23, 2006
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
Ebert, Roger
(April 13, 2006).
"The Wild Movie Review & Film Summary (2006)"
.
Chicago Sun-Times
. Retrieved
December 5,
2019
.
- ^
Savlov, Marc (April 14, 2006).
"The Wild"
.
The Austin Chronicle
. Retrieved
July 24,
2019
.
- ^
Rickey, Carrie.
"Animated 'The Wild' an only mildly amusing critter caper"
.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
Puig, Claudia (April 13, 2006).
"
'Wild': 'Madagascar' meets 'Lion King' meets 'Nemo'
"
.
USA Today
. Retrieved
October 9,
2013
.
- ^
Wilmington, Michael.
"Movie review: 'The Wild'
"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Archived from
the original
on March 9, 2007
. Retrieved
July 25,
2019
.
- ^
"It's no Lion King but Disney offering has its moments"
.
MyKawartha.com
. April 19, 2006.
- ^
"The Wild"
. Archived from
the original
on December 16, 2013
. Retrieved
July 6,
2013
.
External links
[
edit
]