The Wild (2006)
Average Rating: 4.5/10
Reviews Counted: 111
Fresh: 21 | Rotten: 90
With a rehashed plot and unimpressive animation, there's nothing wild about The Wild.
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 33
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 25
With a rehashed plot and unimpressive animation, there's nothing wild about The Wild.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.1/5
User Ratings: 201,603
My Rating
Movie Info
A handful of zoo animals leave behind their well-protected environment for the streets of the big city in this computer-animated comedy. Sampson (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) is the king of a make-believe jungle far from the African plains -- he's a lion on display at a zoo in New York City's Central Park, and he lords it over the other animals, including Nigel (voice of Eddie Izzard), a testy koala bear; Larry, a dumb but well-meaning snake; ; Bridget (voice of Janeane Garofalo), a bright but
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Cast
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Kiefer Sutherland
Sampson -
Jim Belushi
Benny -
Eddie Izzard
Nigel -
Janeane Garofalo
Bridget -
William Shatner
Kazar -
Richard Kind
Larry -
Greg Cipes
Ryan -
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Patrick Fraley
(Voice) -
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Patrick Warburton
Blag -
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Colin Hay
Fergus Flamingo -
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Joseph Siravo
Carmine -
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Lenny Venito
Stan -
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Clinton Leupp
Mama Hippo -
Colin Cunningham
Hyrax -
Miles Marsico
Duke -
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Bob Joles
Camo, Ringleader -
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David Cowgill
Hamir -
Jonathan Kimmel
Scab -
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Jack DeSena
Eze -
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Dominic Scott Kay
Young Samson -
Kevin Michael Richardson
Samson's Father -
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Nika Futterman
Dung Beetle #1 -
Christian Argueta
Hamir -
Eddie Gossling
Scraw (Voice) -
Julianne Buescher
Dung Beetle #2 (Voice) -
Chris Edgerly
Cloak (Voice) -
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Peter Pamela Rose
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Don Cherry
Penguin MC -
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The Wild Trailer & Photos
All Critics (114) | Top Critics (33) | Fresh (21) | Rotten (92) | DVD (15)
The animation here impresses more than in the equally defunct Madagascar, but everything else smacks of an easy money-making exercise of such dimwitted inanity even the youngest kids will see through it.
Top CriticThe animation is exquisitely detailed, down to the lions' individually moving whiskers -- but when's the last time you enjoyed a cartoon for its realism?
Another animated film from 2006 that's right in that average category.
As a movie that kids will enjoy with a few adult-oriented gags to keep parents from going completely insane with boredom, The Wild accomplishes its unambitious mission.
A bulky, uneven script with too many narrative cul de sacs (including a pointlessly lengthy curling match at the zoo) makes it hard to stay interested in The Wild.
Technically, The Wild is impressive. Until you realize that the lifelike animated fur is the product of more professional care than the script.
For all the rest of the film's unoriginality, The Wild moves along with solidly crafted wit.
The Wild is pretty tame, and in the increasingly crowded, competitive, survival-of-the-fittest world of computer animation, it meows but does not roar
Seems like a dull Madagascar ripoff.
full review in Greek
The kids might be better off with a trip to a real zoo, if they haven't had their fill of Madagascar yet.
The diverse animals are beautifully rendered, but this cliche-riddled Disney failure represents one too many trips to the CGI non-inkwell.
I found a good deal of The Wild visually appealing but even more of it narratively dry.
The Wild is not really bad; it's just tired.
A decade ago, this sort of thing would have felt cuter, fresher and funnier than today, when the bar for CGI animation has been raised considerably.
The film is ultimately noise and its story is so overdone at this point that far from being swept up in it, we're only hoping that the next plot point isn't as predictable as the last. But things never do work out that way.
The Wild roars back from a rocky opening act to a storming last reel, just managing to claw its way above comparisons with Madagascar.
Watchable animated adventure with one eye on the cuddly toy market, though you've got to love a film that casts William Shatner as a wildebeest.
Audience Reviews for The Wild
Super Reviewer
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- Larry: Hey everybody we are going to use the secret play!
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- Nigel: Who put that bar there?
Discussion Forum
| Topic | Last Post | Replies |
|---|---|---|
| Disney didn't make this. | 4 months ago | 0 |
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Foreign Titles
- Salvaje (ES)
The plot, settings and entire idea is unfortunately almost identical to 'Madagascar'. A bunch of crazy animals all live together in a zoo lead by the mighty lion 'Samson'. One day 'Samson' accidentally upsets his cub son causing him to run away, get trapped and...you guessed it, get shipped off to Africa. So 'Samson' and the other animals including a Koala, Giraffe, snake and squirrel, all go off on an adventure to rescue 'Ryan' the lion cub.
I can't really go into how utterly stupid this is seeing as its a kids film. But alligators in New York's sewers, the fact they all end up in Africa from leaving NY is pretty amazing, no idea where in Africa though but a volcano?. And the fact there are hardly any humans around anywhere...including in NY. Yes I know its a silly kiddie film but lets have some degree of sense.
One major problem here is the characters aren't too spectacular and AGAIN almost identical to errr that other wildlife animation. The only character that shows any signs of creativity was 'Nigel' the Koala who has a British accent voiced by the brilliant Eddie Izzard. This little guy was pretty neat, Izzard does a great job making him a very nervous, easily scared, unfit, slightly squiffy fellow who hates the fact his likeness is a famous plush zoo toy souvenir. Its Eddie's dry, wry flat deliveries that make you laugh, well for us Brits anyway. Quite liked the Noo Yawker tawk of the sewer alligators also, that's a good accent.
Plus, Patrick Warburton, standard requirement for animated films it seems. Not a problem seeing as his voice is brilliantly funny, lucky huh!.
Its all completely and totally predictable with visual gags that have been used all before. The animation isn't that bad, a different style to 'Madagascar' with fur effects giving a little more realism, 'Ryan' the cub is undeniably cute. The wildebeests actually look pretty cool I though, quite evil and I liked the little intro animation revolving around them at the start.
Shame they chose to include modern pop music within the film but other than that its a fair animation that is fun to watch. Had it come out before that other silly zoo animation then the tables would be turned hehe but such is life.