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The movie
As Alex Stroup discussed in his film review of The Wild Disney or Pixar had nothing to do with the actual making of the film—only the distribution, much like Disney did for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe for Walden Media. C.O.R.E. Feature Animation in Toronto has the honors for creating The Wild, and I suppose just the fact that Disney chose it for distribution is a great success for the company and the movie. Unfortunately, that’s about as far as any success goes; the film itself is forgettable, and is likely to sink out of sight quickly along with the unmemorable Valiant—another of Disney distribution experiments.
As far as the plot of the film goes, Samson the Lion ( Kiefer Sutherland) is the star of the New York Zoo and loves to regale his zoo-mates and teenage son, Ryan, with fur-raising stories about his days in the wild. But beneath these tales of magnificent bravery lies the real truth: Samson has never set a paw inside a real wilderness in his entire life. When Ryan is mistakenly shipped to the wild, Samson must conquer his fears and rescue his son with the help of his quirky-yet-loveable friends, including a koala named Nigel (Eddie Izzard), a squirrel named Benny (Jim Belushi) and his true love Bridget who happens to be a giraffe (Janeane Garofalo.) Plenty of bad guys await in the wild, most notably Kazar, the head of the Wildebeests, voiced by William Shatner. Kazar is the fanatic leader of a cult of wildebeests interested in becoming a carnivore, starting with Samson and his son Ryan. Trust me, the whole plot line about the wildebeests becoming the hunters rather than the hunted is even less charming than it sounds. Will Samson rescue his son and return to the safety of New York? Yes, of course; but getting there is not the breezy romp it should be thanks to several reasons (even besides the meat-eating wildebeests.)
© Disney.
The first problem with The Wild is its unfortunate similarity to Madagascar, which came out first and did a better job with the whole “city-slickers to jungle beast” motif. Much has already been said on this subject, but the truth of the matter is that The Wild suffers in comparison to the light comic touch of Madagascar. Neither will be installed in the classic animated feature hall of fame, but at least Madagascar will hang around the lobby with an umbrella drink and a lampshade over its head.
Another problem with The Wild is the whole look of the film. The jungle animals come off robotic and unfocused; eyes that should be looking into the camera endearingly seem to stare past over your shoulder. The effect is mildly creepy. Animals that run through the trees never quite touch the ground or make impressions in the dirt. I never imagined myself nit-picky about computer animation, but seeing The Wild made me appreciate the genius craftsmanship of Pixar’s work.
Finally, there’s the problem of the script. It’s just not funny or engaging. We never understand why the characters are friends in the first place, and don’t really care when they are put in danger. The wildebeest plotline is too dark for most young kids, and it seems like the emphasis on improvisation with the voice actors ended up hurting the storyline.
The Goodies
Deleted scenes (4:45)
Five deleted scenes are offered in the bonus features, all with optional commentary. These are all pretty rough sequences with much of the final computerized touches unfinished. One scene never even made it to the computer and is shown in rough sketches with the accompanying voice work. The commentary is provided by director Steve “Spaz” Williams and producer Clint Goldman. During one of the deleted scenes they relate how the character of Samson’s wife was eliminated from the final cut of the film—mainly to keep up the pace of the story. Not to eliminate more similarities between The Wild and The Lion King? Okie dokie; whatever you say. They also comment on Eddie Izzard’s voice performance as Nigel the koala as being over 90 percent improvisational work.
© Disney.
Music and More (3:30)
The Music and More section of the bonus features contains one music video by Everlife. “Real Wild Child” is played over the credits to the film. My kids have never heard of Everlife, but the song is fun and upbeat. I think it’s a stretch to make a whole bonus section out of one lone music video, but this is becoming standard operating procedure for “minor” Disney releases.
Backstage Disney
This is the most disappointing section of the bonus features. “Eddie Izzard Unleashed” (3:30) is mostly footage of Izzard’s improvisational skills in front of a microphone in studio. Some look staged after the fact, but some may be authentic due to the more realistic (read: poor) lighting, lack of makeup, and personal hygiene in some of the clips. Some of the voice work is shown in split screen with the finished film. What is not explained is how filmmakers take the raw recordings and fashion them into something workable, or how they direct an actor to improvise in a direction that will benefit the final cut. There is nothing in the bonus features that speaks to the development of The Wild, such as where the original idea came from and how the film took shape. In “Colin the Hyrax” (2:20) American production assistant Colin Cunninham marches around telling off co-workers with a cheesy British accent to illustrate how his ego had inflated in being chosen to voice a Disney character. I like ironic humor quite a lot, but this segment fell flat, and will go over the heads of most kids watching the segment.
Interface
The interface is set up like an avenue of New York billboards—all bright lights and upbeat score from the film. The characters flash through in short clips on several billboards in a 30-second video loop. Additional menu screens continue the music, but leave out the moving images. It appears that someone went to a lot of trouble on the main menu, but seemed to have lost interest in the bonus features menus.
Audio and Video
The Wild is presented in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. Despite the problems I had with the look of the film, I can’t fault the ultra-crisp and bright transfer to DVD. The audio is Dolby Digital 5.1 and sounds terrific.
The Final Evaluation
I can’t recommend anyone spend the suggested retail price on The Wild. If you feel you must pick up a copy, if only to satisfy your curiosity about the Madagascar controversy, I beg you to visit Costco or other bargain outlet. If the controversy doesn’t pique your curiosity, rewatch The Lion King again and remember the days when Disney didn’t have to bargain shop for mediocre properties to distribute.
