| The Wild | |
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 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Steve "Spaz" Williams |
| Screenplay by |
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| Starring | |
| Edited by |
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| Music by | Alan Silvestri |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures Distribution[3][a] |
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Running time | 82 minutes[4] |
| Countries | |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $80 million[6] |
| Box office | $102.3 million[7] |
The Wild is a 2006 animatedadventure comedy film directed bySteve "Spaz" Williams with a screenplay byEd Decter,John J. Strauss, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin, and featuring the voices ofKiefer Sutherland,Eddie Izzard,Jim Belushi,Janeane Garofalo,Richard Kind,Greg Cipes,Patrick Warburton andWilliam Shatner. The film's plot centers around Samson, a male lion who loses his pre-teen son, Ryan, who wanders off and accidentally gets shipped from theCentral Park Zoo to Africa, leading his father to team up with a group of animals as they embark on a journey to save his lost son.
Produced byWalt Disney Pictures, Hoytyboy Pictures, Sir Zip Studios, Contrafilm, andC.O.R.E. Feature Animation,The Wild was animated by C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures, and released byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution in North America on April 14, 2006.[1][2][3] The film earned $102 million on an $80 million budget, making it acommercial failure. Reviews were largely negative, with many critics comparing it unfavorably toMadagascar (2005),Finding Nemo (2003), andThe Lion King (1994). It was the only film produced by C.O.R.E before they shut down in 2010.
In theCentral Park Zoo, Samson thelion narrates stories of his adventures in the Africansavanna to his son Ryan. Ryan dreams of going to the wild to learn how to roar like his father, but Samson dismisses the idea.
During the night, after the zoo closes, Samson and his friends; Benny thesquirrel, Bridget thegiraffe, Larry theanaconda, and Nigel thekoala, compete in a turtle curling championship. Ryan and his own friends accidentally trigger a stampede, ending the game and causing Samson and Ryan to argue. Ryan wanders into a greenintermodal container said to be placed inAfrica. After he changes his mind, he gets locked inside, loaded onto a truck and shipped away.
With the help of apigeon Hamir, Samson and his friends set out to rescue Ryan, hitching a ride in a garbage disposal truck. Passing throughTimes Square, they get cornered by a pack of rabid dogs, and manage to escape through the sewage system. The group take directions to the docks from two streetwisesewer alligator brothers, Stan and Carmine. The next morning, they commandeer a tugboat from theNew York Harbor. With the help of Benny andCanadian geese, Samson steers the boat towards the direction of Ryan's ship.
After a couple days, the boat reaches the shores of Africa. They witness a ship evacuating the animals from a dormant volcano, and Ryan running into the jungle. Unable to eat a grumpyhyrax named Colin, Samson reveals to his friends that he wasn't born in the wild. Nigel, Bridget, Larry and Benny head back to the ship, while Samson stays to continue searching for his son.
In the jungle, the quartet are attacked by a herd ofblack wildebeests who reside in the volcano, capturing Nigel. Their leader Kazar, pronounces Nigel "The Great Him," based on an "omen" he received when he was young, believing that "The Great Him" will help his kind alter the food chain so that prey become predators. Bridget and Larry are also captured and prepared to be eaten.
Ryan hides up in an old tree, and is attacked by a gang of vultures under Kazar's orders. Samson hears Ryan's cries and runs to save him, scaring off the vultures. Samson reveals the truth about his past: he was born in a circus, and just like Ryan, he was unable to roar during a performance, which caused his cruel father to allow them to take him to the zoo where he lied about his origins to avoid further humiliation. The wildebeests discover them and push Samson over the cliff, while Ryan is captured and taken to the volcano.
Benny finds Samson, and gives him the confidence to be himself. After encountering a couple of chameleons, Samson uses their camouflage abilities to sneak into the volcano to rescue his son and friends. During the fight, Ryan finally lets out a roar for the first time. Seeing the father-son love Samson and Ryan have for each other, the other wildebeests refuse to serve Kazar any further, having grown fed up with his delusions. Enraged, Kazar charges forward, but is pushed back by Samson's powerful roar. As the volcano erupts, the group and wildebeests escape, leaving Kazar to die in the process. Everyone manages to escape on the boat and travel back to New York celebrating.
In a 2004 presentation byWalt Disney Animation Studios,The Wild was announced in collaboration with the San Francisco-based Complete Pandemonium and Toronto-basedC.O.R.E. Digital Pictures companies.[8]The Walt Disney Studios had invested in C.O.R.E. as an alternative toPixar Animation Studios, whose initial deal with Disney was ending.[8][9] This was the first and only film produced by C.O.R.E. via their C.O.R.E. Feature Animation division, prior to their closure in 2010.[9]
The Wild was initially announced with an intended release in 2005, before releasing theatrically in the United States byBuena Vista Pictures Distribution on April 14, 2006.[8] In March 2006, for a month-long "spring break" engagement exclusive to theEl Capitan Theatre, theater patrons were treated to a live performance of exotic birds which were accompanied by their keepers from theLos Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens before a screening of the film.[10]
The film was released on DVD and VHS on September 12, 2006.[11] The DVD was accompanied with a filmmakers' commentary, five deleted scenes, bloopers, and a music video ofEverlife's "Real Wild Child".[12] 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.[13] At the end of its initial home video release, the film earned $43.2 million.[14] On November 21, 2006, the film was released on Blu-ray.[15]
During its opening weekend, the film grossed $9.6 million (equivalent to $14,973,655 in 2024) at the box office, ranking fourth behindScary Movie 4,Ice Age: The Meltdown, andThe Benchwarmers.[16]The Wild grossed $37.4 million (equivalent to $58,334,863 in 2024) in the United States and $64.9 million (equivalent to $101,228,145 in 2024) in other countries for a worldwide total of $102.3 million (equivalent to $159,563,008 in 2024).[7]
Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 18% 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 aboutThe Wild."[17] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[18] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.[19]
Jonathan Rosenbaum of theChicago 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."[20]Roger Ebert of theChicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four. He praised the film's animation, but acknowledged the film's realism ventured towards theuncanny 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."[21]
Marc Savlov, reviewing forThe 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."[22] Carrie Rickey ofThe 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."[23]
Critics consideredThe Wild to be heavily derivative of the 2005DreamWorks filmMadagascar. Claudia Puig, reviewing forUSA Today, suggested thatThe Wild was "the most wildly derivative animated movie in ages. It borrows its theme fromFinding Nemo andCats & Dogs, copies elements ofThe Jungle Book,Monsters, Inc.,The Lion King andAll Dogs Go To Heaven and has a shockingly similar plot toMadagascar."[24] Similarly, Justin Chang ofVariety felt "Samson's rescue mission directly channels the father-son Sturm und Drang of bothThe Lion King andFinding 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."[3]
Similarities include its setting in New York'sCentral 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 inMadagascar.
A few critics defendedThe Wild as the superior film. Michael Wilmington of theChicago 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."[25] Mike Sage of thePeterborough This Week wrote "don't be mistaking this for aMadagascar rip off, when it was that sloppyDreamWorks - that only managed to make it to theaters first because of corporate espionage".[26] Without addressing which film was the original concept, Tim Cogshell ofBoxoffice Magazine simply wrote "for the adult who may very well have to experience this film, and who may have experiencedMadagascar,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."[27]
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Jen Rudin and Corbin Bronson won theArtios Award for Best Animated Voice-Over Feature Casting 2006. The film was nominated for the 2006Stinkers Bad Movie Award for Worst Animated Film.
The musical score is composed byAlan Silvestri.
The scores "Tales from the Wild", "You Can't Roar", "Lost in the City", "To the Wild", "Alien Shores", "The Legend in Action", "The Mythology of Nigel", "The Ritual", and "Found Our Roar" are among the nine score tracks on the soundtrack. The soundtrack is available fromBuena Vista Records. "Free Ride" byThe Edgar Winter Group & "Come Sail Away" byStyx is featured in the trailers.
The image song for the Japanese version is called "Prisoner of Love" by theGospellers.[28][29][30]
A video game forGame Boy Advance based on the film was released to coincide with the film, withClimax Studios developing the game andBuena 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 theESRB, with a note for Mild Cartoon Violence.
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