Starring:
Kiefer Sutherland as Samson (voice)
James Belushi as Benny (voice)
Eddie Izzard as Nigel (voice)
Janeane Garofalo as Bridget (voice)
William Shatner as Kazar (voice)
Richard Kind as Larry (voice)
Greg Cipes as Ryan (voice)
Colin Cunningham as Hyrax (voice)
Colin Hay as Fergus Flamingo (voice)
Miles Marsico as Duke (voice)
Jack De Sena as Eze (voice)
Don Cherry as Penguin MC (voice)
Christian Argueta as Hamir (voice)
David Cowgill as Hamir (voice)
Lenny Venito as Carmine (voice)
Special Features:
Blooper And Blunders – Eddie Izzard Unleashed
Deleted Scenes – Commentary by the Film’s Creators
“Real Wild Child” Music Video – Performed by Everlife
Other Info:
Widescreen (1.78:1)
Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Spanish Subtitles
Spanish and French Languages
Running Time: 82 Minutes
Synopsis:
The following is from the DVD cover:
“Go wild with the hysterical adventure the New York Daily News calls “truly infectious!” Disney uncages the laughs in the hip and hilarious comedy ‘The Wild.’ When a band of furry friends escape from the city zoo, they discover that New York City is the biggest, craziest jungle of all. Now, faced with a new journey and the challenge of a lifetime, they must work together if they are going to survive on the outside. ‘The Wild’ is ferocious fun that will have your whole family roaring with laughter.”
“The Wild” is rated G.
Mini-Review:
“The Wild” quickly hit and then left theaters earlier this year. After having seen it, I can say it did so with good reason. It’s simply not that funny. The vast majority of the characters are uninteresting and the plot seems to be a direct copy of “Madagascar.” Beat for beat it’s extremely similar. Unfortunately, since “Madagascar” was funnier, “The Wild” comes across looking quite lame in comparison.
“The Wild” does have one high point and it’s Eddie Izzard as Nigel the Koala. His side comments and amusing ad libs totally keep the story afloat. If not for him there would be almost nothing in “The Wild” worth seeing. A couple of other gags involving some chameleons and a cranky little mammal are also funny, but it’s not enough. The plot goes from a weak tale of escaped animals in New York to a weak story about a religious cult of wildebeests trying to become carnivores. It’s just not very good.
The animation is also a strange mix of photo-real creatures and environments and very cartoony looking characters. For example Samson has very realistic looking hair, but very cartoony eyes. I think what they did in “Madagascar” by making it completely cartoony was the way to go.
All this being said, though, my kids absolutely loved “The Wild.” They watched it once and afterwards were quoting it over and over. So if you need to entertain kids, this will fit the bill. Just don’t necessarily expect to be entertained yourself.
They went really light on the bonus features on this DVD. You’ll only find three of them. First up is “Eddie Izzard Unleashed” where we see the actor improvising his lines and doing alternate takes in the film. Also included are some Deleted Scenes with commentary by the filmmakers. One features a dream sequence with James Belushi’s squirrel character. Some of these scenes are in rough animatic format while others are actually almost complete footage. Rounding things out is the “Real Wild Child” Music Video performed by Everlife. It’s a decent rendition of the classic song.
