IMDb user comments for
The Wild (2006)

advertisement

Filter:

Best Chronological Prolific Authors Loved It Hated It Hide Spoilers:

Page 1 of 14:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Index

138 comments in total

---

62 out of 87 people found the following comment useful :-
Its really all about Nigel, 19 April 2006

Author: dbborroughs from Glen Cove, New York

Similar to Madagascar but not the same this is the story of a zoo lion and his friends who race off to save the lion's son who has been shipped back to the wild. The movie is the race to find the son before he gets to the wild and what happens once they get there.

I have to start by saying the voice cast is top notch here. Everyone does an excellent job. However I must single out Jim Belushi and Eddie Izzard as turning in classic animated performances. Belushi plays a street smart squirrel who is in love with a giraffe and he is a ball of fun. Its clear why he is the best friend of Keifer Sutherland's lion. He is a joy to behold.

Even better is Eddie Izzard as Nigel, a koala who is totally crazed. Izzard is in constant motion and is constantly chattering about everyone and everything and he effectively turns a movie about a lion and his cub into a movie about a deluded koala with a tenuous grasp on reality. Izzard's Nigel will probably go down in history as one of the great cartoon characters of all time.

This is a movie with fantastic animation. It all looks great. The director and some of his crew are from the effects team that made Terminator 2 and other big budget special effects movie look so great.

The problem with this movie is that it was made by guys who until this film made their living making soulless special effects for soulless action films. The net effect is a soulless film. There is no pacing, there is little sense of danger. Worse the characters inhabit a world that isn't real. In this world, especially in the New York scenes, no one exists except the characters. They drive all through the city and encounter no one. There are no other cars on the street. To be frank there is no sign of life anywhere. Its terrible. It kills the film. Its sad but as alive the actors are their animated characters, while looking good, come across as dead constructs.

Still the movie is worth seeing. Eddie Izzard, with an assist by Jim Belushi make it worth seeing. Clearly abandoned by Disney in theaters, you should make a run by this on home video or cable, where its less than the sum of its parts construction will be less annoying.

---

100 out of 165 people found the following comment useful :-
You don't have to worry about it being like Madagascar and Nemo, 7 April 2006

Author: DavidStodolny from Los Angeles

I went to the Premiere this weekend of THE WILD and I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I was concerned about the same thing that everyone else was.

Is it going to be like Madagascar mixed with the same theme as Finding Nemo?

To my surprise I did not even once think about either of those films while I was watching THE WILD. There were some great jokes and gags and it had the pacing of a good action film. This movie is nothing like either of those movies. I encourage everyone to see this movie for themselves and am curious what they think of it. There is a couple plot holes and weak story points. But other than those few moments it's a fun film to watch. The look is refreshing because it doesn't look like every other CG feature in the world. My final statement is this. Kids will absolutely love it. And the parents will be entertained and won't be bored.

---

34 out of 39 people found the following comment useful :-
After A Great 50 Minutes, film Flounders In Final Half-Hour, 8 February 2007

Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

At first, this appears to be a rip-off of "Madagascar," with New York City zoo animals leaving the comforts of "home" for the wilds of Africa. However, it is a totally different story and feel to it, more serious and sentimental than "Madagascar." Personally, I like "serious and sentimental" but not in animated movie, at least not to the degree it was in here. I preferred the other "NYC zoo" film to this one because "The Wild" lost almost all of its great humor in the last 20-30 minutes.

The first 50 minutes of this film was spectacular. I was thinking, "Wow, another great animated film. How many is that in the past year or so?" The jokes were excellent, the characters mostly funny and the animation superb. The dark, rich colors in here are magnificent. This is a beautiful movie! The minor characters are the best in here: the snake, koala bear and squirrel. Eddie Izzard, Richard Kind and Jim Belushi, in particular, are great in their voices of these characters. The two crocodiles that the wandering zoo animals meet in the sewers are hilarious. They produced the biggest laughs, at least with me. The major characters: the lion (Keifer Sutherland), his cub (Greg Cipes) and the giraffe (Janeane Garafolo) were all a little too much on the serious side.

Speaking of serious: the last third of this film totally switched gears. I wonder how this went over with very young kids and their parents? It got too serious, frightening in spots (for little ones) and then the usual corny Disney ending. It's too bad: this could have been super if they had just continued doing what was working the first 50 minutes.

---

59 out of 93 people found the following comment useful :-
Brilliant Animation...A Great Escape For Kids And Adults Alike!, 13 April 2006

Author: Richard Wilson from Canada

I was lucky enough to get tickets to a preview of this film last week. I also initially wondered why they would copy Madagascar (which I didn't find very good)...I came away with the realization that it's a very different and way better movie with only the basic premise bearing somewhat of a resemblance (not unlike many kid's films and the "formula" that seems to be used).

I found the film hilarious and had a great time watching my kids get such a kick out of it as well. The animation is absolutely incredible and this was a great escape for me and my kids (10 and 7)...if I could only get my 7 year old to stop continually quoting Nigel the Koala then all would be well...

I read a few reviews which panned this flick. I wondered if they saw the same movie we did and/or why an adult who wants to bring a kid for a few laughs would listen to some of the negative crap that's been written?! I would suggest that there is many a jaded movie critic out there who may not appreciate this for what it really is (perhaps they're taking their own "grown-up" opinions too seriously?)...a kid's flick which just happens to appeal (thankfully) to the adults who are brought along in tow. Either some of these reviewers have a different political agenda or they're really out of touch with the audience demographics a film like this is geared toward. You watch...You decide...

This film was quite simply a blast! We hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

---

36 out of 52 people found the following comment useful :-
It's good a movie for kids..., 18 April 2006

Author: womack238 from United States

The Wild was advertised as a movie for kids, and it lived up to it's billing. I saw it this past weekend with my 5 year-old. It had a good story line and enough action and music to keep him entertained. He has already asked can we buy it when it comes out on DVD. Since it is a clean movie I will happily get it for him. I didn't have to cringe or be on edge because of suggestive dialog or foul language like Ice Age 2 has. I don't enjoy exposing my son to entertainment that contains language he cannot repeat. If you want to treat your kids to a real kid's flick, take them to see this. It's not a contender for an Oscar, but you'll enjoy it, too.

---

37 out of 57 people found the following comment useful :-
Fun, funny and adolescent-friendly, 12 April 2006

Author: kschuller from Canada

Saw a preview screening last night, and it was really fun. First, the movie is visually gorgeous. The texture (hair especially!) work alone is enough to recommend the film to animation enthusiasts. To all the comparisons with Madagascar I will add that The Wild is much funnier. And judging by the 10-year-olds sitting with me, kids will love it. As the movie was made by C.O.R.E. in Toronto, was directed by a Canadian, and stars a lot of Canadians -- there are a few Canadian jokes (and sports) in the movie that international viewers might miss. It also has a fun self-referential attitude in the humor that's enjoyable without becoming gimmicky. To build on the previous poster, it is not Citizen Kane -- but has much funnier animals. It's a movie that does what it sets out to do -- entertain you. And it does that very well.

---

15 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
I thought the movie was awesome, 7 May 2007

Author: theobalk from Netherlands

Reading these reviews I'm not sure we've all seen the same movie. I really liked it, the story was simple but I wanted to see something uncomplicated and it was good for an animation movie. I especially enjoyed the visual aspects of this movie. I've seen it in a hd version at home and I was stunned by the quality of the animation, the aliveness of the motions. The ugly pigeons, the psychedelic elements in the end... The animators did a great job, I haven't seen such a good animation ever, but then again it's the first animation in hd I saw... If you like to have a relieve from forces plot twists and just wanna feel young again and enjoy some top notch animated animals talk go see this movie.

---

33 out of 53 people found the following comment useful :-
excellent kids film, 10 April 2006

Author: from Canada

Citizen Kane it is not. Nor is it Madagascar,thankfully. It seems to be doing really well with critics, for what it is. A fun, great. family film that with awesome graphics and enough adult humor to keep the everyone in the family happy. I think Disney are on the right track with this kind of film.Not every release needs to be in the pixar mold. There should be room in animation for different styles/themes etc. If there are similarities in "The Wild" to other films well, thats hardly new. Can't wait to see it again. Hopefully it does really well. The look of the film is fresh and exciting enough to stand up to the majority of other releases.It should be an interesting race in the box office this easter.

---

12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
Fun for the whole family !, 6 August 2007

Author: ichocolat

1st of all, I tend to agree with other users who said that The Wild isn't an original. Yeah, in a way it is not an original. Disney seem to reuse their characters, and follow a somewhat same storyline, like their previous movies.

The storyline goes that the cub, Ryan was fed-up being compared to his Dad, and wished to be in the wild. But unlike the previous Disney movies, the poor Ryan was taken to the wild by accident. So his dad & their friends went on a trip to find and rescue Ryan.

So the adventure started! They found their ways through the urban New York, down the sewer and other places you'd usually do not find that animals there.

The animation is top notch, with details on the color texture, with smooth movement by the characters. The voice-over is also superb, especially Kiefer Sutherland's lion & the cuddly koala bear, Izzerd.

All in all, the movie is good for the whole family, be it a toddler or a teenager as it has very good moral values. The story do not have foul language, unlike Ice Age. The only drawback that this movie has it that the characters are very much alike the previous Disney movies such as Open Season and Madagascar. But apart from that, this movie simply rocks!

---

12 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A wonderful surprise!, 29 July 2007

Author: faye alice from United Kingdom

This film did not disappoint me but I must admit I was a bit worried about seeing it because it did copy Madagascar a little bit e.g. same story but the zebra is replaced with a lion. It was still very enjoyable though. This is the best 3D animation I have ever seen. So what is the film about? Ryan is a lion cub who wants to go to the wild (anyone see the Madagascar patten here?) He is accidentally shipped off to Africia and Samson (his dad) and his friends will do anything to get him back, even going to the wild themselves! The plot was simple. It was nice and heart-warming. I've never seen animation better in my life! It will not disappoint. I especially liked Ryan and Samson, they were the best characters and Ryan was cute! The voices were really good and the jokes were very funny. People can get quite a few laughs out of this film. Overall the Wild wasn't a bad film and I recommend it but I felt it could have done with being a bit longer. 7.5/10

---

---

Page 1 of 14:

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Add another comment

---

Related Links

Plot summary	Ratings	Awards
External reviews	Parents Guide	Official site
Plot keywords	Main details	Your user comments
Your vote history