The Wild (www.the-usher.com)

"You can find your roar"

Samson (Sutherland) enjoyed telling his son Ryan (Cipes) about his life in the wild, hoping this would give him the confidence to find his roar but as the New York City Zoo mascot, Ryan was already starting to feel the pressure. He thinks that the only place he can find his lion roar is back in the wild but when he accidentally gets shipped back to Africa, Samson and his best friends Benny the squirrel (Belushi), Nigel the koala (Izzard), Bridget the giraffe (Garofalo) and Larry the boa (Kind) set out to rescue him.

A group of animals escape from the New York City Zoo and head back to the wild, haven't we seen this somewhere before?

In 2005 DreamWorks released 'Madagascar' which was about a group of Zoo animals that were inadvertently returned to the wild. In 2003 Pixar released 'Finding Nemo' which was about a clown fish who lost his son and face numerous perils to do so. In 2006 Walt Disney Pictures decide, in their infinite wisdom to release a movie that is a combination of the two stories but only goes on to create a complete mess.

Since Pixar and DreamWorks virtually killed off traditional 2D animation, the Mouse House has struggled to compete and their yearly releases have not lived up to the standard of their partner or their biggest rival. Now that they have been forced to enter into the 3D CG animated world, Disney has found it very hard to keep up with their competitors.

The major problem with the movie is blatant copying of ideas from other movies. While some could argue that 'The Wild' had started production at the same time as 'Madagascar' was been worked on but they must have know the story behind 'Finding Nemo' as Pixar is a Disney partner. It is the lack of any inventiveness that has let the film down.

There is also an argument that animation fans are getting a little tired of talking, comedic animals as well and 'The Wild' suffers again from been amalgamation of characters we have met before. A lion that isn't as tough as everyone thought he was, even though he is voiced by Kiefer Sutherland, a paranoid giraffe played by Janeane Garofalo, a slightly stupid boa constrictor voiced by a very annoying Richard Kind and best friend that would usually be prey, James Belushi's Benny the squirrel. The only character that works is Nigel the Koala and that is all because of Eddie Izzard. He is really just the British comedian in koala form but that is a good thing for fans of the stand up.

'The Wild' is another example of how Walt Disney animation has lost its way. Fortunately, with the new contract with Pixar and John Lasseter taking over the animation department, things are look brighter. Younger viewers might enjoy this however and the animation is pretty good but other than that this is a lacklustre effort from the dark ages of in house Disney animation.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 with Dolby Digital 5.1, the movie is presented extremely well, as you'd expect from a computer-animated film.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (4.52 mins)
Entitled 'Benny's weird dream', 'Bridget and Larry doomed', 'Back at the Zoo', 'Back on the boat' and 'Thumb man', these deleted scenes are accompanied by optional commentary by director Steve 'Spaz' Williams and producer Clint Goodman. 'Real Wild Child' music video performed by Everlife Watch the promotional music video that accompanied the film's cinematic release.

Eddie Izzard Unleashed (3.28 mins)
The brilliant British comedian adlibs his way through his lines and really has fun behind the microphone.

Meet Colin: The Rock Hyrax (2.17 mins)
Production coordinator Bill Halliday and line producer Lisa Bachard talk about how Colin Cunningham has become such a big star after creating the voice for Hyrax, well he thinks he has anyway.

Trailers
Previews of 'Cars', 'The Little Mermaid', 'The Walt Disney Gold Collection', 'Brother Bear 2' and 'The Fox and the Hound 2'

OVERALL

Disney only seem to make a real effort with movies that are successes and as you can guess from the complete lack of any decent extras, 'The Wild' didn't do that great. This is a lacklustre DVD release that accompanies a lacklustre film. Fans will be very disappointed.

DVD

Finding Nemo

Madagascar

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2006