In 2006, Disney distributed an animated CGI film produced by
C.O.R.E. Feature Animation. Directed by Steve Williams, The Wild starred Kiefer Sutherland, Jim Belushi, Janeane Garofalo,
Greg Cipes, Eddie Izzard, Richard Kind, William Shatner, and Patrick Warburton.
It grossed $139 million.
Samson the Lion (Sutherland) is a lion at the New York zoo. He
has an argument with his son, Ryan (Cipes) who runs away to the African Wild to
be like his father. Samson takes his friends, an anaconda named Larry (Kind), a
koala named Nigel (Izzard), a giraffe named Bridged (Garofalo) and a squirrel
named Benny (Belushi) to go find him. During the search, they come across a
cult of wildebeests led by Kazar (Shatner) trying to become carnivores.
On the surface, this film might seem like a clone of Madagascar, since it came out before The Wild. And while there are
similarities, the latter is actually quite superior to the former. For one,
most of the jokes are actually funny. Yes, there are a few terrible ones, but
in an inverse of Kronk’s New Groove
for every bad joke, there’s a lot that are really good.
The plot is also much better and less contrived. Instead of
a lion wanting to go to the jungle, a Ryan accidentally gets transported there
and his dad has to find him. The resulting trip has much better direction than
causing a scene in Times Square and getting shipped off. Here, they’re the
instigators and they track down the ship and they go after it.
Shatner’s also a hilarious villain, especially with
Warburton at his side. He believes a koala doll that fell from the sky is an
omen that a god will come to them and teach the wildebeests to be carnivores. Leading
the cult and insulting Warburton’s character for messing up his dance routine
is just plain funny.
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