The Wild
The Wild is a 2006 American computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by Steve "Spaz" Williams, produced by Clint Goldman, assistant produced by Jim Burton and C.O.R.E. Feature Animation, and was released by Walt Disney Pictures on April 14, 2006 in the United States. While it is not included in the Disney Animated Canon in the United States, it is included in Europe as the 46th film in the canon, replacing Dinosaur, in addition to being included in other countries.
The film begins with Samson, a lion, telling his son Ryan stories of his adventures in the wild. Ryan attempts to imitate his father's roar, but all he can manage is a squeaky growl. Ryan is teased by the zoo guests and he sulks away in his tree. During the night, when the zoo closes, all the animals are free to roam. Samson heads off to play a game of curling with the other animals, while Ryan is taunted to come with his friends to stalk the gazelles like his father. On the other hand, Samson observes as his best friend Benny, a squirrel, tries to get Bridget the giraffe to go out with him, but she is clearly not interested. Meanwhile, Ryan's friends sneak into the gazelle exhibit. Ryan tries to stop them with a roar, but growls instead. However, it wakes the gazelles into a stampede, which ruins his father's game. He gets angry at Ryan, berating him for spending all day sulking. Ryan retaliates by saying he sulks because he would feel much better being a loser if his father was not "Samson the Wild".
That night, Ryan accidentally gets shipped into the "Green Boxes". Several employees load one of the boxes onto a service freight truck. The freight truck then takes Ryan away, in which the legend tells will take him to the wild. As Ryan is calling for help, Samson tries to save him, but he is too late. With the help of a pigeon, Samson and Benny go after him, sneaking into a garbage disposal truck. However, Nigel (an unlucky koala), Larry (a dim-witted anaconda) and Bridget tag along to help as well, accidentally throwing Benny off the truck. After nearly being crushed in the garbage disposal, the group encounters a pack of rabid stray dogs. To their surprise, Samson makes them hide in the sewer rather than fight. There, they take directions from two street wise alligators who lead them to the docks.
The next morning, the four friends steal a boat (quickly figuring out they can't actually drive it) to chase after Ryan's ship. They reunite with Benny, who has enlisted some Canadian geese to help steer the crew in the right direction. After several days, Nigel goes mad with the heat and thirst, and, under the impression they have hit an iceberg, jumps overboard. Luckily, the boat has run aground in Africa. The group quickly discovers that all the animals in the area are being evacuated, as a nearby volcano has begun billowing ominous black smoke. They witness Ryan escaping, but he runs into the jungle before they can stop him. Samson attempts to use his instincts to find him, but it is quickly revealed that he has never been in the wild before. The rest of the group head back to the ship, but Samson decides to keep trying to find Ryan.
While walking Samson sees plants and rocks turning into different colors; he thinks they are his senses. Nigel is captured by a group of wildebeests who dwell in the volcano, and their leader Kazar pronounces him King, based on an 'omen' he received when he was young. About to be devoured by lions, a toy koala fell from the sky (unknown to him it was actually from a plane) and scared the lions away, saving his life. Organizing the wildebeest herds into some sort of cult, Kazar wants to change the food chain; he no longer wants his kind to be at the bottom, but would rather see "prey become predators" and vice versa. For this, he needs to sacrifice a lion. Bridget and Larry are also captured and held prisoner.
Ryan is left sheltering in a branch of an old tree, but he is attacked by a gang of vultures acting under orders from Kazar. The branch breaks and traps his paw. Ryan attempts a roar but again can only manage a squeak. Samson hears Ryan's cries and runs to save him, scaring off the birds. The two reunite but are interrupted by a pack of wildebeests. Ryan is shocked when Samson tells him to run. The two retreat to a tree where Samson reveals the truth - he was born in the circus and, like Ryan, couldn't roar. His father was ashamed, telling him a wild lion could roar before allowing his son to be sent to the zoo, where Samson lied to avoid the shame. Meanwhile, the wildebeest discover them and, in the scuffle, send the tree over the cliff, with Samson still hanging on. Ryan is taken back to the volcano to be sacrificed.
Samson is found later by Benny, who was found by a bunch of female German dung beetles, and together they follow Samson's 'instinct' to the volcano in which the wildebeests are. This instinct turns out to be a group of chameleons who can camouflage themselves to look like they are leading his way - they help Samson because they want to see the wildebeests overthrown. Nigel tries his best to distract Kazar and the others from harming his friends (who are going to be cooked in a fire for dinner), but eventually Samson appears. He ends up fighting Kazar in order to protect the others and Ryan. As they fight, Kazar orders the other wildebeests to help him. His second in command, Blag, tells him that the wildebeests are tired of pretending to be something that they're not, and refuse to help. In response, Kazar continues fighting by himself - but both Samson and Ryan finally find their real roars. Samson then unleashes a roar so powerful, knocking out Kazar and triggering the eruption of the volcano.
The animals hurry outside, but Kazar remains, ecstatic about finally being 'top of the food chain'. However, he is crushed by rocks as the volcano explodes. Luckily, Samson, Ryan, Bridget, Nigel, Larry, Benny, Cloak, Cameo, and the wildebeest escape, leaving the wild just seconds before the volcano triggers an eruption that destroys it completely. Ryan tells Samson that he is glad that he saw the wild before it disappeared, and he and his father reconcile. Both are happy that they found their roars. Meanwhile, Benny tells Bridget that she is more than just a 'goddess' that she's also strong and independent, much to Bridget's delight, and she was so touched and motivated by Benny’s kind words, she kisses him, thus starting their relationship and they officially became boyfriend and girlfriend and Benny, who felt surprised and puzzled, started it at the beginning. Samson and Blag begin a dance-off, and all the animals join in.
It ends with a fade-out but, before total blackness, the music pauses, and one of the wildebeest peers through the hole, which closes on his neck and chokes him. He coughs, and Nigel appears, holding the Statue of Liberty torch that he has carried throughout the film, and hits the wildebeest with it. He then apologizes to the audience, breaking the fourth wall and ending the film in the process.
The Wild received some harsh responses even before the trailer premiered. Movies.com described it as "Madagascar meets Finding Nemo with The Lion King thrown in for effect."
The movie has too many similarities to Madagascar including its setting in New York's Central 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 in Madagascar. Rotten Tomatoes describes the critics' consensus on The Wild as "With a rehashed plot and unimpressive animation, there's nothing wild about The Wild". The common theme with Finding Nemo is an animal father on the search for his kidnapped son. But considering the fact that The Wild had been in production months before Madagascar, it only became a "clone" of the film due to its unfortunate release sometime after Madagascar.
This would not be the first time for Disney and DreamWorks two films with a similar theme were released in proximity timewise. In the fall of 1998, DreamWorks released their talking bug film Antz mere weeks before Disney and Pixar released A Bug's Life. A similar scheduling occurred in 2000 when DreamWorks released The Road to El Dorado against Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, both set in Central/South America. In 2001, Pixar released Monsters, Inc. almost simultaneously with DreamWorks' Shrek, both telling stories about monsters (the two movies were even nominated for an Academy Award). Later on in 2004, DreamWorks released Shark Tale, which had an underwater theme resembling that of Pixar's Finding Nemo (2003).
Similar themes between Disney's and DreamWorks' films were not limited to animated films. In 1998, Disney's Touchstone Pictures released the blockbuster Armageddon two months after DreamWorks' Deep Impact. However, it should be noted that none of the other films were criticized for being a copy of another film.
The Wild opened in 2,854 theaters. According to Box Office Mojo, the film earned $9.5 million dollars in its first weekend at the box office, ranking #4. Its promotion was small, with only the following promoters: Kraft, McDonalds, Amazon (selling the products and mini promotions on its site), Dannon, Buena Vista Games, Walt Disney Records and Walt Disney Book Publishing Worldwide.
As of November 5, 2006, the film has grossed a total of $37,384,046 in the United States box office & $102,338,515 worldwide. Its production budget, in contrast, was $80 million. The Wild was ranked #1 of the top DVD sales twice in Entertainment Weekly (The first time for October 6–12, 2006, the second time for October 13–19, 2006). Critical reception for The Wild has been negative. The film currently holds a 19% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and reads “With a rehashed plot and unimpressive animation, there's nothing wild about The Wild."
The musical score is composed and conducted by Alan Silvestri. The song "Wild One/Real Wild Child" is performed by Everlife. The song "Good Enough" is performed by Lifehouse; "Really Nice Day" is performed by Eric Idle and John Du Prez; and "Undercover'" is performed by Devon Werkheiser. The scores "Tales From The Wild", "You Can't Roar", and "Lost In The City" are only a few of the scores on the soundtrack, and "Come Sail Away" is performed by Styx. The soundtrack is available from Walt Disney Records. "Clocks" by Coldplay was played when the animals were in a garbage truck.
A video game for Game Boy Advance based on The Wild was released to coincide with the film. 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 wildebeest Kazar. The video game was rated "E" (for "Everyone") by the ESRB, with a note for Cartoon Violence. Games for the film on the disney.com website are "Alligator Alley", "Turtle Toss", and "Benny's Lunk Dunk". He's The Rip Off Of Madagascar
- This is the first and only film directed by Steve "Spaz" Williams.
- This is the fourth time that Disney makes a CGI movie without any support from Pixar. The first was Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas, followed by Valiant, then Chicken Little.
- The wild in this film is depicted as a dense jungle, but Wildebeests do not live in jungles, but rather they live in plains.
- When Ryan runs off to the jungle while Samson runs after him and yelling out his name, Ryan could have listened to his father calling him out.
Concept art
- Main article: The Wild (video)
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