I definitely didn't hear much about this animated Disney flick upon its release in 2006. In fact, I just rented it the other day, and I believe I had heard of it by then, but didn't know much about it, so I didn't know how well it had been received in general. I was hoping for a decent animated family flick, but when I looked this particular movie up on IMDb, I saw its low rating, and after that, I didn't have very high expectations. The best I could hope for was slightly above average, and unfortunately, I didn't even get that, even though it looked like I might around the beginning.
Samson is a lion who lives in a zoo in New York and is the father of a cub named Ryan. Samson claims he is from the wild, and often tells stories about his days out there. One night, Ryan finds himself taken away in a green box on a truck! Samson, as well as other animals at the zoo, see the lion cub taken away, so Samson sets out with some friends (a giraffe named Bridgette, a squirrel named Benny, a koala named Nigel, and a snake named Larry) to try and find Ryan. They manage to make it to the New York shoreline, where the lion cub is taken away on a boat. Samson and the gang manage to get on another boat and set out on a journey across the ocean, where Ryan has been taken. After they arrive on the other side, they find themselves in the jungles of Africa, searching for Ryan. Unfortunately, they are in danger, as Samson comes clean and confesses that he never did live in the wild, so he has no experience in this environment! To make matters worse, they will have to face an evil wildebeest named Kazar and his clan, who are determined to turn from prey to predator!
This Disney film's biggest merit is the animation, which is probably the only thing I can't say anything critical about. Without a doubt, the animation is absolutely stunning, with some very nice jungle scenery! Unfortunately, not much else about the film can match the animation, if anything. None of the characters really stand out too much, that's one thing, and the humour is another problem. I did laugh quite a few times at some of the slapstick, but found that the humour was often kind of lame, such as Nigel saying, "I've got popcorn up my bum," and a mother hippopotamus' reaction to seeing Ryan talk to her offspring. So, while I've definitely laughed less at comedies, overall, I am not impressed with the humour here. I don't know what else to say about "The Wild", except that the story is also a bit bland, and not quite as touching as it probably should be. In conclusion, there really wasn't much about this film that impressed me, and I can see why it's not the most widely recognized computer animated feature to come out in recent years.
