The Wild is a 2006 computer-animated adventure comedy film directed by animator Steve "Spaz" Williams and written by Ed Decter, John J. Strauss, Mark Gibson and Philip Halprin. It features the voices of Eddie Izzard, Kiefer Sutherland, Janeane Garofalo, Jim Belushi, Richard Kind, Greg Cipes, and William Shatner. The film's plot centers around Samson, a male lion who loses his preteen son Ryan when he wanders off and accidentally gets shipped from the Central Park Zoo to Africa, he teams up with a group of animals as they embark on a journey to rescue his missing son and take risks to evade dangers along the way.
Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, Hoytyboy Pictures, Sir Zip Studios and Contrafilm, it was animated by C.O.R.E. Feature Animation. It was released to theaters in North America on April 14, 2006, by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution and earned $102 million on an $80 million budget. The film was a critical and commercial failure, with severe criticism given towards its animation and similarities to DreamWorks Animation's Madagascar, Pixar's Finding Nemo, and Disney's very own The Lion King.
Plot[]
At the Central Park Zoo, Samson the lion tells his preteen son Ryan stories of his adventures in the Wilds of Africa. Ryan wants to go to the wild too to learn how to roar like his father, but Samson disapproves of the idea.
When the zoo closes, all the animals are free to roam. Samson and his friends, Benny the squirrel, Bridget the giraffe whom Benny has a crush on, Larry the dim-witted anaconda, and Nigel the unlucky but popular koala compete in a turtle curling championship. Ryan and his own friends accidentally cause a stampede which heads to the game and endangers the animals.
Samson and Ryan have a falling-out and Ryan runs off before Samson can apologize. He later sneaks into a green Intermodal container which is rumored to be heading to the wild. Just as he regrets his decision, Ryan suddenly gets locked inside the container, which is then loaded onto a freight truck, shipping him away.
With the help of a pigeon, Hamir, Samson, and his friends go after Ryan, hiding in a garbage disposal truck, but Benny falls overboard. After passing through Times Square and nearly being crushed in the truck, the group encounters a pack of rabid dogs, and instead of standing his ground, Samson escapes through the sewer rather than fighting as his friends expect for him to do. There, they take directions to the docks from two friendly streetwise sewer alligator brothers, Stan and Carmine.
The next morning, they steal a tugboat during a hectic escape from the harbor. After reuniting with Benny, who has followed them with a flock of geese, Samson manages to drive the boat with Larry's help and the geese lead them to the right direction toward Ryan's ship.
A few days later the boat runs aground in Africa, where all the animals in the area are being evacuated by the carriers, as a nearby volcano is about to erupt. They witness Ryan run into the jungle, but Samson is unable to find him. After failing to eat a rock hyrax, his friend questions if he has ever been in the wild before, to which he forlornly confirms. The rest of the group heads back to the ship, but Samson continues to search for his son. While walking, he sees plants and rocks changing colors, which he attributes as his instincts working.
Nigel is abducted by a herd of wildebeest who reside in the volcano and their leader, Kazar, pronounces him "The Great Him," based on an "omen" he received when he was young: about to be devoured by lions, a toy koala fell from a plane and scared the lions away, saving his life. This experience made Kazar believe that "The Great Him" will help him and his kind create a change in the food chain that will allow prey to become predators and vice versa. In order to do that, he thinks the wildebeest have to eat a lion. Bridget and Larry are also captured and planned to be eaten as well.
Ryan hides up in an old tree, but a gang of vultures attacks him under Kazar's orders. The branch breaks and traps his paw. Samson hears Ryan's cries and runs to save him, scaring off the vultures. The two reunite but are interrupted by the wildebeest. Ryan is shocked when Samson tells him to run. They retreat to a tree where Samson reveals the truth about his past: he was actually born in a circus and was unable to roar just like Ryan. Because of this, Samson's callous father stated that he would've roared better if he was born in the wild and allowed him to be sent to the zoo, where he lied about his origins to avoid embarrassment. The wildebeest discover them and push the tree over the cliff, with Samson still hanging on. Ryan is captured and taken to the volcano.
After a run-in with a group of female German dung beetles, Benny finds Samson and gives him the confidence to be himself, even if he is not from the wild. They soon find out that Samson's "instincts" were actually two chameleons named Cloak and Camo who have been leading Samson to the volcano so he would help them defeat Kazar's army. Samson uses the chameleons' camouflage abilities to sneak into the volcano, but when his disguise blows off due to the intense heat of the mountain, Kazar orders his army to attack. Seeing Samson in danger, Ryan climbs onto a catapulting device and launches himself at Kazar, finally letting out a roar. With Kazar distracted, Samson easily overpowers him. Ryan tells Samson that he is happy to have him as a father. The other wildebeest are touched by this and refuse to serve Kazar any further, having grown fed up with his delusions. Samson then gains the courage and roars powerfully enough to push back a charging Kazar. The group and the wildebeest flee, leaving Kazar to die in the erupting volcano.
Everyone manages to escape on the boat and travel back to the Central Park Zoo in their New York home.
Cast[]
- Kiefer Sutherland as Samson, a lion who is the leader of the Central Park Zoo animals.
- Dominic Scott Kay voices Samson as a cub.
- Jim Belushi as Benny, a heroic Eastern gray squirrel who is Samson's best friend. He is the only one who knows about Samson's past.
- Eddie Izzard as Nigel, an eccentric British-accented koala and co-leader of the zoo. He has an intense loathing for the zoo's koala plushes portraying him as "cuddly".
- Janeane Garofalo as Bridget, an insecure reticulated giraffe. Benny has a crush on her, but she does not reciprocate until the end.
- Richard Kind as Larry, a dull-witted, but friendly green anaconda.
- Greg Cipes as Ryan, an 11-year-old lion cub, and Samson's son.
- William Shatner as Kazar, a megalomaniacal black wildebeest and tyrannical leader of a herd of wildebeests who seeks to change the food chain by eating an animal so that "Prey become Predators" and vice versa.
- Colin Hay as Fergus, a flamingo.
- Miles Marsico as Duke, a red kangaroo joey and one of Ryan's friends.
- Jack DeSena as Eze, a hippopotamus calf and one of Ryan's friends.
- Don Cherry as Penguin MC, a Southern rockhopper penguin.
- Christian Argueta and David Cowgill as Hamir, a pigeon.
- Lenny Venito as Stan, an alligator who lives in the sewers.
- Joseph Siravo as Carmine, another alligator who lives in the sewers.
- Patrick Warburton as Blag, Kazar's assistant.
- Colin Cunningham as Colin, a rock hyrax.
- Jonathan Kimmel and Eddie Gossling as Scab and Scraw, a pair of Rüppell's vultures who serve as minions of Kazar.
- Kevin Michael Richardson as Jason, Samson's callous father and Ryan's grandfather.
- Chris Edgerly as Cloak, a sarcastic common chameleon.
- Bob Joles as:
- Camo, a Jackson's chameleon.
- A Ringmaster
- Greg Berg as a third unnamed vulture
- Bob Bergen as:
- Donald, a pond slider turtle.
- A cheering black rhinoceros fan.
- Several wildebeests.
- Jason Connroy as a flamingo
- Debi Derryberry as:
- Dung Beetle #3
- Monkey Girl
- Terri Douglas as:
- The Koala Toy
- A pullstring koala plush which Nigel feuds with
- Jeannie Elias as the monkeys
- Eddie Frierson as an unnamed penguin
- Jess Harnell as the Garbage man and a sailor
- Jason Harris Katz as Victor, a Magellanic penguin
- Josh Keaton as a Rhino
- Carolyn Lawrence as Ladybird, Monkey Girl
- Danny Mann as the geese
- Mona Marshall as:
- Woman
- Lionesses
- Dung Beetle #4
- Paul Pape as Man #1
- Fred Tatasciore as:
- Victor
- Man #2
- Kari Wahlgren as:
- Baby Hippo
- Baby
- John Du Prez as Several wildebeests
- Eric Idle as a Wildebeest
- Miss Coco Peru as Mama Hippo
Non-Speaking characters including
- The Gazelles, a herd of Thomson's gazelles that Ryan accidentally causes to stampede.
- The Dogs, a Poodle, a Rottweiler and a Boxer, a pack of rabid dogs who were chasing after Samson and the gang.
- The Elephant, an African bush elephant who gets scared of Ryan by escaping out of the box.