The Wild

Director: Steve Williams Steve Williams

Overview

A handful of zoo animals leave behind their well-protected environment for the streets of the big city in this computer-animated comedy. Sampson (voice of Kiefer Sutherland) is the king of a make-believe jungle far from the African plains -- he's a lion on display at a zoo in New York City's Central Park, and he lords it over the other animals, including Nigel (voice of Eddie Izzard), a testy koala bear; Larry, a dumb but well-meaning snake; ; Bridget (voice of Janeane Garofalo), a bright but cynical giraffe; and Benny (voice of Jim Belushi), a very New York-ish squirrel who is good friends with Sampson and is trying to romance Bridget without much success. The pride and joy of Sampson's life is his son, Ryan (voice of Greg Cipes), and he's devastated when one day Ryan is crated up and shipped back to Africa. Sampson is desperate to find his boy, and with the help of his pals he escapes the zoo and sets out on a daring mission to rescue Ryan, battling the unfamiliar terrain and Kazar, a wildebeest with a will to power and a passion for choreography (voice of William Shatner) along the way. The Wild was the first directorial credit for animator and special-effects artist Steve "Spaz" Williams.

Product Details

Release Date:	09/12/2006
UPC:	0786936248951
Original Release:	2006
Rating:	G
Source:	Walt Disney Video
Region Code:	1
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:22:00

Special Features

Closed Caption;Backstage Disney: Bloopers and Blunders - Eddie Izzard Unleashed; Backstage Disney: Deleted scenes - commentary by the film's creators; Music & more: "Real Wild Child" music video performed by Everlife

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Kiefer Sutherland	Samson
Jim Belushi	Benny
Joe Siravo	Carmine
Eddie Gossling	Scraw
Kevin M. RIichardson	Samson' Father
Jess Harnell	Additional Voices,Voices
Fred Tatasciore	Additional Voices,Voices
Laraine Newman	Additional Voices,Voices
Kari Wahlgren	Baby Hippo
Steve 'Spaz' Williams	Additional Voices,Voices
Audrey Wasilewski	Additional Voice,Voices
Peter Pamela Rose	Additional Voice,(Voice)
Paul Pape	Man #1,Voices
Nolan North	Additional Voices,Voices
Mona Marshall	Screaming Woman,Voices
Danny Mann	Additional Voices,Voices
Carolyn Lawrence	Ladybird,Voices
Josh Keaton	Rhino,Voices
Daniel Kaz	Additional Voices
John Kassir	Additional Voice,Voices
Ruby Marlowe	Actor
Terri Douglas	Koala Toy,Voices
Debi Derryberry	Dung Beetle #3,Voices
Jason Connery	Flamingo,Voices
Keith Anthony	Voices
Bob Bergen	Additional Voices,Voices
Greg Berg	Voices,Vulture
Keith Anthony	Actor
Bob Joles	Camo
Chris Edgerly	Cloak
Jeannie Elias	Voices
Julianne Buescher	Dung Beetle #2
Pat Fraley	(Voice)
Eddie Frierson	Voices
Nicholas Guest	Voices
Jason Harris	Voices
Bridget Hoffman	Voices
Emily Johnson	Voices
Daniel A. Kaz	Voices
Hannah Williams	Voices
Alan Silvestri	Conductor,Composer

Technical Credits

Edward Decter

Philip Halprin

John J. Strauss

Donna Parker	Producer
Will Vinton	Executive Producer
Stefan Simchowitz	Executive Producer
Kevin Lima	Executive Producer
Edward Decter	Screenwriter,Screenwriter
Jen Rudin-Pearson	Casting
Corbin Bronson	Casting
Steve 'Spaz' Williams	Director,Director
Philip Halprin	Screenwriter
John J. Strauss	Screenwriter
Beau Flynn	Producer
Clint Goldman	Producer
Dennis Sands	Sound Mixer
Chris Gridley	Sound Effects

Editorial Reviews

How do you get to The Wild? Go straight to Finding Nemo and turn left at Madagascar. This computer-animated Disney feature covers similar terrain to those recent hits, which invited comparisons that didn’t help it at the box office. The lead character here is a lion named Samson (a game Kiefer Sutherland), who may not be king of the jungle, but he is the star attraction at the New York Zoo, where he regales his young son, Ryan, with stories of his heroics on the veldt. Too bad they are just stories. Ryan has not yet found his roar, and he is tired of living in his father's immense shadow. When he finds himself on a cargo ship bound for Africa, it is up to the domesticated Samson to rescue him. Along for the wild ride are a menagerie of comic-relief characters including Bridget (Janeane Garofalo), a smart and sexy giraffe; Benny the squirrel (Jim Belushi), who's nuts about Bridget; Larry (Richard Kind), an addled anaconda; and Nigel, a sardonic koala (Eddie Izzard, who takes scene-stealing honors with Robin Williams-like virtuosity). In Africa, Samson meets his redemptive match in Kazar (William Shatner), a wildebeest (and amateur choreographer) who wants to elevate his species' place in the food chain. The Wild is an incessantly hyperverbal, fitfully funny comedy with age-inappropriate jokes that strain to cast a net beyond the core child audience. But the animation is stunningly textured and, during one of Samson's yarns, refreshingly expressionistic. One memorable sequence finds the escaped animals gazing with wonder at a neon-lit nocturnal New York, accompanied by Coldplay's "Speed of Sound."