Movie Review: "The Wild"

“The Wild“ is an unfortunate waste of time. The Disney version of ”Madagascar“ comes up short in many ways, primarily in terms of a cohesive plot, likable characters, and overall kid-appeal. The animation is impressive but almost distracting in it’s realism, verging on creepy. In typical Disney fashion, there are father (Samson) and child (Ryan) characters but no mother; at least in this story there is no traumatic loss of the mother to set up the story like most other Disney movies.
Much like ”Madagascar“, the plot revolves around a motley crew of zoo animals who escape into New York and end up returning to Africa. To be fair, the Disney project apparently was begun years before the movie ”Madagascar“, but unfortunately was released long after it. If ”The Wild“ had turned out better, it might not have been written off as a ”Madagascar“ rip-off. In this version, the protagonist Samson is a lion who has been raised his whole life in the zoo, but trades on his undeserved reputation as a formerly-wild king of the savannah to impress his... um, peers (other zoo animals, though for some reason his best buddy is a squirrel), and especially his son Ryan. His son is a cub who has still not ”found his roar“ and is deeply ashamed of his failure. Even though he is obviously the equivalent of a leonine pre-teen, apparently he is still expected to roar like a full-grown lion. He escapes the zoo in a shipping crate bound for Africa. Samson and friends somehow manage to escape and follow him in, of all things, a tugboat. They encounter exactly one human during their trip from the zoo to the docks, and somehow their tugboat makes it all the way to Africa (and back) without ever needing to refuel. At least in ”Madagascar”, the animals’ escape, though preposterous, still holds on to a shred of believability since they are eventually surrounded, captured, and shipped against their will back to the wild. Of course, what follows in “Madagascar” is just silly, so I am not holding on to believability as a major factor for not liking “The Wild”, but the writing in “The Wild” is sloppy and unnecessarily complicated, keeping it from being enjoyable.
Once the animals reach Africa, they still must find the young lion, who arrived mere moments ahead of the zoo crew, is frightened by an animal-rescue operation and flees into the jungle. During the search, the animals become tangled in a wildebeest revolution led by an extremely scary Kazar, who happens to have his headquarters in a enormous cave under an active volcano, further stretching the limits of believability. In fact, the goals of the revolution are to turn the tables of the natural order, with the wildebeest becoming predators and the lions becoming their prey. All of this was very confusing and scary for my five-year-old, and I really wish I hadn’t let him watch it. My nine-year-old was taken in by the slapstick humor, ignored the obvious plot holes and inconsistencies, and did not seem very put off by the frightening aspects of the bad guys.
To summarize things a parent might want to know:
The story is disjointed and trades on a pre-teen’s feelings of failure and inadequacy as well as his father’s disappointing fabrications and half-truths. Neither main character is very likable and do not do much to redeem themselves. The rest of the characters are poorly developed. The antagonist is extremely scary and the environment of the bad guys’ headquarters (an active volcano) amplifies their frightening aspects. Many elements of the plot are too unbelievable even for an animated fantasy. Definitely not a good choice for small children; older kids may find humor in the slapstick jokes but otherwise no redeeming qualities.

Book Review: Animorphs (Series)

My 9 year old son started reading Animorphs books recently. I am always interested in what my boys are interested in; even if it’s not actually that interesting. I like to know what they’re getting from the media they consume, so I started reading the books as well. The books are fairly short, but there are currently 54 in the main series and ten side stories. We are up to number 7.

The plot revolves around an alien invasion of Earth; the bad guys are evil slugs called Yeerks who infest the brains of unwitting victims, allowing them to control their host bodies and infiltrate their target planet well before the main invasion begins. The good guys are five human teenagers who happen to witness the capture (and fairly grisly execution) of a prince of a more noble alien race, the Andalites. The Andalites are the last race in the galaxy who are aware of and oppose the Yeerks. The Yeerks have managed to enslave or destroy every other race they have encountered, but the Andalites possess the power to morph into any animal life form they touch, and are determined to stop the Yeerks in their campaign to dominate the galaxy.

The alien prince crash-lands on Earth in sight of a group of kids who come to investigate. He has just enough time to explain the invasion to the kids and grant them the power to morph before the baddest of the Yeerks catches up with him. It turns out that this particular boss Yeerk actually managed to infest an Andalite, so he is the only one of his kind with the power to morph. In short order he morphs into a giant ugly alien and eats (yes, eats) the Andalite hero prince.

This sets the stage for our teenage heroes to become involved in a secret battle with an insidious and evil enemy that most of the population of Earth does not even know exists yet. They also happen to have powers that they need to keep secret, and that they are still figuring out themselves. Each book is narrated by a different one of the five protagonists, alternating in order as the story progresses.

The Animorphs series is definitely a step up from the books my son has read so far. The stories contain a basic good-vs-evil theme, as well as presenting the idea of fighting against impossible odds no matter what, and even the idea of sustaining a personal loss and continuing to fight for what you believe is right. These are things he has experienced in most of the kids’ movies he’s watched. However, the stories are shaded by the kids’ doubt about their abilities, their disagreement among themselves as to what is right and wrong, and by the fact that anyone and everyone they know could possibly be an alien. Still fairly simplistic and common themes in most science fiction and comic books, but a little more advanced for a nine-year-old (at least my nine-year-old).

The Animorphs series also brings in more complex issues as the story progresses. Divorced parents, missing parents, loss of friends, environmental awareness, personal sacrifice, fear, courage, and relationships are just some of the issues raised for each character. There is the additional facet of the feelings the kids have as they transform into other animals -- they are affected by the minds of the animals they inhabit, and their reactions to that inner conflict are very interesting and well-written. Some animal’s personalities are beneficial and blend well with the minds and goals of the kids; some are not. In one particular episode the kids morph into ants in order to infiltrate a house. They don’t foresee the fact that ants are hive creatures and have no individuality, and the mission is almost a disaster as the kids forget who they are and battle real ants, lose, and almost die.

Which brings me to an interesting point: the kids are brave and fight against the Yeerks the best way they know how, using their new powers and learning as they go. However, they have mixed results and continually court disaster and almost die many times. In order for the story to progress and to sell more books, it’s an obvious ploy to prolong the story. However, it’s well-written and not overdone, and it gives the author a vehicle to introduce complexity into the kids’ lives in subsequent books. I intend to use these books as an example as I begin to discuss media criticism to my older son; we usually discuss the movies that he watches in terms of how it is different from reality and how very common mechanisms are used to tell stories. However, now that he is reading this series I think it is becoming more important for him to understand that the things that the author portrays are intended to evoke strong emotions for the sake of the story, and the better the author does his job, the more real it will seem.

To summarize things a parent might want to know:
The stories present mature and complex themes that some intermediate readers may not be ready for. The pros and cons regarding concepts of loyalty, bravery, friendship and duty are portrayed. There are semi-graphic fight scenes in which aliens, humans, and animals are killed and maimed. The kids become more aware of environmental concepts, rudimentary biological facts about certain animals, as well as the concept that animals have personalities and possibly emotions (introducing empathy for animals). And, of course, the story contains science fiction elements of aliens and near-magical advanced alien technology and powers.