For those who grew up with the magic of Walt Disney, there is always a favorite character: Genie from Aladdin,\ Woody the cowboy doll from ""Toy Story,"" Timon and Pumbaa from ""The Lion King"" or Lumiere, the singing candelabra from ""Beauty and the Beast."" The list could go on forever.
This is mainly because (and there is little doubt that the following statement is true) Disney has always been consistent with its supply of unique, lovable characters. Even in the cases of Scar (""The Lion King""), Jafar (""Aladdin""), Sid (""Toy Story"") and Randall (""Monsters, Inc."")—some of the most nefarious villains ever to hit the silver screen—the character creation is flawless, well-developed and never duplicated.
That used to be the great thing about Disney. As soon as 2-D animation went out of style, Disney took computer animation to the next level via Pixar, a giant bubble of creativity. But Disney apparently feels it no longer needs to create visually stimulating tales of bravery and friendship, as the two companies have separated.
This is the disappointing thing about Disney. Without Pixar, masterpieces such as ""The Incredibles,"" ""Monsters, Inc."" and both ""Toy Story"" movies are simply not happening. Instead, Disney releases ""The Wild,"" a redundant ""Lion King""/""Finding Nemo"" knock-off full of characters we've already seen, a plot we already know the ending to and animation that, while meticulously crafted and beautiful, knows nothing further than what audiences have already learned by heart.
Ryan the lion lives with his dad, Samson the lion (Keifer Sutherland) in the New York City Zoo. There they hang out in front of vast crowds of humans by day and with their friends Benny the squirrel (Jim Belushi) and Bridget the giraffe (Janeane Garofalo) by night. Samson has been lying to his friends and to his son by telling them elaborate, daring stories about the days he used to spend in the wild when, in reality, he was bred in captivity.
So when Ryan decides to hitch a ride to the wild so that he can discover his roar, (Gasp! Faint!) Samson, Bridget, Benny and Nigel must go on a rescue mission to find him. When they get to Africa (via teeny-tiny motor boat), they run into Kazar (William Shatner), an angry wildebeest that is sick and tired of living his life as prey. He and his herd have decided to become predators by eating a real lion. Guess who the lion will be.
Now a lot of this may sound familiar. The father/son relationship between two lions was pretty much covered in ""The Lion King."" Kazar the evil wildebeest is a generic, hoofed blur between Scar and Jafar, and the wildebeests live in a big, dark cave that can't help but resemble an elephant graveyard.
Also, wasn't the whole ""quest for a son who's lost his way"" plot already plated in gold by ""Finding Nemo?"" There's even a moment when Samson, the father lion, is dangling off a cliff and Kazar stomps on his paws to make him fall. Hmm. Lion falling off a cliff? Wildbeests? And what about the title? Could it possibly be any more vague?
If Disney should ever been accused of just sitting back and crapping something out, it is right now.
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