Wikipedia: The Wild -- Criticism

Criticism

The Wild received some harsh responses even before the trailer premiered. Movies.com described it as "Madagascar meets Finding Nemo with The Lion King thrown in for effect."

The movie has many similarities to Madagascar including its setting in New York, similar animals as characters, and the primary plot of introducing zoo animals to the wild. The name of the film and the tag line, "Start spreading the newspaper", a play on the opening line from the "Theme from New York, New York", were both used as integral plot points in Madagascar. The koala's line "Sprechen sie koala?" mirrors Madagascar's: "You. quadraped[sic]. Sprechen sie English?" Because of this, some people believe that the movie is a possible plagiarism of Madagascar, a Jack Bauer-meets-Madagascar film. Rotten Tomatoes describes the critics' consensus on The Wild as "With a rehashed plot and unimpressive animation, there's nothing wild about The Wild". As of July 13, 2006, only 19% of reviews from critics there were positive; the negative reviews frequently compared The Wild with Madagascar.

However, there is strong evidence that The Wild was in production first. Director Steve Williams said that he received the script in 2001. His contract with Disney stated that C.O.R.E would animate, and this contract was green-lit in 2003. The Wild has reportedly been in some form of production for a decade, first being called The Big Break, then Wildlife, and finally The Wild. Animators from the film have come forward on internet communities such as IMDb and stated openly that they had been working on The Wild already when they first saw the trailer for Madagascar. Several even believe that Marty's line "I wish I could go to The Wild!" from Madagascar is a direct mocking of their own efforts. It should also be mentioned that when it came out in 2005, Madagascar was panned by critics for its underwhelming story and relatively poor animation, further suspecting many to believe that the film had been rushed into production and released. Although despite that Madagascar was better received by the public, than The Wild.

Other movies with similar plots include:

• A Bug's Life and Antz, released in 1998, both are computer animated features with individualist ants in colonies under threat.
  

• Flushed Away (2006) and Ratatouille (2007) are both animated (computer animated) films about rats.

• Finding Nemo (2003) and Shark Tale (2004) are both computer animated movies centered around a community of undersea animals.
  

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