The Wild

Or ‘Madagascar’ meets ‘The Lion King’ with elements of ‘Ice Age’ thrown in for good measure. Incarcerated in New York zoo, Samson the lion (voiced by Kiefer Sutherland) is finding it hard being a single parent. His only cub longs for independence, which is granted when a chance encounter with a delivery truck sees the little fella whisked away to the African wilds. In a mild fit of hysteria, Samson summons his unlikely pals – a giraffe, a lion, a koala and a squirrel – to help track his son down. On arrival in Africa, the film slips into ‘Madagascar’ mode: father lion, turns out to have no natural instincts, while – in a scene reminiscent of ‘Ice Age 2’ – Eddie Izzard’s acerbic koala is worshipped by a horde of wildebeest. The animation here impresses more than in the equally defunct ‘Madagascar’, but everything else smacks of an easy money-making exercise of such dimwitted inanity even the youngest kids will see through it.