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DVD Review
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
By Lee Tistaert Published April 11, 2003
US Release: December 20, 2002
Directed by: Cathy Malkasian Jeff McGrath
Starring: Jodi Carlisle , Lacey Chabert , Tim Curry , Rupert Everett
PG
Running Time: 79 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $39,836,000
Directed by: Cathy Malkasian Jeff McGrath
Starring: Jodi Carlisle , Lacey Chabert , Tim Curry , Rupert Everett
PG
Running Time: 79 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $39,836,000
C-
97 of 143
Lacks both comedy and adventure
The problem with Wild Thornberrys is not that it offers nothing new to the genre, but that it lacks both comedy and adventure, two components the ride is starving for.
As someone who highly adores Aladdin and The Lion King (two very skillfully crafted animated features aimed at a universal crowd in age), I get a bit annoyed when other studios attempt to capitalize off such successes with projects that are nowhere near in quality but may regardless sell some tickets. Wild Thornberrys is such an example. The film tries hard to convey its heart-filled messages to kiddies and the family demographic yet forgets to realize that to entertain anybody over the age of maybe 10, one must insert some solid humor and an exciting tone to stimulate an adrenaline flow throughout its adventurous bits.
While the opening was sending me slight vibes that the experience could be one of surprise in a mildly tolerable sense, I was soon fooled when the script was handing over pretty lame characters; though the voice work was pretty decent, the material was not.
The film, based on the Nickelodeon series, follows Eliza Thornberry, a little girl blessed with the ability to communicate with the animal species. When Eliza soon becomes educated about the potential killings of an elephant kingdom, she must set on a course to put a stop to this, sending the viewer the message that when it comes to survival, animals are no different than humans. When it comes to critiquing movies, there are definitely occasions where the story may really be one-dimensional but the experience still hands over a hell of a great time; sometimes those incidents are labeled as guilty pleasures and some actually get away with being a worthy production in my book.
With Wild Thornberrys, it?s a film that knows more about its theme than plot structure and character development. It can?t even constitute a guilty pleasure status because what it strives to be is so downright simple where all you really need to do is tell a friend about its theme and they have seen the entire ride. I noticed critics favored Thornberrys in part due to its heart-felt messages, but in my book that can be a small piece of the cake depending on the factors intertwined. Here, the fault is that most of the production?s material is aimed at a very young audience where only so many audience members are going to be entertained. And the main message may be reasonable, but the experience as a whole fails to intrigue.
Disney?s Emperor?s New Groove managed to have a good, heart-filled message tagged along to its story, but it also had the benefits of good voice work, a script/execution that was so silly it was sometimes hilarious, and an on-screen duo that was just plain fun and amusing. Sitting in that theater auditorium (Emperor) with a few buddies, I remember one scene that had us on the floor while even some of the kids in the room were giggling with about one fourth the amount of energy as us. The one problem I had with Wild Thornberrys is that it never withdrew a laugh or a chuckle, but I did notice its ongoing humor attempts; it just happens to be a family diversion that youngsters are prone to enjoy more than the older folks.
The story is so simple and straightforward that for even just 85 minutes of screen time, it never captivated my attention nor persuaded my interest to crave additional information or background tidbits. The characters are relatively silly but more in a childish way, as the entire film, a la Lilo & Stitch (C-), comes off as an extended Saturday morning cartoon. Disney?s Lilo also happened to be an animated feature that for the most part won over critics with its easygoing nature, but when personally sitting down to view it on DVD the experience was just so bland and boring, lacking hearty substance and humor to consistently flow. Many thought it was cute, but I could barely stand it.
There are moments where Wild Thornberrys is harmless but too often it comes off annoying. Screenwriter Kate Boutilier has constructed a story that is founded in kiddy laughs that while has its few spots of mildly tolerable material, the entire production is surrounded in ideas that are only going to please so many moviegoers. The animation is pretty basic and doesn?t win any honors in that field, which makes one look closer into the substance of the feature and the talents giving in to the project.
While it?s not really a bad movie, it?s just so very average and something that could?ve just been a 30-minute animated sketch but instead got expanded into a feature film. But even if this specific journey were on television in a reduced running time, you still wouldn?t find me tuned in.
As someone who highly adores Aladdin and The Lion King (two very skillfully crafted animated features aimed at a universal crowd in age), I get a bit annoyed when other studios attempt to capitalize off such successes with projects that are nowhere near in quality but may regardless sell some tickets. Wild Thornberrys is such an example. The film tries hard to convey its heart-filled messages to kiddies and the family demographic yet forgets to realize that to entertain anybody over the age of maybe 10, one must insert some solid humor and an exciting tone to stimulate an adrenaline flow throughout its adventurous bits.
While the opening was sending me slight vibes that the experience could be one of surprise in a mildly tolerable sense, I was soon fooled when the script was handing over pretty lame characters; though the voice work was pretty decent, the material was not.
The film, based on the Nickelodeon series, follows Eliza Thornberry, a little girl blessed with the ability to communicate with the animal species. When Eliza soon becomes educated about the potential killings of an elephant kingdom, she must set on a course to put a stop to this, sending the viewer the message that when it comes to survival, animals are no different than humans. When it comes to critiquing movies, there are definitely occasions where the story may really be one-dimensional but the experience still hands over a hell of a great time; sometimes those incidents are labeled as guilty pleasures and some actually get away with being a worthy production in my book.
With Wild Thornberrys, it?s a film that knows more about its theme than plot structure and character development. It can?t even constitute a guilty pleasure status because what it strives to be is so downright simple where all you really need to do is tell a friend about its theme and they have seen the entire ride. I noticed critics favored Thornberrys in part due to its heart-felt messages, but in my book that can be a small piece of the cake depending on the factors intertwined. Here, the fault is that most of the production?s material is aimed at a very young audience where only so many audience members are going to be entertained. And the main message may be reasonable, but the experience as a whole fails to intrigue.
Disney?s Emperor?s New Groove managed to have a good, heart-filled message tagged along to its story, but it also had the benefits of good voice work, a script/execution that was so silly it was sometimes hilarious, and an on-screen duo that was just plain fun and amusing. Sitting in that theater auditorium (Emperor) with a few buddies, I remember one scene that had us on the floor while even some of the kids in the room were giggling with about one fourth the amount of energy as us. The one problem I had with Wild Thornberrys is that it never withdrew a laugh or a chuckle, but I did notice its ongoing humor attempts; it just happens to be a family diversion that youngsters are prone to enjoy more than the older folks.
The story is so simple and straightforward that for even just 85 minutes of screen time, it never captivated my attention nor persuaded my interest to crave additional information or background tidbits. The characters are relatively silly but more in a childish way, as the entire film, a la Lilo & Stitch (C-), comes off as an extended Saturday morning cartoon. Disney?s Lilo also happened to be an animated feature that for the most part won over critics with its easygoing nature, but when personally sitting down to view it on DVD the experience was just so bland and boring, lacking hearty substance and humor to consistently flow. Many thought it was cute, but I could barely stand it.
There are moments where Wild Thornberrys is harmless but too often it comes off annoying. Screenwriter Kate Boutilier has constructed a story that is founded in kiddy laughs that while has its few spots of mildly tolerable material, the entire production is surrounded in ideas that are only going to please so many moviegoers. The animation is pretty basic and doesn?t win any honors in that field, which makes one look closer into the substance of the feature and the talents giving in to the project.
While it?s not really a bad movie, it?s just so very average and something that could?ve just been a 30-minute animated sketch but instead got expanded into a feature film. But even if this specific journey were on television in a reduced running time, you still wouldn?t find me tuned in.
Lee's Grade: C-
Ranked #97 of 143 between They (#96) and John Q (#98) for 2002 movies.
Ranked #97 of 143 between They (#96) and John Q (#98) for 2002 movies.
Lee's Overall Grading: 3025 graded movies
| A | 0.4% | |
| B | 30.0% | |
| C | 61.7% | |
| D | 8.0% | |
| F | 0.0% |
