An ill-assorted bunch of New York Zoo residents must rediscover their inner-animal to rescue one of their number who has been accidentally shipped to the wild ...

There are those who claim, author Christopher Booker amongst them, that the world's storytellers recycle just seven basic plots. The filmmakers behind The Wild, the directorial debut of visual effects veteran Steve "Spaz" Williams (The Mask), seem to be intent on paring this back even further.

While there's much to recommend in Disney's latest children's feature, which is attempting to quite literally claw back some ground from Pixar and DreamWorks, it's never going to be able to shake off an unnerving sense of deja vu.

The similarities between The Wild and Madagascar - including the wildebeest dance sequence, during which Eddie Izzard's koala is embraced as a pagan god - are extraordinary. And the father/son relationship driving the film owes much to Finding Nemo.

Unable to find his roar, Greg Cipes' adolescent lion Ryan runs away. Kiefer Sutherland's mighty Samson, who has hidden the fact that he, too, was born in captivity, commandeers a tugboat to follow him across the sea to Africa. Accompanying Samson on this dangerous and possibly ill-fated mission are a giraffe, a squirrel, an anaconda and the aforementioned koala.

For those prepared to overlook The Wild's clone-like approach to storytelling, the film offers solid school holiday entertainment.

Williams' softer, more traditional approach to animation provides kids with an alternative to the highly stylised tack taken by its spring competitors - Barnyard, Ant Hill and Monster House.

Sutherland lends a certain wounded dignity to his role as the king of the urban jungle.

Janeane Garofolo and Jim Belushi have a bit of fun as a sharp-witted giraffe and streetsmart squirrel respectively and Izzard steals his scenes as the koala with a good feel for the Aussie vernacular.

William Shatner's deranged wildebeest is similarly inspired.

A domesticated anthropomorphic comedy that should please younger, or more sensitive cinemagoers.
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