The advent of digital cgi has certainly engendered a lot of changes in the way movies are made - some good, some not so good. It seems like every other family film relies on digital animation and what's worse they all seem to be swapping ideas and gags. Take this film. Please.

The Wild is centered around a protagonist lion character named Sampson (voiced competently by Kiefer Sutherland), the alpha male of the zoo who gets a Wild hair and decides to set off for Africa (can someone say Madagascar?) to find his son. Along for the ride are his giraffe friend (Jeanine Garofalo, channeling her character in Reality Bites), a squirrel (Jim Belushi), as well as a snake (a dim witted Richard Kind) and the comedy's secret weapon the Koala (Eddie Izzard) who provides witty commentary on this film's animal kingdom as well as the animal merchandising that irritates him at his home in the zoo.

The Wild is certainly not too wild about originality, as the proceedings are festooned with far too many familiar bits. The inter-species romance (Ice Age II), dung beetles rolling around in fecal heaven (Ice Age II again). Not to mention a father-son story line right out of Valiant. (If you're going to borrow, at least do it from a decent film).

Providing the films antagonist villain is William Shatner, the voice of the man-eating wildebeest whom Sampson must defeat. Shatner's character seems inspired by Kirk's nemesis Kahn, who was immortalized by Richardo Montalbahn. Shatners' skill is up to par, but certainly not enough to salvage this Escape From the Zoo Too.

In the end The Wild adds up to little more than some good Disney animation, a few good riffs from a decent cast and a whole load of tired cgi animal film cliches.