The Wild (U)

Last July I reviewed a computer-animated cartoon about "four animals who escape from Central Park zoo and wash up on a tropical island", so it was with an eerie sense of déjà vu that I watched The Wild, a computer-animated cartoon about four animals who escape from Central Park zoo and wash up on a tropical island. Machiavellian conspiracy or colossal corporate screw-up? Either way, it's The Wild's bad luck to be the runner-up in the race to cinemas, because it's the better film, with an adventure plot that Madagascar was lacking. On the downside, the new cartoon has a hyper-real animation style that verges on the spooky, and it gets bogged down in its queasy father-son bonding. Your best bet would be to rent both DVDs, watch Madagascar for the opening scenes in New York, then switch over to The Wild once the animals move from the urban jungle to the real thing. You won't see the join.