The Wild Life (2016) Reviews

• What a pleasant movie for both kids and adults

  clj-52016-06-29

  I almost missed this movie - that my daughter at 8 and her coisin at 10 wanted to see - after reading the harsh comments here on IMDb. 5/10? come on!... But I decided to give it a go. And what a pleasant surprise it was. The animations are superb, I missed nothing here compared to Pixar and Dreamworks. And the story and screenplay was above average too. I could name dozens of high profiled animation movies with worse stories. I was entertained all the way, and had to stop myself from breaking out in applause at the end. There's something this studio does in its own way, which is not typical the big studios, and thats refreshing. Looking forward to their next piece. Im giving it a solid 8 out 10, and will definitely recommend this film to everyone. A very fine piece of art. Thank you.

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• Great animation and 3D Stereography, Not for younger Children though

  phil-1362017-01-10

  I watched this with an open mind Knowing that this was an independent Belgium film, Why people judge everything against multi million dollar Pixar and Disney films i do not understand it. I thought the film to be very well animated for a film with a fraction of what it would cost in Hollywood, with wonderful set design and landscapes, hair and costumes were very good too, The water effects during the storm and ship wreck were absolutely fantastic, This was one of the best 3D stereoscopic animation films that I have seen, great use of perspective, occasionally the use of wide angle shots gave too much distortion and the stereo window was broken at times, but Wow what a great effort, lots of in and out of the screen stereo effects that really worked well, Some reviewers say it was to cramped in its location, hello, this is called Robinson Crusoe, a man shipwreked and surviving on an island, they did try to expand this by adding the island of bugs but it perhaps was not featured enough. This film is not suitable for younger Children though as there are a few adult themes, namely the death of one of the dogs, and some very scary cats. But apart from these reservations I thoroughly enjoyed the film and the 3d experience and highly recommend anyone who loves good looking animation to give it a look. and just think about what this independent company have managed to achieve, I say well done to them all. I give it 9 out of 10

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• Near Pixar Quality Animation, Not Pixar Quality Storytelling

  tiagodb2016-04-16

  It may not be fair to compare an independent Belgian animation to industry dominators like Pixar, but the film industry is competitive. This film has excellent animation considering it was made by an independent company. Many vibrant colours are featured, and although the don't burst of the screen like Rio, it does add to the aesthetics of the film. Yet, it does feel like the film is very self contained, but it doesn't impact it in a good way. The setting explored (or not) has a lack of scope and the film clearly suffers from this. But for kids, this will not be a problem. Despite strong design and animation, the direction is nothing notable. There are a maximum of two slightly interesting ideas (in the form of transitions) but other than that, everything else seems average, with no courageous attempts add to adding anything to the story. Unfortunately, the film falls flat on the storytelling (particularly through dialogue) which just results in everything being cliché and predictable; it brings nothing new to the table. It appears that the writers just gave up, a shame considering if the dialogue wasn't so forced then the film wouldn't suffer so much. There isn't even an innuendo to keep the adults entertained. This film is a good way to keep the kids occupied for 90mins, but nothing that adults will obtain any pleasure from (unless you are in awe of the animation which I doubt you will be).

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• Not as bad as reviews say

  zzzorf2018-03-08

  I went into this movie not expecting much, the reviews I had read where not very promising but I thought well it is still worth a try. It is not as bad as reports say. The story was fine, I like when movies take another point of view of a well known story, makes you look at things in different ways. The characters were entertaining and the graphics were good so I don't see much of a problem with it. I will say the two of my kids that I watched it with (ages 10 and 3) did walk away from the movie to do other things but I don't think that was due to the movie but interest in doing other things at the time but take it as you will.

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• Good for the kids but not much for adults

  TheLittleSongbird2016-08-02

  As a family film, 'Robinson Crusoe' is a long way from awful but it misses the mark. It may be good for kids, providing that they don't expect too much, but adults won't find much for them. Just for the record, this is coming from a huge lifelong animation fan in her early 20s with many animated films being considered favourites, just in case one accuses me (as is so the standard thing on this site these days) of seeing it through adults eyes too much. The best thing about 'Robinson Crusoe' is the animation, with the exception of stiff human designs and lack of scope for the setting. There is a lot of gorgeous detail, especially the parrot's feathers, rich vibrant colour, good smoothness of movement and the animals look good. 'Robinson Crusoe' also has a groovy and dynamic soundtrack, the story (even if a very, very loose adaptation of the story) is at least coherent and easy to follow and some of the characters have charm, especially Ainsley (though really disliked the rather cheap treatment of him) and the humorous if slightly over-used villainous cats. On the other hand, while the story is coherent it is also very predictable, too safe and bland, not much to be excited by here, even the climax feels like very watered down Looney Tunes/Tom and Jerry or something. The human characters do lack the colour and charm that went into some of the animals, especially the dull and unsympathetic protagonist, and other characters veer on the annoying. The script is lacking in laughs, emotion or any kind of colour. The voice acting is not too great, there's been worse but it does sound inexperienced with clichéd and obviously false accents. In conclusion, good for the kids but little for adults. 5/10 Bethany Cox

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