Thanks for the memories!

Such a frustrating disappointment

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The Wild Thornberrys Movie (2002): Dir: Cathy Malkasian, Jeff Mcgrath / Voices: Lacey Chabert, Tim Curry, Rupert Everett, Marisa Tomei, Lynn Redgrave: Why are the noses of the father and grandparents the length of the head of other characters? Not only is this question not answered but the film fails to even provide decent animation. Threadbare plot has the Thornberrys posted in Africa where they study and protect wildlife. The hero is a girl who can understand animals but fails in preventing poachers from nabbing a cheetah cub. An unnecessary subplot has her and her chimpanzee companion sent to a boarding school. The second and third act work well enough but the whole issue of magical powers doesn't. Directed by Cathy Malkasian and Jeff McGrath but characters are divided. The young heroine is appealing enough for the target audience but other characters are not so broad. The parents are typical with kind orders to do chores and go to school. The poachers are typical villains who will be brought to justice. There is some decent voice talents by Lacey Chabert, Tim Curry, Rupert Everett, and Marisa Tomei, and despite all this, none of these characters remotely come to life. While there exist a wildlife theme it is largely bypassed for program promotion. The result is a film that isn't half as interesting or entertaining as Animal Planet. Score: 2 ½ / 10

The thing that always gets me about cartoons featuring children heroes is how cruel the adults are to them, and what vengeance they take against them. Take, for instance, "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," where a poacher trying to kill elephants throws a small girl from his helicopter into a waterfall, after saying, "Too bad you won't get to see my plan finished!", or something like that. Of course she survives, to even doubt her survival is ludicrous, as it is a children's film, but how many times do you run into such mean poachers? Maybe there are poachers out there that would throw a girl from a helicopter, but who in his right mind and without any shame would yell at the girl and treat her like an adversary? I mean, it's a ten-year-old against a forty-year-old and this is the only way he can feel like he's accomplished something? By treating the girl as if she is his age? In fact, this film in many ways reminds me of "The Rescuers Down Under," in which the mean poacher from THAT film threw a child into a waterfall, much to the disapproval of two mice and an Albatross, voiced by John Candy. To call "The Wild Thornberrys" a clone of this film is an understatement.The only difference here is that the main character, Liza, can talk to animals. Hey, waitta minute, couldn't the kid in "The Rescuers Down Under" talk to animals, too? Okay, let's go over some other differences. "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" takes place in a desert area. Oh, wait, "The Rescuers Down Under" took place in Australian deserts. Umm, next one. In "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," the girl has essentially three pals helping her out: A monkey, a bushkid and her sister (her parents are nature filmers and get seperated from the kids). Now...correct me if I'm wrong: In "The Rescuers Down Under," didn't the main star of the film have three pals? Two mice and the bird? And in "The Wild Thornberrys Movie," the villains of the tale are a twosome. In "The Rescuers Down Under," there are two villains, a man and a lizard. Am I missing something here?There are some good voices in this movie. Tim Curry provides his vocal talents, as well as Flea from "Back to the Future" Parts II and III, better known as a bandmember from Red Hot Chillipeppers. But a good animated film is not put together soley on good voices. It has to have an original script. Sadly, this film does not. It's so blatantly a rip-off of the film I mentioned above that it is almost embarrassing. I suppose Nickelodeon thought that enough years had passed to try and pass this rip-off onto audiences without them realizing where the plot came from, but they didn't trick this critic."The Wild Thornberrys Movie" is, of course, based on the Nickelodeon telvision series. I've seen one or two episodes along the way, and must say this film is truthful and faithful to the series. The kiddies will not be disappointed. But if you are a parent going into this film, don't expect anything other than another typical retread on a subject carried off so expertly in "The Rescuers Down Under," which I would much rather pay to see again than this film.2.5/5 stars -John Ulmer

This is now my favorite animated movie from Nickelodeon and Paramount pictures! I still can't believe that most people thought the movie was awful. It was wonderful. Beautiful animation, characters, etc. I recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a good outdoors-type movie. I also like the villainous Sloan. He's the kind of villain that I enjoy. He's evil yet you can't help but like him. 2 thumbs up!

Contains the odd spoiler. Although "Rugrats" is, with "Ren & Stimpy," Nickelodeon's best-known cartoon, I always liked "The Wild Thornberrys" more - less shrill and with more appealing characters. "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" brings Eliza, Debbie, Maryanne, Nigel, Darwin ("We found him") and Donnie ("He found us") to the big screen with all their virtues intact, making it good fun for young (and in my case not so young) fans of the show; for newcomers, younger daughter Eliza Thornberry sets up the situation at the start as she does every week on the series proper (the family travels the world shooting wildlife documentaries - Nigel hosts, Maryanne films - and on one of their jaunts Eliza was given the ability to talk to animals by an African shaman, on condition that she can't tell anyone).The plot - after Eliza tries and fails to save a cheetah cub from being taken by poachers and sister Debbie finally quits covering for Eliza's penchant for wandering off on adventures, our heroine is unwillingly sent to an English boarding school - is a little episodic at times, betraying its television origins; but Kate Boutilier's script is simple enough to follow without being insulting to the intelligence, though it has to be said that it's too easy to figure out the identity of the villains, and not because of the accents (this is one US movie where UK moviegoers can't complain about all the bad guys being British; Eliza is sent to boarding school by her paternal grandmother - for non-fans, her father Nigel is British [voiced by Tim Curry, cast as a non-OTT good guy for once] - but she isn't demonized for it). Donnie was always a bit of a pain, but he's wisely kept to a minimum; and Debbie, my favourite character (probably because I fully sympathise with her unwillingness to spend adolescence bumming around the world in the most unhospitable locations), is not kept to a minimum; but the focus is firmly on Eliza's adventures.WHICH BRINGS US TO THE SPOILERS...One real surprise is that a key plot point - Eliza losing her powers to save Debbie from the bad guys - comes fairly late in the movie; the makers could have been forgiven for having Miss Thornberry lose them early and go through hell to get them back, but that would have been too easy. Of course, she gets them back, but with Debbie's knowledge now - which, since the series is still in production, means the show's scope is opened up a bit.THAT WAS THE END OF OUR SPOILER.Though her adventures have the odd bit of stereotyping (the entrance to Piccadilly Circus underground station doesn't look like it does here; does modern-day Nairobi really have rundown bazaars beyond the big buildings? Sadly, in all probability they do...) they're a lot less sugary than might be feared, although one wishes that the animation had been a bit more lush - sometimes it looks like a TV episode blown up for the big screen. But in the end "The Wild Thornberrys Movie" succeeds in being a decent movie about protecting wildlife without feeling the need to ram the message down viewers' throats, while also being a fun and diverting movie. They may not be Disney-beautiful, but they sure as heck aren't Doctor Snuggles-crude either.That said, I could have lived without Paul Simon's song over the credits... and not including a line of dialogue over the Paramount logo at the end after Klasky/Csupo's? Debbie said it best - "That is SO wrong."