If only they tried harder...

Rating: 4/10 (27 May 2005)

The penguins (led by Andy Richter) and the lemurs (with Cedric and Ali G) make it worth seeing ONCE, but wait until it doesn't cost $50 for a family of four!
It really should have been two short films. "The Penguin Plot" and "The Lemur King" and forget the four 'leads'
Spoilers:
Such wasted potential. Sending animals into the "wild" without even touching on learning to survive there? If Tom Hanks can't build a shelter, how can a Zebra do it in 5 minutes complete with wet bar? The only danger was the lion biting the Zebra in the butt...
There was so much room for exploring what it means to be wild, and thus what it means to be a human, and they missed it all. Shallow, no character development, and at the end, you couldn't root for anyone because A. you didn't care about anyone, and B. there wasn't much jeopardy.
If you create a film where you are supposed to emotionally connect with characters (and they try to make you in this film), don't cast Chris Rock and Ben Stiller as your emotional leads! They aren't actors, they are comedians. You want acting, get some actors.
Honestly, it's sad the state of animation at Dreamworks.
The jokes are all rehashed from Family Guy, Simpsons and Futurama, and thus, usually not really fit for little kids. No original music, no original thought, just a money making formula that includes a dance number and fart jokes.
PS - there are some early "reviews" on this page that are clearly written by Dreamworks plants, most obviously the 10 out of 10 one with the "reel" pun who begs of you to wait to the end of the credits for a surprise of some kind.
NOTE: THERE IS NO REASON TO WAIT UNTIL THE END OF THE CREDITS! THere is nothing there but a 2 second shot of the hippo seen twice already in the film! The plant likely just wants you to see all the credits, like the 14 people in the merchandise department who actually get screen credit for making toys!! Sickening.