The Wild Thornberrys Movie
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| The Wild Thornberrys Movie | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Cathy Malkasian Jeff McGrath |
| Produced by | Gabor Csupo Arlene Klasky |
| Written by | Kate Boutilier |
| Starring | Lacey Chabert Tom Kane Tim Curry Lynn Redgrave Jodi Carlisle Danielle Harris Flea |
| Music by | Randy Kerber Drew Neumann |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures Nickelodeon Movies |
| Release date(s) | December 20th, 2002 |
| Running time | 85 minutes |
| Gross revenue | Domestic: $40,108,697 Worldwide: $60,694,737 |
| Followed by | Rugrats Go Wild (which featured the characters) |
| IMDb profile | |
The Wild Thornberrys Movie is a 2002 animated feature film based on the animated series of the same name. It was distributed by Paramount Pictures and produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Klasky Csupo, and was released on December 20th, 2002.
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[edit] Plot
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The plot summary in this article or section is too long or detailed compared to the rest of the article. Please edit the article to focus on discussing the work rather than merely reiterating the plot. |
The film begins with Eliza Thornberry, aged 12, playing with a family of cheetahs in East Africa, where her parents work as roving wildlife photographers for a television nature show. Eliza has the magical ability to talk and communicate with wild animals. The cheetah mother, Akela, has left Eliza in charge of her cubs; however, Eliza strays beyond the security of the area, and one of the cheetah cubs, Tally, is kidnapped by a poacher. Eliza's persistent efforts to rescue the cub lead her British grandmother Cordelia (who is visiting them) to send her off to an English boarding school, as Cordelia believes that Eliza is constantly endangering herself in Africa and Eliza will be much safer in England. Eliza is unhappy because she will no longer be able to view the imminent solar eclipse and will not be able to locate Tally. Debbie, a materialistic girl who dislikes Africa, is upset and envious that she is not the one being sent away to England. Darwin, who is Eliza's "pet" chimpanzee smuggles himself into her luggage and travels to school with her. Rumors about Eliza's past spread through the school, but Eliza becomes more popular over time. However, Eliza quickly becomes fed up of the school and manages to persuade a stuck-up British school girl to lend her a visa in order to get out of England.
Eliza and Darwin catch an aeroplane back to Nairobi followed by a train back to their family's site. While on the train the duo notice an injured rhino outside the train and get off to help it. Eliza speaks with the rhino who tells her about an electric fence set to kill elephants coming through a pass. Then they are assisted by a young couple, supposedly animal conservationists, and the rhino is taken away by a ranger. A night spent with the couple reveals that the two are actually the poachers planning to kill the elephants coming through the pass on the day of the eclipse. Eliza also discovers her friend, the cheetah cub, who was kidnapped. Eliza is discovered by the poachers while she is sneaking around and they interrogate her about how she came to know about the fence.
Meanwhile, Debbie has been left alone by Mr. and Mrs. Thornberry to take care of her mischievous adopted brother Donnie near their motor home. One day Debbie becomes lost in the jungle while trying to find Donnie. She comes to a friendly native village where no-one speaks English. After several failed attempts to get her motorcycle out of the mud in which it is stuck, she meets a teenage boy from the village who helps her to get the motorcycle out. The village members, worried that Debbie will get killed out in the wilderness, send the teenage boy as her guide. Back at the poachers' camp, as Eliza is getting her hands tied, the poacher tells her about the animal powers, and then the other poacher hears something coming. They finally find Debbie, and Eliza and Debbie end up in a skirmish with the poachers. The teenage native boy is lost during the commotion, and to save Debbie, Eliza admits to how she got the information on the electric fence. A storm takes away Eliza's abilities to speak to animals, preventing her from apologizing to Darwin after an argument. Darwin, Donnie, Eliza, Tally, and Debbie end up on a log drifting down the river with Darwin still holding a grudge.
Debbie and Eliza talk about her powers and Debbie apologizes for some things she had done in the past to hurt Eliza. They get to the pass, just in time for the eclipse. They find hundreds of elephants, being led to death by their matriarch, unaware of the fence. Eliza jumps onto the lead elephant, and desperately tries to tell her to stop. Then she remembers how elephant mothers tell their young how to go; she taps the elephant in a certain way, causing her to stop right in front of the fence. Everyone stops, and the elephants are saved. Eliza then meets the shaman who originally gave her the power to speak to animals. He tells her that she saved the day using not her powers but with her heart, and as a reward he gives Eliza her powers back. She apologizes to Darwin, and the poachers are captured. They return to their trailer and explain to their parents what has been happening. Eliza tells Debbie that if she does not keep her secret she will be turned into a baboon, and upon hearing this information Debbie becomes hysterical and interrupts her father's recording session.
[edit] Cast and Crew
Cast Besides the regulars (see Wild Thornberrys article), the cast also includes:
- Obba Babatunde - Boko, a native boy Debbie runs into later on
- Brenda Blethyn - Mrs. Fairgood, a teacher at the boarding school
- Rupert Everett and Marisa Tomei - Husband and wife Sloan and Bree Blackburn, wildlife conservationists, or so they say
- Lynn Redgrave - Grandma Cordelia Thornberry
- Cree Summer - Phaedra, the elephant Eliza is riding at the start of the film
- Alfre Woodard - Akela, mother of the kidnapped cub
- Melissa Greenspan - Sarah Wellington, Eliza's roommate at Madame Beatrice's.
- Tim Curry - Nigel Thornberry, Col. Radcliff Thornberry
- Michael "Flea" Balzary - Donnie
Crew
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- Sequence Director- Mark Risley
- Sequence Director- Frank Marino
[edit] Reception
[edit] Box Office
It opened in the US box office on December 20th, 2002, finished #6 for the weekend, and grossed only a modest $40 million domestically, partly because the film came out on the same day as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. But, in spite of generally favorable reviews but it managed to outgross its holiday animated competition Treasure Planet and Eight Crazy Nights.
[edit] Awards
It was subsequently nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for "Father and Daughter" by Paul Simon but not for Best Animated Feature.
[edit] External links
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