Film Reviews

The Wild Thornberrys Movie

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Alfre Woodard
• Details: US / 80 mins / (G).

Based on the long running Nickelodeon television series, The Wild Thornberrys Movie is little more than a feature length episode of the show, with the bonus of a few minor celebrity voices thrown in to justify the admission price. At the centre of things is Eliza Thornberry (voiced by Lacey Chabert), a 12-year-old girl who has the ability to talk to animals, granted to her after she saved the life of an African shaman. Eliza's parents are the hosts of a wildlife show and she, her sardonic older sister and her rather posh chimpanzee 'Darwin' (Tom Kane) get to travel around the world filming with them, with their latest stop off being the Serengeti Plain in Africa. Against this spectacular backdrop, a plot has been hatched by poachers to kill thousands of elephants for their tusks, which our heroine must stop - even as she is sent to a posh, uppity boarding school in England.

Although plot matters are never the most taxing in movies like this, The Wild Thornberrys positively groans under the strain of being stretched out to feature length. A kiddie-friendly blend of Dr Dolittle and The Crocodile Hunter, The Wild Thornberrys may present positive and unusual role models for nippers - the lead character is a girl who wears glasses and has braces - but the film lacks a spark of imagination and wit to make it memorable to anyone over the age of 10.

Review by Garreth Murphy