WILD AMERICA (Warner Bros.) Starring: Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, Scott Bairstow, Jamey Sheridan, Frances Fisher. Screenplay: David Michael Wieger. Producers: James G. Robinson, Irby Smith and Mark Stouffer. Director: William Dear. MPAA Rating: PG (profanity) Running Time: 102 minutes. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
In the summer of 1967, three brothers -- real-life wildlife film-makers-to-be Marty, Mark and Marshall Stouffer -- left their Fort Smith, Arkansas home for a cross-country trip with their 16mm camera, hoping to capture endangered and dangerous animals on film. The story of their adventures might have included beautiful wildlife photography, tense moments of realistic clashes with nature and the wonder of the natural world which made Marty Stouffer's "Wild America" series a success.
That's not the kind of film you can expect Hollywood to make about this kind of story, however. WILD AMERICA is a hodge-podge of different films nominally connected by the presence of the three Stouffer boys, played by Scott Bairstow, Devon Sawa and Jonathan Taylor Thomas. The bulk of the film is in fact set in the wilds of America, but it's not likely to inspire much reverence for nature. For every moment of grandeur like a stampede of wild horses, there are encounters played almost entirely for laughs: a tussle with an alligator, a ride on a moose's horns, a cave full of bears dozing off to a lullaby which concludes with a chorus of flatulence. These scenes will likely entertain young audience members, but they hardly inspire much respect for majestic beasts. At least director William Dear respected them enough to use animatronic doubles when the animals have to play the stooge; no self-respecting bear would be caught dead hibernating in the middle of the summer.
The low-brow comedy in WILD AMERICA is frustrating enough, but Dear and screenwriter David Michael Wieger aren't even willing to commit to being low-brow. Bracketing the goofy antics of the wilderness segments is a terribly maudlin sub-plot involving the boys' taciturn father (Jamey Sheridan) and his stubborn refusal to allow his sons to pursue their dreams. It's a trite bit of film-making which incorporates the exchange of moderately harsh words, a moderately serious auto accident, and a few moderately annoying bits of wisdom ladled out by young Marshall, who (apparently because he is played by lead-billed Jonathan Taylor Thomas) gets to lecture darned near everyone. The wilderness-based second act of WILD AMERICA ain't art, but at least it tries to entertain. The twenty minutes between the boys' return to Fort Smith and the closing credits crawl by with an agonizing sincerity.
Then again, WILD AMERICA isn't really about parents letting go, either, any more than it's about learning to respect nature. Judging by an audience comprised largely of teen and pre-teen girls, WILD AMERICA is really about its cute trio of teen stars. All three get the opportunity to look alternately grimy and dreamy, all three get the opportunity to be alternately sensitive and scrappy, and a couple of them take off their shirts. Parents and young children may find a few giggles or a few gasps in the wilderness adventures, but WILD AMERICA isn't for them. In retrospect, this conglomeration of themes does have one guiding principle. It's a cross between "National Geographic" and "Tiger Beat."
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 real wild children: 4.
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