History WesternAnimation / TheWild

* AbusiveParents: [[spoiler:Samson's father. See HateSink]]

* BadBoss: Kazar treats Blag and other wildebeest quite poorly. At one point, after learning that they only brought in Ryan for the sacrifice, Kazar decides that the lion cub will only be enough for his own ascending and [[ItsAllAboutMe doesn’t give a hoot about what happens to the others]]. Naturally, the others get fed up with him by the end and perform a HeelFaceTurn.

* ButtMonkey: Nigel. While all the characters suffer slapstick comedy throughout the film, Nigel is far more susceptible to it by a wide margin. His [[EstablishingCharacterMoment intro]] involves him suffering a GroinAttack and then getting mobbed by flamingos.

* AnthropomorphicZigZag: The animals sometimes walk the way they do in real-life. Other time, they could stand on their hind legs and move like humans.
* ArtisticLicenseBiology: Ryan is stated to be 11 years old in the movie. Even though he's still a cub, realistically a lion his age would be considered middle-aged. [[note]] Then again, he may just be 11 years old in lion years. [[/note]]

* BicepKiss: The giant wildebeest in Samson’s exaggerated story kisses his absolutely humungous biceps.

* ButtMonkey: Nigel. While all the characters suffer splatstick comedy throughout the film, Nigel is far more susceptible to it by a wide margin. His [[EstablishingCharacterMoment intro]] involves him suffering a GroinAttack and then getting mobbed by flamingos.

** The posters for this movie seem to imply that the sewer alligators are the villains. In the movie, they're actually friendly characters who don't really play a big part of the movie other than leading Samson and his friends to the Statue of Liberty.

* DragonInChief: A bizarre case - whilst Kazar and the wildebeests worship Nigel as "The Great Him" and, ostensibly, serve his will, it's clear that Nigel is basically Kazar's prisoner and possesses little in the way of actual authority

* HandStomp: During the final battle, Kazar stomp on Samson's front paw while he is hanging over the edge of a lava pit. Subsequently, Samson limps noticeably on an injured paw.
* HateSink: [[spoiler:There is a lot of reasons for the viewers to hate Samson's father. He forces his son to roar at a mechanical wildebeest, showing zero support when the poor cub is nervous, and when he is unable to, he gets put in a cage. His father is also ''fine'' with Samson getting taken away to the zoo with zero remorse. All these make that lion even more despicable than Kazar.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: Kazar's lieutenant Blag and the rest of the wildebeests are repeatedly threatened and abused by their boss to follow his insane plan of [[AscendedToCarnivorism wildebeests becoming predators]]. [[spoiler: They finally stand up to him in the climax.]]

* RaisedInCaptivity: The plot revolves around a lion and his friends escaping from a zoo to find the lion's son, who was taken to Africa to be reintroduced to the wild. They have to face that life out there is not as easy as in the zoo.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Happens to ButtMonkey Nigel after learning that Kazar and his wildebeest worship him like a god, but he quickly snaps out of it upon learning that his friends are to be sacrificed and proceeds to stall until Samson shows up.

* AsideGlance: [[spoiler: Kazar looks toward the camera when he is seconds away from getting crushed by the koala shrine]].

* HeelFaceTurn: Kazar's lieutenant Blag and the rest of the wildebeests are repeatedly threatened and abused by their boss to follow his insane plan of wildebeests becoming predator. [[spoiler: They finally stand up to him in the climax.]]

* IdeaBulb: When a bunch of chameleons cover up Benny’s body, they are able to turn him invisible and make him different colors. When Samson realizes he has an idea involving the chameleons, they visualize a lightbulb over Samson shaped like Benny’s head.

* {{Jerkass}}: Colin the hyrax. [[spoiler:He feels insulted when Samson wouldn't eat him, [[WhyWontYouRavishMe accusing him of thinking he’s not good enough to be eaten.]]]] He also insults Samson and his friends as he walks away, accidentally bumping into a tree. He then screams at the tree for [[MomentKiller ruining his dramatic exit]].

* {{Jerkass}}: Colin the hyrax. [[spoiler:He feels insulted when Samson wouldn't eat him, accusing him of thinking he’s not good enough to be eaten.]] He also insults Samson and his friends as he walks away, accidentally bumping into a tree. He then screams at the tree for [[MomentKiller ruining his dramatic exit]].

%%* AnthropomorphicZigZag

%%* BecomingTheMask: [[spoiler:Samson.]]

** Too add, on most of the advertising prominently features the characters in New York. They are only in the city for the first half of the movie, and they spend less time there than at the zoo, boat, and jungle.

%%* TheDragon: Nigel becomes this to Kazar.

%%* SilentTreatment: In one scene, Benny gives Bridget one, but she doesn't care.

* BorrowedWithoutPermission: Nigel the Koala claims that he merely borrowed a Statue of Liberty toy lamp before anyone has even asked where he found it from.

* CoversAlwaysLie: The posters for this movie seem to imply that the sewer alligators are the villains. In the movie, they're actually friendly characters who don't really play a big part of the movie other than leading Samson and his friends to the Statue of Liberty.

A movie distributed by Creator/{{Disney}} (but made by the now-defunct [[CanadaEh Canadian]] C.O.R.E. Feature Animation studio) starring Samson the lion (voiced by Creator/KieferSutherland) and his son, Ryan (voiced by Creator/GregCipes), a squirrel named Benny (voiced by [[Creator/JamesBelushi Jim Belushi]]), an anaconda named Larry (voiced by Creator/RichardKind), a giraffe named Bridget (voiced by Creator/JaneaneGarofalo), and a koala named Nigel (voiced by Creator/EddieIzzard).

When an attempt to prove himself leads to a falling out with his dad, Ryan is accidentally shipped away to the African wild. A remorseful Samson searches for him with help from his friends, but during their search, they notice Samson's odd behavior, unusual for a lion of his caliber. Things get worse when the gang encounter wildebeest led by the wicked and insane Kazar (voiced by Creator/WilliamShatner) who wants wildebeests to become top of the food chain.

A movie distributed by Creator/{{Disney}} (but made by the now-defunct [[CanadaEh Canadian]] C.O.R.E. Feature Animation studio) starring Samson the lion (voiced by Creator/KieferSutherland) and his son, Ryan (voiced by Creator/GregCipes), squirrel named Benny (voiced by [[Creator/JamesBelushi Jim Belushi]]), an anaconda named Larry (voiced by Creator/RichardKind), a giraffe named Bridget (voiced by Creator/JaneaneGarofalo), and a koala named Nigel (voiced by Creator/EddieIzzard).

* {{Gasshole}}: The hyrax let’s put little farts almost every time he takes a step.

* {{Gasshole}: The hyrax let’s put little farts almost every time he takes a step.

* GreenGators: Stan and Carmine are green. An unusual example in that the film uses a realistic art style. So they look just like real crocodiles, except they're green.

* SeldomSeenSpecies: A {{Jerkass}} hyrax (rodent-like mammals who are actually more closely related to ''elephants'') appears for one scene, which leads to Samson's friends finding out that he's not from the wild after he refuses to eat the hyrax.

* AcquiredSituationalNarcissism: Happens to ButtMonkey Nigel after learning that Kazar and his wildebeest worship him like a god, but he quickly snaps out of it upon learning that his friends are to be sacrificed and proceeds to stall until Samson shows up.

* DragonInChief: A bizarre case - Kazar and the wildebeests worship Nigel as "The Great Him" and, ostensibly, serve his will. However, it's clear that Nigel is basically a prisoner and Kazar is the one in charge.

After an argument with his dad, Ryan runs away to the African wild to be like his father. A remorseful Samson searches for him with help from his friends, but during their search, they notice Samson's odd behavior, unusual for a lion of his caliber. Things get worse when the gang encounter wildebeest led by the wicked and insane Kazar (voiced by Creator/WilliamShatner) who wants wildebeests to become top of the food chain.

After an argument with his dad, Ryan ran away to the African wild to be like his father. Samson searches for him to bring him back home to the zoo with help from his friends. During their search, Larry, Nigel, and Bridget notice Samson's odd behavior, unusual for a lion of his caliber. Things get worse when the gang encounter wildebeest led by the wicked and insane Kazar (voiced by Creator/WilliamShatner) who wants wildebeests to become top of the food chain.