The Wild - Plot

Plot

The movie begins with Samson the lion telling his son Ryan stories of his adventures in the wild. Ryan attempts to imitate his father's roar, but all he can manage is a squeaky growl. During the night, when the zoo closes, all the animals are free to roam. Samson heads off to play a game of Turtle Curling with the other animals, while Ryan is taunted to come with his friends Eze the Hippo and Duke the Kangaroo to stalk the gazelles like his father. Samson later observes as his best friend Benny the squirrel tries to get Bridget the giraffe to go out with him, but she is clearly not interested. Along with Benny, Bridget, an unlucky koala named Nigel, and a dim-witted anaconda named Larry, Samson competes in a Turtle Curling Game against a team of Penguins. Meanwhile, Ryan's friends sneak into the gazelle exhibit. Ryan tries to stop Eze and Duke with a roar, but growls instead. However, it wakes the gazelles into a stampede, which ruins his father's game. This ends up invoking Samson's anger as he scolds Ryan for spending all day sulking. Ryan retorts by saying he sulks because he would feel much better being a loser if his father wasn't "Samson the Wild."

That night, Ryan accidentally gets shipped into the 'Green Boxes', which legend tells will take him to the wild. With the help of a pigeon, Samson and Benny go after him, sneaking into a garbage disposal truck. However, Nigel, Bridget, and Larry tag along to help as well, accidentally throwing Benny off the truck. After nearly being crushed in the garbage disposal, the group encounters a pack of rabid stray dogs. To their surprise, Samson makes them hide in the sewer rather than fight. There, they take directions from two street wise alligators named Carmine and Stan who lead them to the docks.

The next morning, the four friends steal a tugboat during a hectic escape from several bulk carriers entering and departing New York harbor to chase after Ryan's ship. After they learn how to drive the boat with a little help from Larry, they reunite with Benny, who has enlisted some Canada geese to help lead the crew in the right direction of Ryan's ship. After several days, Nigel goes mad with the heat and thirst, and, under the impression they have hit an iceberg, jumps overboard. Luckily, the boat has run aground in Africa. The group quickly discovers that all the animals in the area are being evacuated by the carriers, as a nearby volcano erupts. They witness Ryan escaping, but he runs into the jungle before they can stop him. Samson attempts to use his instincts to find him, but it is quickly revealed that he has never been in the wild before. The rest of the group head back to the ship, but Samson decides to keep trying to find Ryan.

While walking Samson sees plants and rocks turning into different colors; he thinks they are his senses. Nigel is captured by a group of wildebeests who dwell in the volcano, and their leader Kazar, pronounces him king, based on an 'omen' he received when he was young. About to be devoured by lions, a toy koala fell from the sky (unknown to him it was actually from a plane) and scared the lions away, saving his life. Kazar wants to change the food chain; he no longer wants his kind to be at the bottom, but would rather see "prey become predators" and vice versa. For this, he needs to sacrifice a lion. Bridget and Larry are also captured and held prisoner.

Ryan is left sheltering in a branch of an old tree, but he is attacked by a gang of vultures led by Scraw and Scab acting under orders from Kazar. The branch breaks and traps his paw. Ryan attempts a roar but again can only manage a growl. Samson hears Ryan's cries and runs to save him, scaring off the birds. The two reunite, but are interrupted by a pack of wildebeests. Ryan is shocked when Samson tells him to run. The two retreat to a tree where Samson reveals the truth. He was born in the circus and, like Ryan, couldn't roar. Samson's father was ashamed, telling him a wild lion could roar, before allowing his son to be sent to the zoo, where Samson lied to avoid the shame. Meanwhile, the wildebeests discover them and, in the scuffle, send the tree over the cliff, with Samson still hanging on. Ryan is taken back to the volcano to be sacrificed.

Samson is found later by Benny, and together they follow Samson's 'instinct' to the mountain in which the wildebeests are. This instinct turns out to be a group of chameleons who can camouflage themselves to look like they are leading his way - they help Samson because they want to see the wildebeest overthrown. Nigel tries his best to distract Kazar and the others from harming his friends (who are going to be cooked in a fire for dinner), but eventually Samson appears. He ends up fighting Kazar in order to protect the others and Ryan. Though at first Samson is strong, he gradually becomes weaker and so Kazar attempts to finish him off. Ryan, seeing Samson in danger, climbs onto a catapulting device and launches himself. The others helped to make this device. Ryan finally finds his roar while in mid-air. Ryan lands on Kazar's back, but is quickly thrown off. Samson attacks Kazar and manages to throw the bighead into a rock. Ryan, unconscious, wakes up and tells Samson that he is happy to have him for a dad. The other wildebeests are touched by this act. Kazar orders the other wildebeest to help him. His second in command Blag tells him that the wildebeests are tired of pretending to be something that they're not, and refuse to help. During the fight, Samson gains the courage he has needed, and roars powerfully enough to push back a charging Kazar. After Kazar is caught in the volcano's eruption, the other wildebeests accompany Samson and the others back to the New York Zoo.

The film ends with a fade out. Before total blackness, the music pauses, and one of the wildebeests peers through the hole, which closes on his neck and chokes him. He coughs and Nigel appears, holding the Statue of Liberty torch that he has carried throughout the film, and hits the wildebeest with it. He then apologizes to the audience, breaking the fourth wall in the process.