Well, I had been meaning to watch this for a while (thank goodness I found it for cheap).

Based on the Nickelodeon series of the same name ("The Wild Thornberrys", of course), the story tells of a family that travels around the wild parts of the world, filming their father's wildlife television show. The family is typically dysfunctional: the "normal" father and mother, the oldest daughter Debbie (who annoys me at points), the wild child Donnie (he's a strange boy, he is. Also is annoying.), and of course the star of the show, the nerdy yet adventurous Eliza (who looks like a fusion of Steve Urkel and Pippi Longstocking) who was given the power to communicate with animals (as long as she doesn't reveal her secret to anyone, of course).

I've only seen a bit of the television series, but I knew enough of the basics to understand the movie (especially since they did do a quick summary of the plot of the TV series within the couple of minutes before the title screen). This was an enjoyable piece to watch. The character design and feel of the whole thing stayed true to the series (which is a good thing), the music was beautiful (especially the Paul Simon song, "Father and Daughter", which took me a while to get why it was used in the movie . . . but it was still the best out of all of the songs used), and the flow was . . . quick and easy-to-follow (a good thing for little children to watch). Some parts of the film could have easily been cut out, but I feel glad that they didn't.

In conclusion, this is the way a TV-based feature film should be: true to the series, through and through. This is a charming family film that should not be missed!

(Additional thought: While watching the film, I remembered that Lacey Chabert provided the voice of the lead character, Eliza. Her character sounded quite familiar to another character that she had voiced: Balto's wolf-like daughter, Aleu in Balto: Wolf Quest. The two characters are quite alike, and I felt like I was hearing Aleu instead of Eliza during some scenes! ha.)

Four stars from me!

My thoughts when I heard this movie was coming out were: "*Yawn.* Another TV show-turned-movie. Ho-hum."

Thus, I didn't see this movie until this September. And boy, had I missed out!

The fans of the show won't be disappointed- the characters are true to their T.V. selves- from Debbie's sarcasm to Eliza's courage. The only thing that's changed is the Shaman who gave Eliza her powers: now he's tall (instead of short), tattooed, has a name, and deep voiced (instead of having a gruff, almost whiny one).

**WARNING WARNING!! SPOILERS!! SPOILERS!**
When the poachers Sloan and Bree first appeared in the wolf-in-sheep's-clothing roles, I thought "Huh I wonder if they're baddies. Naw! Nickelodeon wouldn't do something like that!! I was wrong.

That being said, I thought Sloan and Bree were excellent villains- the bad guys you like despite yourself and a perfect foil for Eliza.

*NO MORE WARNING!! NO MORE WARNING!! END OF SPOILERS!*

The animation is stylized, but still great, especially during Akela's hunt and the helicopter chase.

So to summarize: go and see this movie. It's one of Nick's best in my eyes (with only SpongeBob better).

A film that might drift into the background along with the rest of the Saturday-morning-cartoon-turned-major-movie club, comes across as fairly decent... largely on the strength of the heroine, Eliza Thornberry. I like that she's a bit of a nerdy-looking kid--gawky with knobby knees and a mouth full of braces--but she's just so spirited that she easily takes you along for the ride. There's no moralizing or "here we are out saving the environment". It's simply when Eliza's friends are in trouble and she unquestioningly leaps into action.

My only fairly minor quibble with the film is that it gets bogged down in its need to transcend the feel of the TV show... or justify it's "movie status"... by going a little bit over the top in the third act, but the action and the strength of Eliza herself allow you to quickly get swept back into the story.

All in all--not bad.