‘Wild Life’ tame, kid-friendly – Strange surprising adventures of Crusoe

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LOS ANGELES, March 27, (RTRS): For nearly three centuries, audiences have marveled at the “strange surprizing adventures” of Robinson Crusoe, “who lived eight and twenty years, all alone in an un-inhabited island on the coast of America.” Well, not entirely alone. Crusoe shared his oasis with birds and beasts aplenty, and thanks to the magic of computer animation, the critters finally get a chance to tell their side of the story in “The Wild Life,” which plays like a watered-down version of Aardman’s “The Pirates! Band of Misfits.” Already released in Germany and rolling out across Europe in advance of Lionsgate’s Sept. 9 Stateside release, this tame, kid-friendly marooned cartoon should do well for nWave, the stereo-savvy Belgian animation studio behind “A Turtle’s Tale: Sammy’s Adventures” and “Thunder and the House of Magic,” whose dynamic use of 3D somewhat compensates for otherwise flat storytelling.

Whereas Crusoe recounted his own narrative in Daniel Dafoe’s first-person novel, it’s a bright red parrot named Mak (David Howard) who does all the talking here. Unlike his fellow islanders — an exotic mix of species, including a blubbery tapir named Rosie (Laila Berzins) and the needle-voiced echidna Epi (Sandy Fox), both more than content with their daily luaus and all-you-can-eat bug buffets — Mak dreams of a bigger world out there, squawking, “How much paradise can a bird take!?”

When Crusoe’s ship smashes upon the rocky shore, Mak sees his ticket off the island — nevermind that he technically has “eight and twenty years” to wait. Meanwhile, the other animals approach the strange ginger-haired castaway with caution, studying this tall, gangly outsider from a distance. (Crusoe isn’t especially appealing, as animated humans go, though he’s been designed to emphasize his thin limbs and bendy knees and elbows, and it’s amusing to watch him flail about and fall on his bum.)

Though the animals all speak English amongst themselves, they don’t understand Crusoe (Yuri Lowenthal), watching from behind a rock as he unloads his supplies and recoiling in shock when the unfamiliar creature removes his coat. “Look, he’s stripped off his skin!” gasps kingfisher Kiki (Lindsay Torrance), while chameleon Carmello (Colin Metzger) does his best to disappear (a neat trick that slyly uses the 3D format to suggest near-invisibility). This clever animal-centric perspective, reminiscent of such kidlit staples as “Mr. Revere and I” and “Ben and Me,” not only suggests that the hapless young mariner might never have made it home by himself, but offers a playfully anti-imperialistic spin on Dafoe’s classic tale of Western superiority.

Of course, the animals need Crusoe, too, and he will soon become their closest ally in a battle for control of the island, which could soon be overrun by a pair of scraggly cats (Debi Tinsley, Jeff Doucette). The only other survivors of the storm, not counting Crusoe’s faithful golden retriever, these mangy ratters are Gremlin-ugly and act like “The Lion King’s” conniving hyenas — the total opposite of Thunder, the cuddly cat star of nWave’s last outing. In a rare twist for a kids’ cartoon, the dog dies — after which the feline culprits are banished to the bug-infested Curse Island, though they’ll be back to unleash more mayhem in the final reel, this time accompanied by a legion of equally unpleasant offspring.

Earning

In the meantime, Mak succeeds in making friends with Crusoe, earning the nickname “Tuesday” in the process (one of the project’s few nods to the novel, wherein the hero rescued a savage sidekick and dubbed him Friday). The animals pitch in as Crusoe builds a giant treehouse and beacon to attract passing ships, while co-directors Vincent Kesteloot and Ben Stassen manage to transform what might otherwise be years of sheer boredom (during which Crusoe sprouts a big red beard) into high-energy excitement — for easily appeased young audiences, at least.

While other animation studios have begrudgingly adopted stereoscopic 3D, embracing the box office bump the technology provides without necessarily adapting to how it can alter (and potentially improve) the viewing experience, Belgian nWave was among the first outfits to truly embrace the added dimension. From the early, eye-crossing antics of “Fly Me to the Moon” to the nimble, virtual-camera trickery of “The House of Magic,” Stassen has been a major innovator in the 3D space, and “The Wild Life” offers them another dynamic playground in which to run amok. Whether dangling characters off the edge of a cliff or zooming around Crusoe’s rickety wooden waterslide, the story is constantly on the go, launching objects and characters along the Z axis — and out over the audiences’ heads.

Considering that nWave doesn’t have the budget to compete with DreamWorks or Pixar (typically the most conservative when it comes to 3D), this strategy sets “The Wild Life” apart. But it should also be noted that the filmmakers, who dub and distribute the film in multiple languages, have finally mastered the element that nearly always trips up Euro-based toon studios: They’ve ensured that the dialogue and jokes actually work in English, casting appealing (if not necessarily recognizable) voices across the board.

Hectic but unfunny, “Get a Job” has had a difficult history: It was shot four years ago but sat on the shelf, presumably due to big changes at CBS Films. That means its satire of employment-world anxiety is already somewhat dated, though on the plus side, its various cast members (including then-little-known lead Miles Teller) have since seen their marquee value strengthen. Not much of that will matter, however, as the pic’s strenuously misfired mix of broadly treated social issues and uninspired comedic raunch is being kick-dropped with little fanfare into VOD platforms and scattered theatrical gigs by Lionsgate Premiere. The roll call of familiar on-screen talents should make this a decent home-format seller, though it’s nobody’s finest hour.

The first produced screenplay by Kyle Pennekamp and Scott Turpel may well have seemed bright and busy on paper, but the end result looks all too much like a jumble of clashing ideas that have all been better explored elsewhere. Just out of college, Will Davis (Teller) finds that his history of gold stars and trivial triumphs (he’s an Ultimate Frisbee champ) are ill preparation for the working world. Two summers interning at the L.A. Weekly come to nought when his promised job is downsized out of existence. After a couple of low-end false starts, he does land a position making video resumes for an “executive placement firm” where Bruce Davison plays the CEO. His attempts to get creative hit a brick wall in the form of Marcia Gay Harden’s VP, who returns from a hiatus to whip everyone back in line, Cruella de Vil-style.

Meanwhile, Will’s more practical-minded girlfriend, Jillian (Anna Kendrick), gets hired as a junior sales analyst, but finds the bottom rung of the corporate ladder unfulfilling. The bros he shares a house with likewise have to settle for less: Stoner Charlie (Nicholas Braun) proves a haplessly unsuitable middle-school teacher, Luke (Brandon T. Jackson) is humiliated as a trading floor’s newest clerk/errand boy, and Ethan (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) can’t get companies interested in the admittedly vile app he’s invented. Worse, Will’s die-hard workaholic optimist of a dad (Bryan Cranston) is thrown for a crippling loop when his hyper-efficiency actually renders his own post irrelevant after 30 years’ service. Trying to get interviews, he finds no one in today’s corporate culture willing to even consider his record or skills — they just see an old man.

There’s potential in these plot strands, but “Get a Job” continually fritters it away striking crude teen-comedy notes, as if afraid taking its themes halfway seriously for a moment might be too much of a turnoff.

Unable to decide whether it’s “Gets Hired” or a bittersweet satire about millennials and the devolving workplace, “Get a Job” does a poor job trying to be both. When Will starts out informing us his first memories were of “Feeling special. The first time I pooped, there was applause,” the movie appears headed toward a critique of an over-coddled generation shocked that the working world doesn’t appreciate their uniqueness. (There are a few pointed if obvious moments, as when he nearly blows an important interview by taking personal calls in the middle of it.) Yet at the close he’s chirping, “Don’t just feel special. Be special!” By then, the movie has contradicted itself on so many levels that its final gesture — presenting a whopping, ethically grotesque sellout as a triumph of entrepreneurial individuality — doesn’t even feel ironic. It’s just one more way the film strikes out while trying to cover every base.

Full of expert performers (also including John C. McGinley, Jorge Garcia, John Cho, Greg Germann, Seth Morris, Jay Pharaoh and others), all of whom have seen better material, “Get a Job” is brisk and slick but soulless. It was presumably a work-for-hire for helmer Dylan Kidd, who wrote or co-wrote his prior features (the justifiably acclaimed “Roger Dodger” and the underseen “P.S.”). While he provides surface energy, he can’t supply conviction or comic inspiration. Tech/design aspects are solid enough.

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