The Wild Thornberrys Movie

The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Directed by	Cathy Malkasian Jeff McGrath Charlie Adler
Produced by	Arlene Klasky Gabor Csupo
Written by	Kate Boutiler
Based on	The Wild Thornberrys
Starring	Lacey Chabert Tim Curry Jodi Carlisle Michael "Flea" Balzary Danielle Harris Lynn Redgrave Tom Kane Rupert Everett Marisa Tomei
Music by	Drew Neumann Michael Kamen
Editing by	John Bryant
Studio	Nickelodeon Movies Klasky Csupo
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date	December 20, 2002
Running time	85 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Rating

The Wild Thornberrys Movie is a 2002 American animated adventure film. The film was released on December 20, 2002 and produced by Nickelodeon Movies and Klasky Csupo and distributed by Paramount Pictures. Based on the 1990s animated Nickelodeon series, The Wild Thornberrys.

The film follows Eliza Thornberrys, on her quest to rescue a cheetah cub named Tally from ruthless poachers.

Plot

12-year-old Eliza Thornberry plays with a family of cheetahs in East Africa after being left in charge of the cubs by their mother, Akela. When Eliza strays far from the cheetahs' home, one of the cheetah cubs, Tally, is kidnapped by poachers. Eliza is determined to save the cub, which nearly costs her her life after falling from the poacher's helicopter. Eliza's grandmother Cordelia concludes that she no regard for her own saftey and convinces her parents to bring her to a boarding school in London for her safety, much to their reluctancy. Upon arriving, Eliza discovers that her pet chimpanzee, Darwin, stowed away in her suitcase. He attempts to blend in but gets both him and Eliza in trouble.

After having a dream in which Shaman Mnyambo tells her to save Tally, Eliza and Darwin return to Africa. While taking a train from Nairobi, they encounter an injured rhino, who was shot at the river by the same poachers who kidnapped Tally. They save the rhino with the help of veterinarians Bree and Sloan Blackburn. Meanwhile, Eliza's older sister Debbie is left alone with her feral adoptive younger brother Donnie at their RV, the Comvee, while their parents, Nigel and Marianne, go to film a solar eclipse at the fictional Tempo Valley. Eliza returns to the Comvee for supplies; after a small confrontation, Debbie pursues her, Darwin, and Donnie. Cordelia and her husband, Colonel Radcliffe, meet up with Nigel and Marianne to inform them of Eliza's escape, and they also begin searching for Eliza.

Darwin, Eliza and Donnie soon meet a gorilla who mentions seeing people setting up a fence across Tempo Valley. They run into the Blackburns again, who are also looking for the elephants as well and Eliza concludes that the poachers are targeting the elephant herd traveling through the valley. Later, the trio finds Tally in the Blackburns' RV, exposing their true nature as the poachers. The Blackburns capture them and reveal the fence is electrified. Meanwhile, Debbie meets a local boy named Boko, who is sent by his village elders to assist her. The two reach the Blackburns' RV, but Debbie is held hostage by Sloan after she reveals she is Eliza's sister. When Sloan threatens to kill Debbie if Eliza doesn't tell him how she found out their plan, Eliza admits it was because of her ability to talk to animals and a storm comes and takes away Eliza's powers while the Blackburns flee.

After fleeing the storm as well they soon reach Tempo Valley in time to see the elephant herd heading for the electric fence. When Eliza becomes doubtful of herself, Debbie reminds her that she has been helping animals long before gaining her powers, restoring her confidence. The Blackburns, riding in their helicopter, order their men to set off explosives, forcing the elephants to charge toward the fence. Eliza triggers the fence's electricity prematurely, with the aid of a medal her father gave her that he recieved in bording school, causing the herd to stop temporarily, and then convinces the lead elephant to turn around. Infuriated, Sloan grabs Eliza and throws her into a river. He then attempts to shoot the elephants, but they pull the rope ladder hanging off the Blackburns' helicopter out of the air and destroy it. They survive but are arrested by rangers soon after and Eliza is saved by Shaman Mnyambo, who tells her she saved the elephants using her heart. As a reward, he grants her powers back to her.

Eliza reunites with her family, who decide not to send her back to boarding school, while Boko returns to his village, keeping Debbie's watch as a memento. The Thornberrys return to the Savannah, where Eliza reunites Tally with his family. When Eliza tells Debbie that she will turn into a baboon if she reveals her secret, Debbie is angered and in the process accidentally frightens a troop of baboons Nigel and Marianne are filming. One of them activates the radio, which plays music that the Thornberrys and the baboons dance to as the cheetah family watches.

Cast

• Lacey Chabert as Eliza Thornberry
• Tim Curry as Nigel Thornberry. Curry also voices Col. Radcliffe Thornberry, Nigel's father
• Jodi Carlisle as Marianne Thornberry
• Danielle Harris as Debbie Thornberry
• Michael "Flea" Balzary as Donnie Thornberry
• Tom Kane as Darwin Thornberry
• Lynn Redgrave as Cordelia Jasmin McGold Thornberry
• Rupert Everett as Sloan Blackburn
• Marisa Tomei as Bree Blackburn
• Brock Peters as Jomo
• Alfre Woodard as Akela
• Kimberly Brooks as Tally
• Cree Summer as Phaedra
• Brenda Blethyn as Mrs. Fairgood
• Obba Babatundé as Boko
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Shaman Mnyambo
• Melissa Greenspan as Sarah Wellington
• Tara Strong, Hynden Walch and Mae Whitman as the schoolgirls
• Roger L. Jackson as Reggie (an English red squirrel) and Thunder (a Scottish clydesdale)
• John Kassir and Charles Shaughnessy as the Squirrels
• Jeff Coopwood as Park Ranger Tim
• Billy Brown as the Rhino
• Keith Szarabajka as a poacher
• Earl Boen as the Gorilla

Gallery