Plucky Eliza saves the day – not with her special powers but with her heart. All images courtesy of Paramount/Nickelodeon.

I happened to be sitting next to one of Klasky-Csupo's character animation layout artists during the world premiere of The Wild Thornberrys Movie. Before the show started, in casual conversation, he asked me, "Do you think the movie will do well at the box office?"

"I certainly hope so," I answered as the lights went down and I settled in to see the latest TV show to big screen transformation.

A Good Time
Well, the verdict is in and -- The Wild Thornberrys Movie is good, solid family entertainment. If you read no further than these first few introductory paragraphs, you will be happy to know that your hard-won dollars and afternoon hours will not be squandered in patronizing the film.

The premise for the Thornberrys' adventures is simple enough. Nigel and Marianne Thornberry (voiced by Tim Curry and Jodi Carlisle, respectively) are documentary filmmakers who travel around the world with their family, recording the miraculous splendor of the natural world. Along for the ride are rebellious teenager Debbie (Danielle Harris), adopted wild child Donnie (Michael Balzary), and precocious protagonist Eliza (Lacey Chabert), who has the ability to talk with animals. The crew is rounded out by Eliza's chimpanzee friend Darwin, voiced by Tom Kane, whose versatile work ranges from playing Yoda in the Star Wars video games to the professor in the The Powerpuff Girls television series, her aristocratic Grandmumsy Cordelia Thornberry (Lynn Redgrave), and her free-spirited Grandpapa, Colonel Thornberry (also played by Tim Curry). Also lending her talents to the film is Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei, as the new character Bree Blackburn. Each of the characters uniquely contributes to the chemistry of the show, and, in its outwardly effortless calculation to entertain the whole family, The Wild Thornberrys Movie certainly has some personality with whom everyone can identify.

The Thornberrys gang!

Now, I am not much inclined to delve into the specifics of the story, nor to recapitulate its plot. It’s not that anything wildly unexpected happens, but in my mind, it somewhat deflates the experience of seeing the movie for yourself. (No doubt, there are plenty of online reviews to satisfy your curiosity of the film's details, if you absolutely cannot withhold your discovery.) Suffice to say, Eliza Thornberry uses her gift of being able to communicate with animals to help protect the natural beauty and ecology of, in this case, Africa.