SUN SCORE
***
In a splendid animated transition from the Nickelodeon cable channel to the big screen, The Wild Thornberrys makes a witty and delightful Christmas present for the entire family.
The inspired adventures of 12-year-old animal lover Eliza Thornberry (voice of Lacey Chabert) transpire largely on Africa's Serengeti plain, which unfolds in all its unspoiled magnificence like a series of vast and beautiful murals, luminous in their richly shaded hues and subtle play of light and shadow.
As fans of the series know, Eliza is the precocious younger daughter of Nigel and Marianne Thornberry (Tim Curry and Jodi Carlisle), globe-trotting documentary filmmakers from England.
So brave and dedicated to animals is Eliza that an African shaman has bestowed upon her the gift of being able to talk with them - her constant companion is Darwin (Tom Kane), a fussy, erudite chimp. Eliza is especially adoring of three cheetah cubs whose mother (Alfre Woodard) warns her of poachers yet inadvertently allows one of the cubs to be swept up by a poacher's helicopter. Eliza is thus propelled on a quest to rescue the kidnapped cub that places her in perils more numerous than Pauline's and adventures straight out of King Solomon's Mines.
Directors Jeff McGrath and Cathy Malkasian and writer Kate Boutilier aim to entertain first and foremost, of course, but Eliza's odyssey effectively acquaints young children with the notion of endangered species without ever actually uttering the phrase. Their message, expressed deftly, is that a loving heart is capable of working miracles even without Eliza's special gifts of communication.
The Wild Thornberrys Movie balances heart-tugging with a sophisticated sense of humor, a quality far from common in family entertainments.
Kevin Thomas is a film critic for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune Publishing newspaper.
The Wild Thornberrys
Voices of Lacey Chabert, Rupert Everett, Lynn Redgrave, Alfre Woodard
Directed by Jeff McGrath and Cathy Malkasian
Released by Paramount
Rated PG@SUBHEDTime 79 minutes