THE WILD — * 1/2 — Animated feature starring the voices of Kiefer Sutherland, James Belushi, Eddie Izzard and others; rated G (violence, vulgarity).

It's a good thing most animated films take between two and three years to make, or "The Wild" might not have a valid excuse for resembling last year's hit "Madagascar" — to an alarming degree. The two movies are pretty much the same.

But "The Wild" — which was produced by an independent animation house and picked up for distribution by Disney — doesn't feature the penguin characters that were the highlight of the DreamWorks film. This one is also more crude and more violent than "Madagascar" and features content that is pretty questionable for a G-rated film.

The early part of "The Wild" is set in the New York Zoo, which is ruled by Samson the Lion (the voice of Kiefer Sutherland), better known as Sam to his friends. And Sam has some serious parenting issues. His cub, Ryan (Greg Cipes), has been unable to find his "roar" and decides to stow aboard some containers headed to Africa, where he hopes to get in touch with his wild side.

So it's up to Sam to rescue him — or at least help him out. Sam is joined by his squirrel friend Benny (James Belushi), as well as Nigel (Eddie Izzard), a koala bear; Bridget (Janeane Garofalo), a giraffe; and the slithery python Larry (Richard Kind).

Things do get a little more interesting in the second half, when our heroes finally get into the wild and encounter an unfriendly wildebeest "cult" and its leader (William Shatner). But the jokes too often miss their targets, and there's more of a reliance on innuendo and bathroom humor than there should be.

Two things the movie does have going for it are a relatively short running time and a talented voice cast — even if it doesn't really make the best use of them. Garofalo's character, for example, only appears in the movie for "diversity" and to aid a rather heavy-handed product-placement bit.

"The Wild" is rated G, though it does feature some violent content (animal attacks, as well as some peril and mayhem) and crude flatulence and other bodily function jokes (references and sight gags). Running time: 85 minutes.

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E-mail: jeff@desnews.com