Customer Reviews

Wild Child

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

This film is full of cheesy goodness. If you are looking for a young chick flick with with a dash of romance, this one is a great choice.

This movie has been done before... A LOT. What sets this film apart is the stellar cast. It is the last movie made by Natasha Richardson and casting Alex Pettyfer as the love interest doesn't hurt. The lead is played by Emma Roberts (the daughter of actor Eric Roberts and Julia Robert's niece), who obviously has taken some pointers from family members. She shines in this role as a snotty rich kid who transforms into the young woman she was meant to be. She got caught up in the fast lane of California living after her mother passed and when her dad has had enough, she gets carted off to her mom's old boarding school - in England! There is an obvious clash of cultures as she has to find her way in a foreign school with it's own caste system. Enter the mean girls and a handsome son of a headmistress and there's your plot. You know how it ends but getting there is pure fun!

We all know what is going to happen but isn't that half the reason we watch this kind of movie? As a viewer, you are not looking at this dvd as an option and thinking -- I want to watch award winning cinema! You know you are getting a lighthearted teen romp. You'll discover a young woman finding herself, real friends and love as she searches for meaning in her life. The belief that anyone can be transformed is a powerful message even if it is told in silly ways. So sit back, grab a bowl of popcorn with extra butter and enjoy a fun movie.

I saw this movie when I was in Britain last summer. Emma's character wasn't as wild as the title may suggest but there were a lot unexpected twists in this movie that made it more than your regular romcom. I highly recommend this movie and I will definitely buy this.

I first rented this movie to see what it was all about and right after I watched it I knew that I had to own it. It is entertaining from the very first scene!

The premise of Wild Child is simple. A spoilt dirty-rich American teen is shipped off to an all-girls boarding school in England to try and knock some sense into her. From the word go this film is so clichéd it's a painful viewing.

The film advertises itself as a teen comedy, but is aimed at the Hannah Montana Disney Channel youth of today who can relate to the squealing glittery Emma Roberts on screen. Even the mundanely-dressed schoolgirls are irritating and giggly. The flaw of this film is that it does not appeal to any other age group unlike classic teen comedies such as Mean Girls and Clueless, which can be enjoyed by many. The only people who would be seen dead at this film are eight to twelve year old girls.

Wild Child is a fluffy ball of cringe-fest, predictable and downright annoying, only to be appreciated by pre-teens.

There's no doubt about it, Wild Child is not a film for the male populace. So far this year I've had a surprisingly rewarding experience with chick flicks, usually finding at least something positive to cling onto during the course of the feature, and at times even enjoying the movie as a whole. Yet today was not one of those days, as sadly enough, my male attributes got the better of me. With all of this said however, despite my obvious problem with connecting to any of the characters on the screen, I found it hard to believe that anyone could do so regardless of gender, age or anything else; Wild Child is formulaic, dumb, mawkish and irksome not just through it's naïve, inane plot but more importantly, through its -just as- banal characters. Devoid of any real likable personalities or interesting, original characterisation, director Nick Moore's feature length debut neither sustains any entertainment value nor offers any significant insight into the script's themes. Younger, female audiences will probably appreciate it a little better than me, but not by much.

I don't know what's worse; watching lead character Poppy (Emma Roberts), a supposed rebellious Buddhist fashion queen of Malibu prance around for the first half of the movie playing the same "Eww! England is so dirty and medieval!" note, or seeing the British antagonised once again as stuffy, snobbish, dirty, monarchist morons that have never heard of an iPhone. Told in two polarising halves, the story here attempts to tell the tale of someone becoming a better person and coming of age by leaving behind their spoiled, bourgeois lifestyle behind for a much more disciplined and simpler life. Instead however, what Wild Child achieves is a sort of cartoon annoyance that's only real intent seems to be to rehash countless other similar stories whilst at the same time demoralising every act and line of dialogue that comes out of all the characters' mouths. It's transparent and utterly drab, never truly conveying the difference in cultures between the British and Americans with relevance or even comic effect; I wonder if you have ever seen Wife Swap? If so, it's a bit like that, only with more cheese at the end of the race.

The first half of the movie with its black and white ethics and cultural insight tinged with humourless jokes and crass characterisation is thankfully the weaker half, but this still doesn't say much for the second. Following Poppy as she and her new friends attempt to get her expelled from the boarding school so that she can travel back home to Malibu, it's of no surprise that soon Poppy -through trying to escape- finds she doesn't want to leave. Not only is it predictable and without any original flavours whatsoever, but it's overlong and tiresome. The working in of a seedy antagonist set out to take revenge on Poppy for the sheer sake that she's always been the queen of the school and now Poppy looks to steal her thunder, is just as tedious and useless. In the end all these elements come together in the form of a ridiculous school court hearing, judging the fate of a certain character and at this point it's clear just how derivative and mawkish the whole affair is. Of course it all climaxes in a super happy ending for everyone but the evil antagonist that actually presumes you thought it was going to end up anywhere else, yet doesn't ever lead you to do so beforehand.

This just about sums up the entire feature; it's anticlimactic, mundane and lazy with only slight glints of interest to be seen over the course of the superfluous runtime. One underused strength in particular is the relationship dynamic between Poppy and her father, yet sharing only a few scenes together, nothing much is achieved or capitalised on. Instead the film occupies most of its time making sure to throw in tired jokes about the differences in culture that presumably exists between America and Britian, which, if you've ever been to both countries, you'll know isn't as caricature as it is portrayed here. Of course, cultural stereotypes can be funny, but that's not the case here; it's hum-drum humour filtered through characters that you don't even want to laugh with. I suppose if I was to state one clear coherent aspect of the film, it would be Michael Price's score. Yet I hope you can see that with a movie such as this, when the music captures your attention more than anything else that is going on, you've got trouble. Lame, sappy and pretentious, it certainly won't help to see this if you're a guy, but even if you're not, I advise you give it a miss anyway; this isn't a chick flick, it's a nobody flick.

1.5 stars. I read the reviews and still rented it. Even with low expectations it was still a big letdown. Not worth it as a chick flick. In the end the character played by Emma doesn't really change, she just makes those around her worse. Waste of time. Save your money. The only highlight was definitely Alex Pettyfer, very good looking. :)

this was actullay amazon. I couldnt stop watching it! yes yayayayay yes yes i really loved emma roberts and her hilarious friends! Such an amazing chick flick girrrrllll gurrrl gurlie girlie

I had my doubts about this movie, but I knew I had to buy it after watching only 20 minutes. I found the portrayal of American California girls very interesting. I am from Indiana, and I admit, several things that Poppy (the main character) and her friends did line up with prejudices that I've developed through American media. So, seeing that was amusing, but made me wonder if Europeans thought all Americans acted that way (because we do not). I know not all Californians do, either.

I could not stop laughing, and these were laughs, not chuckles. I LOVED seeing Poppy's hand sanitizer. I had bought my own bottle a few days before watching the movie.

There was not a single character that I did not like. Though, Alex Pettyfer's hair could be improved. ;) I like his style in "I Am Number 4" better, but I digress. The actors were beyond amazing, and consequently, I loved the characters. I loved their hair, accents, clothes, facial expressions, everything. The movie was a true delight, and I'm planning to watch it with my Mom. ^_^

ALSO: I am a Christian, and I personally loved the way the headmistress handled Poppy's case. Too many times in Church we encounter wild child Poppys, and we condemn them. We yell at them, order them to clean their act up, show disgust to them, etcetera. Then, we usually chase them out of the Church because they're just too wild. I think Christians should watch this movie because of the valuable lesson in it: Call out the good in people.

Poppy acted the way she did because she was hurting inside. She missed her mother. Many times in real life, people commit negative, hurtful deeds because they are hurting inside. As Christians, we are called to do what Christ did, which was HEAL them and NEVER condemn them. If you heal the wound, the behavior changes automatically. But if you try to "fix" behavior without healing the wound, well, that is as silly as trying to "fix" the speakers without turning the radio to an actual radio station. The behavior is not the problem. It's the manifestation of the problem.

NDN

Emma roborts is so good in this movie . I love her Character in it ! I love poppy ! cute name 2! FYI this movie was the best! I dont know why people are so picky these days! wouldnt` you would watch twilight but not wild child??? lol ps Im like so in love with twilight 2 lol not more then wild child though I like a gossip girl style movies to it! those are movies I love!

Very entertaining movie. Kept my interest beginning to end. Great acting. Wonderful cast. Alex Pettyfer as Freddie is nice to look at also. Very handsome young man. And I loved the countryside sceneries in England. It's the kind of movie I could see more than once and not tire of it.