The European Entry

So in two days, America gets a real-time experiment in how animated features from the continent might fare stateside. The L.A. Times has some doubts.

... Without much humor, and with a very straightforward story, there isn't a lot to hook you [in the Belgian animated feature The Wild Life], leaving one a bit cold toward the characters. There's a message about accepting outsiders without judgment and working together as a team, and some strange subtext about a primitive island life versus a civilized one (involving guns, weapons and economic exploitation — a pirate's life, indeed!), but it's all presented without much complication, aside from those pesky cats. ...

The pic is tracking "so so" on Rotten Tomatoes, but Lionsgate is rolling the pic out in 2200 theaters, so LG must be hoping for some action down-list from Clint Eastwood's Sully, which the smart money expects to open at #1 in the $25 million range.

So the question, "Can Europe create an animated feature the world wants to see?" might get some kind of answer by Sunday.