Reviews & Ratings for
Wild More at IMDbPro »

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109 out of 151 people found the following review useful:

I Don't Care What They Say...I Really Liked This Movie!

Author: regalosdelsol from United States
28 February 2015

I am really surprised at all of the negative reviews here. But then I remember, this is IMDb. Enough said there. I enjoyed this movie very much. I don't think it was anything more than the story of one woman trying to find a way to move forward. This movie is not a political statement about feminism. This is ONE woman's story of regret, healing, and ultimately about forgiving herself so that she could move forward. Is this movie boring? Only if you need CGI and superheroes to call it "exciting." Do people do really adventurous things like taking off alone on a thousand mile trek on foot? Yeah, they do. And most of them actually survive. People have been surviving for thousands of years by striking out on their own without any previous experience or "training." Many years ago I did something very similar to what this woman did in the Sierra Nevadas. Looking back now I know I must have been crazy to do something so unplanned. But it was something I felt I had to do and was also stemmed from a tragic loss. I thought Reese was very believable in this role. The constant flashbacks that seemed to bother all the other reviewers did not bother me in the least. The flashbacks were the unfolding of her life taken in little pieces and in sync with the memories that were ignited within her on her journey. So contrary to the other reviewers, I liked this movie! The soundtrack was right on target with what was happening in each scene. The scenery was stunning, but of course it would be if you've ever been in the area. On foot. I happily gave this movie a rating of 7 out of 10.

68 out of 106 people found the following review useful:

What is wrong with the world !!

Author: paintedsolace from Canada
6 April 2015

This was a great movie and exactly what I needed! I know from now on to not listen to most of the reviews on here at all. They are the opposite of good!? This was along the lines of Into The Wild, not as good but not bad at all and worth watching. Well done! This could be called a chick flick for real women who want substance, Strength and encouragement from the female in the role. When the world gets to much and is sucking your life away- Get the heck out and walk, climb a mountain , ride a horse ! Push the boundaries of what you think you are capable of and learn! I cried , it was good. I didn't know anything about it until I watched it. I have been coming to IMDb to pick movies with good ratings and people giving good reviews. Only to be disappointed time and again. If you like the Idea of the film , you will likely enjoy it as much as I did.

34 out of 40 people found the following review useful:

Into the Wild with Reese Witherspoon

Author: evanston_dad from United States
20 May 2015

A wonderful performance from Reese Witherspoon anchors this very good film about a troubled young woman who embarks on a miles-long hike as a sort of personal therapy to deal with the downward spiral of her life in the wake of her mother's (Laura Dern) death. Witherspoon reminds everyone what a good actress she is; I haven't been this impressed by her as an actress since "Election" way back in 1999 (and that includes her overrated Oscar-winning performance in "Walk the Line"). And it's nice to see Laura Dern again, who's popped up here and there over the past many years but has mostly been absent from the movie scene. The movie's editor deftly integrates flashbacks of Dern and Witherspoon together with the character's hike through the wild, and avoids the monotony that usually plagues films when structured this way.

One of the minor miracles of "Wild" is how subtly it explores not just the trials and dangers one would encounter in such a hike, but specifically how those trials and dangers are heightened, or at least are of a different nature, for a woman. Only once in the film is it overtly addressed, but before that scene late in the film, the director and Witherspoon have already conveyed without words how perilous such an adventure could be for a young woman, for whom every encounter with a strange man carries with it the possibility of sexual predation, even if it doesn't materialize (which, the film acknowledges, in most cases it doesn't). At the same time, the film restores one's faith a little bit in humanity, suggesting that most people are decent and kind and willing to help, no strings attached.

Witherspoon and Dern were both justly Oscar nominated for their performances, and the gorgeous Pacific West scenery deserved an award of its own.

Grade: A

43 out of 62 people found the following review useful:

honest, deep, dramatic and beautiful

Author: xmarinka-34186 from Norway
28 March 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

I loved this movie.

My favorite part about this movie is the idea - being true to ones feelings, being destroyed by pain to the point of loosing oneself and having the strength to finding it again; having the strength and incredible will to let go and move on. I find it deep and insightful.

I also like the presentation of this idea - in a simple, very honest way. That's why I think, the symbolism they used fits in so well, even though it's a bit obvious - the heavy bag she carries at the beginning of the journey, bleeding feet, getting new shoes that fit, throwing up (as letting all the bad things out) and coming to the gods bridge. All of these are classic, obvious symbols, which are in tune with the simpleness of the presentation of the idea.

This brings me to another point I like about this movie, how it contrasts this very simple plot and very simple presentation to very complicated 'things' inside the main character. I also have to mention the script, because its loooong time since I have seen/heard such a good script - communicating the drama of one's life without overdoing it.

And OK, there are some factual errors in this movie, but they are not so important and Witherspoon did a great job as an actress and a producer. For me it's her best movie so far.

So to sum it up - strong drama, in simple, honest presentation, inspiring to return to your good self, no matter what may happen. The way we deal with our feelings, is the way we leave.

54 out of 89 people found the following review useful:

Very Personal Movie

Author: dreamrider from Kentucky
20 December 2014

Your life will most likely determine whether or not you like this film, whether or not it moves you.

I read the book and was not sure how they were going to make such an introspective novel into a movie but they did a pretty good job. My group of friends had mixed reactions, some of us were deeply moved (myself included) some where wondering why we were...

I felt the way her story was portrayed in flashbacks was very effective and about the only way to tell this story. It can never be as deep as the emotions in the book and it had to skim over a lot but still, for me and others I was with it was very powerful.

On a superficial side note... I wish she had looked dirtier. Her hair and clothes always looked too clean for what she was doing with very minimal hygiene.

23 out of 30 people found the following review useful:

A little gem of a movie about goals and personal growth

Author: paul_3-960-896774
20 May 2015

Wild has a really intriguing premise, the idea of a solo hike does it for me but I was wary that the movie lasted over 100min. What could possibly be entertaining about a women hiking alone from the Mexican border to the Canadian Border? As it turns out quite a lot.

At first, it's hard to understand Cheryl, she definitely does not strike you as a someone who could do this. She bit off more than she can shew, it's clearly naive of her. But as Cheryl is struggling on her hike flashbacks of her life before the Pacific Crest Trails are peppered throughout the movie and like anyone you're getting to know she starts to make sense. You get to understand what she's been through, who she is, and what motivated her to do this. It's a challenge that she brought on herself for herself, something she needed.

And just like that a 115 minutes passes, during which you were taken on physical and soul searching journey with amazing landscapes, and a flawed but strong woman. Reese Witherspoon carries that film beautifully, she layered her performance with sensibility and a quiet strength that suited the character. I didn't totally relate to Cheryl but I wasn't completely impervious to her ordeal, I also have dreams and life-goals to achieve.

On a side note, it was recently pointed out to me I had never seen Wild as the female lead version of Into The Wild. I've never finished Sean Penn & Emile Hirsh's hiking movie but from what I remember Into The Wild was much more wild and raw the dude wasn't on a hiking trail but in the wilderness. These two movies only compare in the drives these two characters have to undertake their journey.

Wild is a beautiful movie about personal growth and living in one's truth. @wornoutspines

24 out of 38 people found the following review useful:

The long and winding road

Author: caseyyau from Canada
23 February 2015

I am the daughter of a mother who recently passed away from lung cancer. She never smoked, like the protagonist mother. I cried many times during this movie. It made me think a lot because like the lead character, i often ruminate over the past; i have a lot of flashbacks and memories of my mother keep replaying in my head., and the things she said to me will forever echo in my brain. In terms of the sex and the drug taking, i think Resse did very well in portraying the daughter who completely lost herself and the desire to live with the loss of her mother. I also grew up in a single household and my mother and I were always together, our identity are intertwined; it was us against the world. Losing our mother is like losing more than life itself, I am still finding myself lost and struggling to find meaning in life. It is a constant struggle to not give up and give into self destruction and I am very thankful that the protagonist captured this feeling very well.

Like the life of a lot of people, this movie is about the journey we take. Its not about the destination or achieving a particular purpose. It is deeply realistic, and i am glad it doesn't lecture or give a moral lesson on how we should be ,or a happy ending because we don't always get that in life. Life is ugly and it doesn't always end in happiness and things don't always happen for a reason good people do not always get a good ending and normal people can do bad things to themselves and to toh others due to pain brought on by unbearable grief. This movie inspires me to maybe run a marathon.

Walking, hiding and running are very meditative and its like a metaphor for life, no matter what happened, all we can do is keep walking.

26 out of 43 people found the following review useful:

Boring and upsetting at best

Author: alwaysdewright
15 April 2015

*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Fans of Cheryl Strayed likely come away from this movie feeling reasonably content with the outcome. There's no challenge to the end product or hope for anything more. Reese Witherspoon is a pretty personification that many can put their hopes and dreams and selves into and flutter away to the pretty pictures of mountains for a few fleeting moments in their day. For the rest of us, however, the movie is quite unmemorable and intangible. If anything, we simply watch Strayed (Witherspoon) walk around like an entitled, annoyed bitch for two hours, getting into trouble, doing stupid things, hurting anyone close to her, and then crying over spill milk again and again. And all along there's this audacious overtone telling us we should be feeling sorry for Strayed and her struggles… give me a break.

It's clear Jean-Marc Vallee wanted to produce an Oscar-season prospect, not an accurate or truly vulnerable adaptation. Coming off his success with Dallas Buyers Club, Vallee wanted to shift momentum to a prettier landscape and fill in the rest with exhausting flashbacks for back story. I can visualize what he was aiming for, and it could have been a shoe-in for best picture or certainly best actress. Unfortunately the end product missed the target by thousands of miles. Wild is tiresome, disjointed and certainly not Oscar-worthy material. The big difference between the two films is that Dallas was based on a tremendous story, one of transformation and growth, which is why it resonated so well with audiences. Wild is not a tremendous story, not even a good one, and simply takes the same approach as another vain diatribe, "Eat Pray Love." Essentially, a struggling female writer feels trapped in her life and decides to try something extreme, get herself out of this rut and find purpose (then shockingly decides to write a book about it and capitalize off all the people who want to do the same. CRAZY!). I won't argue that Strayed didn't have a rough go at it. With the death of her mother, her rotten coping mechanisms through anonymous sex and heroin use, the consequent failure of her marriage and the downward spiral of her life, Strayed was headed nowhere before she found the path of the PCT. But that does not excuse how ego-driven and basic Wild is (and is told).

Strayed is the ugliest character in the story. Aside from a terrible voice-over at the end (seriously, WTF was that?), Strayed truly does not change physically, emotionally or in her relationships from beginning to end. Yet somehow the film goes out of its way to make her a hero, innocent and a victim in this crazy world around her. We see this when all the rangers, hikers, townsfolk, even customers at the diner she's waiting at all want to rape her or take advantage. Apparently every man in the 90s was absolutely horrible (even the husband she was cheating on who drove across the country to fetch her out of a drug den and save her life. Hrm…). The most ironic part is how Strayed described in the book that she wanted to sleep with nearly every man that crossed her path (including most men on the trail), and at times she said she had to hold herself back. And that's the worst part of Wild, the blatant, phony feminist propaganda. Feminism is so trendy in pop culture right now that everyone is claiming they're a part of the cause. But it's a word that is completely misappropriated and misused, especially by quite terrible role models such as Cheryl Strayed. She is a woman who wants to desperately be considered a feminist that she adjusts her story to justify her mistakes, even throwing in the line, "I am a feminist," into the movie to frantically convince us. But she's not. Being a selfish, inconsiderate asshole doesn't make you a feminist or a martyr. It makes you a selfish, inconsiderate asshole, and not a person the viewer should want to feel compassion for.

To be honest, one of the best parts of the book was the relationships and perspectives of others who Strayed came across on the trail. We got to hear what they were going through, not just getting hit over the head by a whiny Witherspoon. Yet the theatrical version (again) only focuses on Cheryl and her theoretical struggle with life (i.e. herself). We totally skip over all the other people who in my opinion were the 'therapists' and friends who helped Cheryl to grow and guide her change into a new woman and move beyond her horrible past.

If the story is intended to be one about personal growth and finding oneself, then there is none of that here in this adaptation. For a 15-minute montage Reese is bitching and moaning about hiking and her life, then suddenly we're at the end of the trek and she's telling us about how happy-ever-after things are going to be in the future. It was like Vallee just said, "I'm over it," and decided to end the terrible experiment. By the end of this movie I find myself really caring less about Strayed (even distrusting her more since she signed off on this thing), and I'm insulted by her story and embarrassed that so many embrace her and what she did as some sort of feminist martyrdom. I think Strayed was a stupid girl who did stupid things, and out of sheer blonde luck was able to survive a trek on her own. Even more luck, she was able to turn that mediocre story into millions of dollars in her pocket. So good for her. It's not a terrible movie, just a terrible story about a terrible person who wants us all to believe she's a saint. I don't buy it, and unfortunately I rented the movie… and bought the book.

14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:

Life as it is

Author: wdiegogarcia
23 April 2015

Realistic performance of Reese Witherspoon. An history about the life as it is. A movie to watch and review in your mind later. I like drama movies that you suffer as you are watching but give you things to think later, this is this type of movie. Wild is a one-character movie but the little pieces of the secondary characters are so well introduced that allows to introduce drama, fear, suspense and romanticism to the history. If I need to say something wrong about the movie is that in some passages there is lack of continuity and feels as if the movie was longer at the beginning and the director need to cut it to do it shorter.

14 out of 20 people found the following review useful:

Cheryl's emotions are lost in a wild and desolate space

Author: supatube from South Africa
2 April 2015

An arduous journey across America on the Pacific Crest Trail, Cheryl Strayed tests her tenacity to continue forward till the end. There's very little else to the story, which makes this film really powerful. With not much else other than a tedious walk and a vampish past the story bobs back and forth between the present and the past revealing how Cheryl finds herself in such a circumstance and why she cant stop until she is finished.

At first Cheryl seems like a woman unable to let go of her now ex-husband, beginning a journey with more baggage than is necessary. It might almost be easy to throw this story into the bin of sappy chick-flicks when that inability to get closure on a relationships end is actually fronting as more of an act of remorse and regret. She messed up. And there is no way to repair the damage without an ugly scar.

The further she goes the more she dives into the series of events that lead her to such a devastating circumstance of sex and drugs. The loss of her mother is far too much for her to feel. The depth of such pain can sometimes strip a human being from feeling anything at all. The tears flow from her face but those tears are not falling for grief, they drop from the overwhelming numbing the death has caused.

Cheryl's emotions are lost in a wild and desolate space that is pain and grief, which is so perfectly mirrored with the vast, open landscape she is now physically wondering through. And both her emotions and the land are the same: it wont change immediately and things will be tough but if one keeps going forward one will come out of it. And better for it. Cheryl just needed that physical aspect to make the connection with her emotions. The self-loathing and destructive life she was living was the equivalence of her just lying down on the sandy path and dying right there.

It's a fairly event-less film where a woman just goes through some fairly tough terrain but somehow the flashes to her past spliced in with the turmoil of her present moves the story along swimmingly.

If you're a fan of deeply emotional story lines this one might very well be worth the watch.

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