BORN TO BE WILD
A clean adventure undermined by a deeply distorted message.
Should You Watch It?
BORN TO BE WILD is clean in its physical content, but the review finds the movie's central message seriously troubling. Its story presents a rebellious teenager rescuing a gorilla from a money-hungry owner, while treating the animal's feelings as wiser than adults, authority figures, and even the legal profession.
The movie also blurs right and wrong through a heavy-handed “animals-are-people-too” message. Theft, lying, rampant disobedience, and fleeing to Canada are portrayed favorably. The result is a one-star adventure that does not merely entertain with an unusual friendship; it asks you to accept a distorted view of humanity and morality.
For your family, the practical answer is to skip it.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESA troubled teenager with a bad attitude finds direction through an unusual friendship with a captured, caged female gorilla. He sets out to save the intelligent primate from her money-hungry owner and help her find freedom in tropical Hawaii.
The adventure places the teenager and the gorilla against adults and authorities, building toward a legal conflict in which the animal’s abilities and feelings become central to the case.
Is It Any Good?
One star means this is a poor entertainment choice despite its clean adventure framework. The review calls the drama strongly manipulative and describes its court sequence as suspense-less. It also criticizes the movie for expecting audiences to accept a gorilla communicating through sign language and defending herself and her friend against legal charges.
The premise could have supported a moving story about companionship and refusing to face life alone. Instead, the film’s heavy-handed treatment of animal mistreatment and its “animals-are-people-too” message spoil the adventure.
The Worldview
The movie’s minor premise is that no one is better off facing life alone. Its main premise, however, uses mistreatment of animals as a platform for a much broader claim: animals and humanity differ only by degree, not by kind.
That view removes the distinction between human beings and animals. It also places children and animals above adults, authority, and established ideas of right and wrong. The movie’s relativism is especially clear when a primate’s feelings are treated as wiser than the legal profession. Instead of grounding morality in truth, the film effectively makes feelings the measure of right and wrong.
The review identifies this as an anti-biblical, one-world message. Scripture gives animals value as part of God’s creation, but it does not erase the distinction between animals and people, who are made in God’s image: “So God created man in his own image” (Genesis 1:27).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Anti-biblical, politically-correct, manipulative relativism -- children know best, adults & authority figures are ignorant, right & wrong depend on feelings, & strong one-world, animals-equal-to-humanity message; 7 obscenities, 3 exclamatory profanities & 1 vulgarity; mild action violence -- car rolls down a hill, protagonists flee from authorities, gorilla falls into ocean; and, theft, lying & rampant disobedience portrayed favorably, along with fleeing to Canada to avoid capture, just as draft dodgers once did (the movie's own analogy, in which draft-dodging portrayed as "right thing to do"), dog urinates on detective, & gorilla is flatulent.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
The movie treats feelings as a guide to right and wrong. Why is that an unreliable standard, and where does Scripture tell us to seek wisdom?
Proverbs 3:5–7 · Jeremiah 17:9How should Christians care for animals while still recognizing the difference between animals and human beings?
Genesis 1:26–28 · Proverbs 12:10The teenager’s disobedience is portrayed favorably. When, if ever, should we resist an authority—and what limits does Scripture give?
Romans 13:1–4 · Acts 5:29The film suggests that no one is better off facing life alone. What kind of community does Scripture call believers to build?
Galatians 6:2 · Hebrews 10:24–25The Final Word
BORN TO BE WILD offers a clean adventure premise but wraps it in a manipulative message about animals, authority, and morality. Because the movie is both poorly made and seriously distorted in its worldview, our answer is SKIP IT. For better family options, see.
