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Wild Child (film)

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Not to be confused with The Wild Child.

Wild Child
UK theatrical release poster
Directed byNick Moore
Written byLucy Dahl
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyChris Seager
Edited bySimon Cozens
Music byMichael Price
Production
companies
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • 15 August 2008 (2008-08-15) (United Kingdom)
Running time
97 minutes
Countries
  • United Kingdom
  • United States
  • France
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million
Box office$21.9 million[1]

Wild Child is a 2008 teen comedy film directed by Nick Moore and starring Emma Roberts, Natasha Richardson, Shirley Henderson, Alex Pettyfer and Aidan Quinn, with Georgia King, Kimberley Nixon, Juno Temple, Linzey Cocker and Sophie Wu. Roberts portrays Poppy Moore, a wealthy, spoiled teenager, who is admitted to a boarding school in England where she soon learns the true meaning of life and friendship. This was Richardson's final on-screen film role before her death the following year.

Plot

Poppy Moore, a wealthy Malibu teenager, executes a wild prank to ruin all of her widowed father's girlfriend's belongings. When her father, Gerry, arrives on the scene, he announces he will be sending her to a boarding school in England. At the school, she is greeted by headmistress Mrs. Kingsley and head girl, Harriet Bentley, who berates Poppy for her attitude. Poppy shares a bedroom with four girls: Kate, Josie, Kiki and Jennifer, known as "Drippy". Her rude and self-centered behavior leads to trouble when she insults the Matron, who confiscates their cellphones. All five are punished with detention. When Kate learns Poppy's mother died in a car crash when Poppy was eleven, she sympathizes with her. Kate lets Poppy use her actual phone to message her friend from back home, Ruby, who is secretly being intimate with Poppy's boyfriend, Roddy.

The girls decide to help Poppy get expelled to help return home. Together, they carry out several pranks, which gradually bring them closer together. When none of their plans work, they decide to have Poppy seduce the headmistress's son, Freddie, who is strictly forbidden from fraternizing with any of the girls. The girls go on a trip and Poppy removes her blonde hair dye, revealing her natural brunette hair. She dances with Freddie at the school dance, much to Harriet's dismay, but Poppy trips and hits her head. Freddie takes her outside for air, where he asks her out on a date.

The next day, Poppy discovers her talent for lacrosse and whips the school's team into shape, getting them into the finals. She finds herself falling for Freddie and they kiss before returning to school. Entering her room, Poppy finds her roommates reading an email supposedly sent by her, expressing she thinks all of her new friends are losers. She finds Freddie has received a similar email, as a result she is ignored by them. However, she never actually sent the email. With no one else to turn to, Poppy sneaks down to the cook's room and calls Ruby, who accidentally reveals how much she dislikes Poppy and she is seeing Roddy. Feeling even more alone, Poppy starts playing with her lighter and accidentally sets a curtain on fire. Hearing footsteps, she quickly puts out the fire and runs off. A few minutes later, she looks out her window to see a fire and immediately wakes the school.

When they find Drippy is missing, Poppy runs into the burning school to rescue her. After the fire is extinguished, Freddie finds her lighter and gives it back to her, refusing to hear any explanation. Realizing she no longer wants to leave, Poppy goes to the headmistress and takes the blame for the fire. Afterwards, she finds a portrait of her late mother in the 1976 Abbey Mount lacrosse team and begins to cry upon realizing her mother had attended the same school.

While Poppy waits for the Honour Court to decide whether she should be expelled, Freddie finds her crying and becomes convinced the fire was an accident, and forgives her. At the hearing, Poppy gives her testimony. Meanwhile, her roommates find out Poppy did not send the emails. Harriet mentions Poppy's lighter during the hearing, and when the other girls say no lighter was ever mentioned, Harriet snaps at Poppy and confesses to restarting the fire after Poppy had put it out. Poppy is subsequently absolved and Harriet is expelled.

Gerry comes to the lacrosse finals game and notices Poppy's dramatic change in appearance and how much she looks like her mother. He is amazed by his daughter's role as captain of the lacrosse team. Abbey Mount wins the lacrosse finals. Some months later, Poppy, her friends, and Freddie are relaxing in Malibu. Poppy ignores Ruby's phone calls, now fully aware Ruby was not a good friend. They prepare to jump off the cliff into the waters below.

Cast

Production

The interiors of the boarding school were filmed at Cobham Hall in Kent.[2] The facade of the school was filmed at Balls Park.[3] They also filmed at 82 Main Street, 84 Main Street, 117 Main Street, and at the Brontë Parsonage Museum in Haworth, Keighley, Bradford.[3][4][5][6][7] Filming also took place in Harrogate, and at Robin Hood's Bay in North Yorkshire.[6]

Reception

Wild Child was released in the United Kingdom on 15 August 2008, taking fifth place at the box office with $2,196,366 from 359 cinemas with an average of $6,118. In its fourth weekend, it dropped to twelfth place. As of November 2008, Wild Child had grossed $8,235,794. In Australia, Wild Child was released 18 September, taking fourth place with only 93 cinemas and making $315,114.[8] The following week, it made a 60% increase with $566,918[9] but still slipped to 6th place. On 16 October, Wild Child fell to 11th. As of November 2008, Wild Child had grossed US$3,268,424 (A$4,236,579) in Australia.[9][10] The film has been released in many other countries, proving popular in some: the Netherlands ($1,553,825) and not so popular in others. The film has grossed a worldwide total of $21,972,336.[1] Universal had planned a North American release in the summer of 2009, but canceled it and chose to release the film directly to DVD.

Critical response

Wild Child has a 41% approval rating at Rotten Tomatoes, based on 27 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "More mild than wild. This tween comedy mess falls flat on its face due to poor characters, poor direction and poor jokes".[11] The Sun Online gave the film 2/5 saying "WILD? More like mild, unless you think short skirts and 'horse face' put-downs are outrageous." Urban Cinefile gave Wild Child a much more favourable review, stating "The film has an energy and honesty about it: it's lively, funny and smart and the characters are appealing."

DVD release

Wild Child was released on DVD in the United Kingdom on 8 December 2008. In Australia, it was released on 15 January 2009. In the United States, it was released directly to DVD on 17 November 2009.

Soundtrack

Wild Child
Soundtrack album by
various artists
Released18 August 2008[12]
Recorded2007-2008
GenrePop
Length48:32
LabelPolydor

Wild Child: The Movie Soundtrack Party Album is a soundtrack album by the film of the same name, released in the United Kingdom and Australia on 18 August 2008. In the United States, the soundtrack wasn't released.[13]

Track listing
No.TitlePerformer(s)Length
1."Shut Up and Drive"Rihanna3:10
2."Let Me Think About It"Ida Corr and Fedde le Grand3:15
3."About You Now"Sugababes3:21
4."Say It Right"Nelly Furtado2:19
5."I Know UR Girlfriend Hates Me"Annie2:44
6."If This Is Love"The Saturdays3:14
7."Heartbreaker" (featuring Cheryl Cole)will.i.am4:05
8."Sweet About Me"Gabriella Cilmi3:38
9."Can't Speak French"Girls Aloud3:15
10."Murder on the Dancefloor"Sophie Ellis-Bextor4:06
11."Ice Cream"New Young Pony Club3:53
12."Kiss with a Fist"Florence and the Machine3:15
13."Foundations"Kate Nash3:21
14."You Think I Don't Care"Jack McManus2:19
15."Come Around" (featuring Timbaland)M.I.A.2:44
16."Tambourine"Eve3:14
17."Real Wild Child"Sarah Harding4:05
18."Wild Child"The Cat Eat Cat Dog Game3:38
Total length:48:32
Other songs non-included

The following songs appeared in the movie and trailers, although they were not included on the soundtrack for the film, due to licensing restrictions:

References

  1. ^ a b "Wild Child". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  2. ^ Film, Kent (4 February 2008). "Wild Child (2008)". Kent Film Office. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Wild Child Filming Locations". British Film Locations. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  4. ^ "Wild Child". Bradford Film Heritage. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  5. ^ "Films and TV Shows Filmed In and Around Bradford". The Store Room. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Yorkshire's Great Screen Locations by Welcome to Yorkshire - Issuu". issuu.com. p. 13. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  7. ^ White, Clive (13 September 2007). "Cameras roll on our prime location". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 28 February 2022.
  8. ^ "Australia Box Office, September 18-21, 2008". Boxofficemojo.com. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  9. ^ a b "Australia Box Office, September 25-28, 2008". Boxofficemojo.com. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  10. ^ "All time Australian box office". Moviemarshal.com.au. 10 January 2010. Retrieved 11 June 2016.
  11. ^ "Wild Child (2008)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 14 May 2018.
  12. ^ "Wild Child The Movie Soundtrack Party Album". Amazon. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  13. ^ "Wild Child Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
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