Wow! Such a good movie.
Wonderful character development!
Let's be realistic.
Great example of an old-fashioned, pure-at-heart escapist event movie that doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not and has boat loads of fun being its own ludicrous self.
View Morethis was better than most monkey movies i have seen and i've seen a lot of them. i think monkey movies are usually pretty low-brow (with the exception of the excellent 'Toby Tyler'), but i still have a tendency to like them anyhow. i even like the 'Bonzo' monkey movies with Ronald Reagan.'Monkey Summer', or whatever it is, is more serious and intellectually ambitious than monkey movies usually are. this doesn't always work in it's favor, but it does get you to take it more seriously as film making than other monkey films. for one thing, because it is more serious story telling and actually has a real plot (monkey movies usually don't), it can be a little slow moving at times. there are some funny moments of monkey mayhem, monkeys trashing houses, having pillow fights, and monkeys drinking bootleg to get drunk, just not enough of them. the action mostly concentrates on the story of the kid who wants to catch the monkeys. the 'Monkey's Uncle' was a lot more brainless than this, but it was more fun to watch and had more monkey antics.the acting is good in this movie, the script is often thoughtful and kind of moving in a sincere way, and the feel for it's historical period is quite good. the scene where the monkey's owner drives up in a turn of the century auto is engaging. it was also nice to see the little girl who played the role in the very good TV movie adaptation of 'A Wrinkle in Time'. she's quite good here.also let me clear up one thing. this movie was picked up and distributed by Disney but was not actually produced by the company. it was produced by Michael Anderson in Canada with another film company. Disney's name is on the DVD package but not actually on the film itself. no matter. this film has all the elements of your typical Disney flick and is very wholesome and G-rated (with the exception of drunken monkeys, but hey, 'Dumbo' had a drunken elephant).i also forgot to add that these ain't monkeys. they are chimps. a monkey ain't a chimp and a chimp ain't a monkey. there IS a difference. why do Hollyweird and the mooovies keep making that mistake.
View MoreI enjoyed watching this movie very much. I will say that the acting was not the best ever but it was just fine. I have seen much worse acting in movies that come right out of Hollywood. This is a movie that contains no swearing, nudity, or excessive violence. There is a fist fight between two boys and that's as far as it goes. The ending may be somewhat predictable but it is still heartwarming. This movie reminds me of the way it used to be "back in the good old days" where children were taught right from wrong and family values were a wholesome part of life. Don't watch this movie if you plan on critiquing every scene and action of the actors or you will probably come away disappointed. If you choose to watch it just for the fun of it and to share some time with your family then I think you will enjoy it as much as I did. At least I hope so.
View MoreI am in a movie club at my school and I was forced to sit and watch this utterly dismal film. The film's story is not dismal, but the entire movie itself is exceedingly dismal. The acting was absolutely dreadful. The children were overly whiny. A metal pole could have done a better job. I wanted desperately to fall asleep, but because the television was so loud, I was kept from peace. The monkey's are neither cute, nor are they funny. The drama is laugh-worthy. I cannot remember when I saw a more dreadful film. The story is weak, thin, predictable, and completely fake. The adults try to be good actors, but they just can't seem to break through stereotypes. The girl even appears to want to leave the film via falling off a hill during the movie in order to leave it, I don't blame her. Micheal Anderson should publicly apologize for this film. Not just to me, but to everyone else who was forced to sit through this awful film. In fact, I apologize to you. Even if I had nothing to do with this project, I apologize for this film, because this means at least someone will. This film even surpasses the dismalness of films that of Rob Schneider and the Cheetah Girls. I would even go as far to say that it is even worse that Hilary Duff's collection of films, but that's pushing it. Just please don't see this film, or else you'll be pushed to write a review similar to this one on how awful this film is. I'm very sorry.
View MoreI watched this with another adult and nine children. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed the movie. The monkeys were very entertaining and there were plenty of laughs. However, the movie is mainly quite serious. It deals with many issues common to adolescents such as peer relationships, bullies, sibling relationships, conflict with parents, role in the family, accepting responsibility, sharing, caring,and maturing. It also deals with seeing things from another's point of view. it is pertinent to children and bittersweet nostalgic for adults.The story line was original, the acting very good, the cinematography outstanding and the costuming was authentic. I would give this movie very high marks and recommend it to both adults and children. There should be more movies of this quality and thoughtfulness generated for the enjoyment of families and movie buffs.
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