Chimpanzee is the latest film from Disneynature, the people who brought us the gorgeously shot Planet Earth series. This time around they have teamed up with the Jane Goodall Foundation to bring us the story of a chimpanzee tribe living deep in the rain forest of West Africa. Goodall’s research has always fascinated me so I’ve been looking forward to seeing this one for some time. I was a little put off when I saw that Tim Allen had done the narration, but I’ll talk about that more a little later. Besides, after a painfully desolate past several weeks at the box office I was ready to watch just about anything.
The movie starts with breath taking panoramic aerial views of Tai Natl. Park on the Ivory Coast. I thought Planet Earth looked great on my flat screen monitor back home, but wow! These guys take advantage of the big screen. Hi definition cameras capture every detail in full, vibrant color as we are introduced to the chimps. Textures in this exotic place jump off the screen, giving us an intimate look at the jungle, as well as the chimps. Along with state of the art surround sound technology I was immediately immersed in the tropic setting.
Here we meet Oscar, a playful infant chimpanzee and the star of our picture. At only three months old he is unbelievably cute, playing in his jungle habitat and pestering his patient, loving mother. Like many Disney flicks, tragedy strikes and Oscar is left to fend for himself. Things start to look bleak for the little guy. Then, in an extraordinary turn of events, he is adopted by the least likely chimp of the group and shown compassion and the skills he will need to survive.
Unfortunately, by this point in the film Tim Allen’s bumbling attempt at a voice over has already managed to lower the bar Disneynature had set for itself.
I was disappointed that David Attenborough’s iconic voice had been replaced by Sigourney Weaver on Planet Earth and by Oprah on the Life series when Disney re-released them for American audiences, but I quickly came to appreciate their warm and emotional deliveries. Allen, on the other hand, just butchers most of his lines, misplacing emphasis and getting overly excited and actually shouting when the action picks up. He even throws in a “Tool Man” grunt when one chimp trades up for a bigger rock or “a power tool” to crack a particularly hard nut.
At some point a decision was made that Chimpanzee was not going to be a documentary exactly. Rather, by editing together countless hours of footage and imposing human emotions on the animals, they were able to stitch together a drama of sorts (reminiscent of 80’s classic Milo and Otis). Any real information about the primate’s behavior has been traded for Allen’s moronic adlibs.
Okay, I may have been a little hard on Tim Allen just now… I’ve never been a fan of his, but to his credit, the audience seemed to really enjoy his brand of humor. And just because I didn’t like his particular spin, I wouldn’t say that he ruined the experience for me at all. Actually the images are so stunning, and the story so gripping, that I was able to overlook these short comings and thoroughly enjoy myself.
Whether you are a fan of nature films, a parent with young children, or a full blown naturalist there is something here to be enjoyed by everyone and an important message to take home. The compassion Oscar finds amongst his hairy companions may just make you look at our closest relatives in the animal kingdom in a different light. It’s this awareness that I’m sure was the ultimate goal Jane Goodall and Disney set to achieve in the first place.
Not quite a documentary and not entirely fictional, Chimpanzee finds a nice happy medium and will send you from the theater afterwards with a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.
Feature photo from Disney Dreaming.
