Chimpanzee

I'm puzzled by reviews that tell viewers that if they do not enjoy documentaries they should not see this. Is there a chance potential viewers might be confused and think this has chimps performing a scripted movie? I found Chimpanzees a very interesting look into what life is like for chimps, a documentary difficult to make but with continuously great shots so you felt completely part of the events. As for difficult situations to watch in the animal world, without describing what the situations were, I was certainly more than pleased with how they presented such situations in the film as I fully got the gist of the situations without the disgusting aspects. Who needs that??? Really! If you want that, just watch the news about Oakland, CA and the gory detail about the violence there to get your fill of disgusting situations. Living near Oakland, I have enough real violence in my daily life already to dwell on the specifics of what happens out in the jungle. This documentary certainly did not gloss over the situations as it had a major impact on the events throughout the film but presented them very tastefully for viewers of all ages.

Beautifully photographed almost documentary. Takes liberties for a documentary. The Chimpanzees are given names. (Why are the bad guys in Disney jungle films always named Scar?) The Tim Allen narration attempts to convey the chimps thoughts, maybe they were thinking about something else? It's told from the point of view of the "good" Chimps. Perhaps the tree monkeys didn't find them so good when they hunted them in their tree home, caught one and ripped it apart for a meat meal. The violence is glossed over so not to shock the younger viewers. As you would expect from a Disney Nature film, it's good family entertainment. The over the end credits showing the production crew would make for another excellent documentary.

In general, I loved the movie. The only major mistake made was in the plot summary on the main page of this listing. According to the summary, the chimp is abandoned by the tribe. That is wrong. The chimp's mother dies & the chimp doesn't know about it. That's why I only give the film a 5. A misleading piece of information could give a potential viewer a false assumption. Tim Allen does an excellent job of narration. For people who may treat the movie like BAMBI or THE LION KING, Allen's narration provides just the right lightness in tone to offset the darker aspects of the story.