Movie Review – Chimpanzee

Chimpanzee follows the story of an orphaned 3-year old chimpanzee Oscar, and the unlikeliest of adoptions by the male pack leader, Freddie.
Disney’s docu-drama, while beautifully captured in HD fails where previous entries have succeeded, the plight of our orphaned chimp. DisneyNature’s African Cats is essentially the same story with a bit more drama, and believable suspense. The trailer to Chimpanzee will have you believe that this film is about how Oscar survives thanks to his adopted father Freddie, an unlikely and amazing feat indeed, but Disney only gives us a short glimpse of this event. The majority of the film is a documentary of two rival chimp families and their unimpressive battle for food bearing land. Sure, we get to see some gorgeous visuals and Tim Allen lends his entertaining voice to the narration, everything else is forced and not very entertaining. What could have been a touching family story gets lost in everything else.
To further my recommendation to skip this film in theaters, my son was equally as unimpressed with this Disney offering. Save your cash and head to the zoo instead.