Review of Monkey Kingdom (2015) by Chris H — 19 Apr 2015

Monkey Kingdom is the eighth installment in the Disneynature film series this time it's about a family of monkey's living in the ancient ruins in the jungles of Polonnaruwa in Sri Lanka. It focuses around Maya, who after giving birth must find a way to survive with her child.

I really liked last years Bears, it was a really fun movie and a big surprise as well so I was fairly excited for Monkey Kingdom. This is in fact a fun movie but isn't a perfect movie. Monkey Kingdom has some fun characters and has a few jaw dropping gorgeous shots of the area where they live. But unlike Bears, I had a few more issues with this one.

The most important part about these movies are how interesting are the animals? I thought the characters in this story were fine but not nearly as memorable as the trio of bears from the previous installment. Maya was a straightforward character, we've seen this type of character whether it being in one of these movies or just in a regular documentary you'd see on TV. Her little kid Kip however is the cutest damn thing you've ever seen in your life. The other monkeys are in the kingdom play their parts in the story I just never got connected to any of them.

This time the movie is narrated by the one and only Tina Fey and this is one of my biggest complaints. I did not like Tina Fey narrating this movie, in fact she was pretty annoying. I thought she was trying to be too much like Tina Fey. There were moments where she would try to bring some humor into her narration and it fell flat completely. Then again the script she was given is so incredibly cheesy as well.

The actual story was cool and interesting. I didn't find that I learned anything new about monkeys than I did before. I knew they had a ranking system but seeing it in action was really fascinating actually. The way they interacted with the other species surrounding them made some pretty funny moments and one even heartbreaking one.

As far as my issues go, I thought it was slightly too long. Even at a runtime of eight two minutes, I thought some of the storylines going on wasn't that interesting and I honestly was dozing off a few times.

Is this a groundbreaking documentary? No. But is it a fun movie? Yeah for the most part. This isn't going to win an Oscar or anything but it's a good time at the theaters but if this is your first time going to see one of the Disneynature movies, I suggest seeing Bears before this one.

I give Monkey Kingdom a B-.