I remember watching this when it came out simply because I had a crush on Will Horneff. As a teen I didn't really care too much about the story. To my younger self, it was just a story of some rebellious teen who wanted a road trip with a gorilla.
As an adult, with greater understanding of sentience, and awareness of human and nonhuman relationships, this movie really hit me hard.
There are people commenting about how the main character, Rick, disobeys his mother and breaks the law and needs to be punished. Well, he does get punished. But the law also gives hope for Katie and Rick.
The movie deals with what is right and wrong and whether or not it's always wrong to break rules/the law.
People forget that just because something is legal, doesn't make it right. Yes, Charnley had a legal right to Katie (seen as property, and not an individual being), but that doesn't make it right.
This movie will hopefully plant a seed in your mind and make you question all the ways that humans view other animals. Some animals are family, some animals food, some animals entertainment, some animals clothes, some animals as transportation. But why? Why can't they exist simply for themselves and not be used for human greed? Think about it.
Katie tells us how she feels because she was taught how, but what about the other animals who are not capable of communicating with us? What would they say?
I deducted one star because at times the cringe is a bit much but overall the movie is a must watch, a solid family movie, and even adults will like it.
