Summer of the Monkeys

The book is so amazing as Wilson Rawls writes his magical story just as he did with Where the Red Fern Grows. The movie "Where the Red Fern Grows" does not disappoint and is 99% just like the book. Summer of the Monkeys was lazily done. They didn't follow the book and may as well not referred to The Wilson Rawls version. So disappointing I wouldn't let my children watch it , because the writings of Wilson Rawls should be respected as "Where the Red Fern Grows " director and producer respected his writing.

This is a well acted & directed adaptation of Wilson Rawls "Summer of the Monkeys". A truly great movie for kids and a book that ought to be read too, along with Rawls award winning, "Where the Red Fern Grows".

Good summer fare for kids out of school for the summer and entertaing for adults too.

At first I thought this would be a standard boy-meets-pet movie. Indeed, in the first part, you see many typical elements of that type of movie : it's the beginning of summer vacations, young Jay wants to work at his grandfather's general store to buy a pony for himself but he can't because he has to work on the family farm. And then there's his sister who has an handicapped leg, and an the old hermit who shoots everything he sees moving in the woods.

But as the story evolves, you discover many profound characters and relationships : the old hermit is not exactly what you thought, the grandfather has many interesting conversations with his grandson and with Jay's mother (his own daughter). The relationship between Jay and his sister also develops into something not predictable at first.

And of course, the chimps are there all along, which can only add comic as well as touching situations.

I rented that movie mainly for my children, but all in all, I found many edifying lessons for myself in it.

I enjoyed watching this movie very much. I will say that the acting was not the best ever but it was just fine. I have seen much worse acting in movies that come right out of Hollywood. This is a movie that contains no swearing, nudity, or excessive violence. There is a fist fight between two boys and that's as far as it goes. The ending may be somewhat predictable but it is still heartwarming. This movie reminds me of the way it used to be "back in the good old days" where children were taught right from wrong and family values were a wholesome part of life. Don't watch this movie if you plan on critiquing every scene and action of the actors or you will probably come away disappointed. If you choose to watch it just for the fun of it and to share some time with your family then I think you will enjoy it as much as I did. At least I hope so.

I am in a movie club at my school and I was forced to sit and watch this utterly dismal film. The film's story is not dismal, but the entire movie itself is exceedingly dismal. The acting was absolutely dreadful. The children were overly whiny. A metal pole could have done a better job. I wanted desperately to fall asleep, but because the television was so loud, I was kept from peace. The monkey's are neither cute, nor are they funny. The drama is laugh-worthy. I cannot remember when I saw a more dreadful film. The story is weak, thin, predictable, and completely fake. The adults try to be good actors, but they just can't seem to break through stereotypes. The girl even appears to want to leave the film via falling off a hill during the movie in order to leave it, I don't blame her. Micheal Anderson should publicly apologize for this film. Not just to me, but to everyone else who was forced to sit through this awful film. In fact, I apologize to you. Even if I had nothing to do with this project, I apologize for this film, because this means at least someone will. This film even surpasses the dismalness of films that of Rob Schneider and the Cheetah Girls. I would even go as far to say that it is even worse that Hilary Duff's collection of films, but that's pushing it. Just please don't see this film, or else you'll be pushed to write a review similar to this one on how awful this film is. I'm very sorry.