Summer of the Monkeys

I was 11 when this movie 1st came out. I've been a movie person since I was 2 yrs old. Movies over toys! I got this movie for Christmas 1998. Yes it's a silly Disney movie but it is beautiful. The entire movie. If you haven't watched it yet, you should. Like I said above, 25 yrs later & this movie still brings tears to my eyes. & if your wondering why about my 5/10 rating since I like it so much, my rating system is different from other people's. I never ever rate anything 9 or 10/10 (no movies perfect.) I've rated over 1,600 movies & half of them are 4/10 which means I enjoyed the movie & will watch it again someday. Now a 5/10 means I really really liked it. Movies like Star Wars, Terminators, Indiana Jones, Top Guns, Mission Impossibles, etc, I rated those 1/10... Sorry not sorry, those horrible "box office" hits sucked!

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.

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.

Being one of the founding fathers of my regions monkey movie club(this also includes apes/chimps and orangutans) I am reviewing this film from a monkey movie standpoint. Afterall it is a whole summer of monkeys, 100+ days for monkeys to do what they do best, cause mischief, shenanigans, hyjinx, solve human problems and teach us about ourselves.

The story is simple enough. In short poor boy needs money for stuff he wants. Luckily there's a few monkeys(chimpanzees) that have a bounty on their head that would get Boba Fett or Dog's(Duane Chapman) blood flowing. As the boy tries to catch the monkeys he learns about himself, his family, his grandpa, the local weirdo, flirts with a girl twice his age and learns the beast way to deal with bullies is to have someone point a shotgun at them.

There within lies the problem. So much focus is put on the boy that the chimps just don't get the screen time they deserve. The chimps are not as talented as the chimp(s) that play Jack from the M_P trilogy or the legendary orangutans that play Dunstin or Clyde(1 or 2). So don't watch this movie expecting to find the next big thing in the Chimp genre. The chimps hit some sweet flips which is what the film needed more of. There is an epic scene of the chimps breaking into the poor families house and destroys all the things they worked so hard for. Serious monkey movie enthusiasts will want to rent the film for this scene alone.

So in closing this movie is not for the serious monkey movie enthusiast. I wouldn't recommend this movie to families as it encourages a childs rebellion against their parents. I can only recommend this film as a rental for hardcore monkey loving adults and well supervised children.