MXP: Mon extrême primate

This movie has a monkey in it who snowboards! He doesn't just snowboard he snowboards so hard and in your face that the only way to possibly describe this monkey's method of snowboarding is to call it.... "extreme!"

He is extreme to the max! If you saw the first 17 MVP movies about a primate who first is a huge hockey star, then a skateboarding star, then a huge star in about 139 other sports that there's no way the rules would actually allow him to even play, then you'll love this new movie where he is snowboarding to the extreme!

This movie has tons of drama and heart as you will wonder if the monkey will succeed in the end. Sure he did it in all the other movies but will he succeed again in yet another sport? Surely he can't be a champion in every sport he tries can he?

More important than that this movie has all kinds of "monkeying around" if you know what I mean.... monkey jokes is what I mean!

My score is 600 billion stars!

Upon first viewing I was surprised by the depth of character the talented monkey-cast presented in MXP3. The simian thespians are present in every scene, emotionally and physically, and impressively match and in some cases surpass the emotional depth of the leading boy of the film, Devin Douglas Drewitz. Young Trip-D, as he likes to be called on set, provides the movie with an obstinately melancholy performance, tantalizing the monkeys' emotional receptors like so many ripe bananas. Trip-D's angst and sorrow, expertly captured by cinematographer Mike Southon, is as palpable and inspirational as his name is alliterative. Sadly, before my much anticipated second viewing, I learned that the primate performers playing the lead role of Jack, as well as his off-set monkey girlfriend playing Lucy (quite the looker if you ask me) are active scientologists. Furthermore, these two donated the majority of their paychecks toward dianetic research. Had I been privy to this information prior to my first viewing, I never, NEVER would have spent 75 dollars on the collectors edition DVD and silver-plated palm frond from the much talked about Mexican restaurant scene.

Just got done watching this much talked about, but forgotten cinema classic. A chimp named Jack snowboards. The chimp can also play X-Box, and actually pulls off some pretty sweet moves in the real and virtual world. A "Mob Boss" bets on the chimp to win a snowboarding race, $1,000 to be exact. Some snowboarding dude says "Tight dog" at the end. The human Mom to the chimps travels around the country with multiple chimps (who all have passports, which by the way are not needed for trips inside the U.S.). The bad guys steal the chimp for like 5 minutes, then he is snowboarding again. The kids keep telling Jack they are gonna take him home but they don't do anything for days but play video games, play guitar, and snowboard with Jack. It seems like some of the people have amnesia, and maybe some hidden subtext I am missing. Jack is there as a reminder Chimps will do almost anything for bananas.

At the outset, I must warn everyone that I am an avid snowboarder and I have worked with many primates. One thing I can say for sure is that this plot is simply unbelievable.

I have seen the previous two installments of MVP, but this one by far is off the deep end. First, a chimp playing hockey. Yeah, I can see that. Then, a chimp skateboarding. A little less believable, but possible. But a chimp snowboarding? I think we're bordering on ridiculous now.

I've worked with chimps, and certainly, they're intelligent enough to communicate in sign language, and convey their feelings. But snowboarding? What's next in MVP IV, a chimp that can cure cancer? I mean, come on. Let's not forget, that this animal will OFTEN throw its feces at anyone within 50 feet. Sure, I understand that they're trainable, and come off well on the big screen. But snowboarding? Why not have a lawyer show with MVP giving birth to a donkey? At least science makes that a possibility. This just isn't worth it, folks. Unless you'd like to build a stable in your backyard for your unicorns or ride a giraffe to work backwards, then don't watch this movie. It's pure fantasy. I mean, a chimp that snowboards? C'mon.

So the trilogy ends here. Whatta ride! It has been a pleasure. 😓

'MXP: Most Xtreme Primate', in seriousness, is the worst of the three, hardly a surprise I know. Yet again I didn't dislike the time I spent watching this, though there is simply nothing to really praise about it. The story is more mundane than prior installments.

Things aren't helped by the fact that the snowboarding gimmick wears thin quick due to it's near verbatim reproduction of the skateboarding subplot from 'MVP 2: Most Vertical Primate'. The other subplot with the thiefs is quite bad too, these two characters barely feature and yet still manage to whip out two racially insensitive, at best, 'gags'.

The cast are fine, nothing really worth noting. I did notice a young Alexander Ludwig appear for a few seconds though, interesting that these Robert Vince pictures do tend to have a familar face pop up in random spots; Ludwig here, Zendaya (!) in 'Super Buddies'...

This one of the three-part does, at least, have the 'best' end credits, gag reel and canonical amateur garage band included! So long, Jack!