Movie Review - The One and Only Ivan

Some things never change. So my experience with live action talking animal films is mixed. There are some that are really great and others where the CGI is cheap and cheerful and the acting feels awkward. This is probably why these films work better animated, but some studios still believe in doing it live. Disney have done a number of these films already. Some of them are those live action remakes that people get fed up of seeing. Some have gone straight to home media (and for good reason). And then we have this. A film based on a book which went straight to Disney+ due to current events. Let's see if this is one of the good ones:

Our titular character (voiced by Sam Rockwell) is a headline attraction at an enclosure in a place called the Big Top mall. There he performs along with other animals in a show maned by the owner Mack (played by Heisenberg himself, Bryan Cranston) who adopted Ivan the silver back gorilla when he was little and an orphan. One day Ivan is given some crayons by one of his many admirers and soon develops a talent to draw pictures. As time goes on, Ivan meets a young elephant called Ruby (voiced by Brooklyn Prince) who wants to know what freedom is like and sure enough, so does Ivan and his friends. So Ivan uses his talent to try and get out or become a permanent fixture to the attraction.

This is one of the good ones. It's funny, heartwarming, dark when it needs to be and a good way to demonstrate that while poachers are bad, that doesn't mean all us humans are bad. Don't know how well it would have done had the film be released in theaters, but of the films that were originally intended to be released in theaters but instead ended up on a streaming platform like Disney+, this is one of the good ones and one that felt right for the platform. Sweet, innocent (to an extent), funny and well acted. 9/10