Showing how a mother saves and keeps her sons, this documentary, follows the monkey Maya that has a new born son in the wilds, where she does her best to save him from the dangerous animals.
Fey's combination of deadpan delivery, comic timing and deep sympathy for all things goofy keeps the narrative part of the film swinging from scene to scene in nimble fashion, but it's the monkeys who rule this kingdom.
The animal antics, shot primarily in Sri Lanka, are splendidly photographed and frequently charming, but it's hard not to notice how desperately the movie tries to anthropomorphize the characters.
Linda Barnard
April 16, 2015
Stick around for the credits to find out how pivotal scenes were shot for this worthy addition to Disney's long tradition of nature family films.
Disney knows animals, animated and otherwise, and they prove it again with Monkey Kingdom, the company's eighth in its annual series of Earth Day-related films and the best one yet.
The story of the colony's exile and return feels like a dull sermon, but the animals themselves, with their expressive faces and Moe Howard hairdos, can switch from slapstick to pathos faster than Charlie Chaplin.
"Monkey Kingdom" clocks in at a very digestible 82 minutes and doesn't overstay its welcome. It doesn't monkey around - that's left to the film's subjects, who are more than happy to oblige.
It's this up-close-and-personal photography style that makes Monkey Kingdom and the other Disneynature films so effective. It's impossible to watch the results without constantly contemplating the process it took to get the footage.
Simplistic, but a charming and child-friendly introduction to our cousins in the wild that no zoo could provide, with a monkey heroine whom kids will cheer.
