The Disneynature documentaries are an odd lot. One one hand, they have the best cinematography you could imagine--going to many amazing and beautiful places around the globe in the process. And, the cinematographers are able to get some stunning footage of animals in the wild. However, many of these documentaries ALSO feature some of the most annoying and inane narration you could ever find in a nature documentary. Of them, "Monkey Kingdom" might just be the worst due to this awful narration and 'funny bits' they've included to appeal to dumber members of the audience....which is odd, as I cannot imagine dumb people going to see these films.
I knew I was in trouble when this film began. This is because over top of the stunning footage in Sri Lanka of the featured macaques, you suddenly are treated to the song "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees"!! It made me cringe. Also cringe-worthy is some of the stuff they have Tina Fey say, such as "15 pounds of hunky monkey"! What?! It seems as if "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and a nice documentary have been merged into one!
The bottom line is that this film and a few other Disney documentaries would make biologists and most audience members cringe. I loved their "African Cats" and "Crimson Wing"....but films like "Monkey Kingdom" and "Bear" and "Born in China" are all like documentaries for the incredibly immature. You could do a lot better than "Monkey Kingdom" because of this...and because unlike the other subjects in the Disney documentaries, it's hard to feel connected to or care for these homely macaques.
I knew I was in trouble when this film began. This is because over top of the stunning footage in Sri Lanka of the featured macaques, you suddenly are treated to the song "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees"!! It made me cringe. Also cringe-worthy is some of the stuff they have Tina Fey say, such as "15 pounds of hunky monkey"! What?! It seems as if "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and a nice documentary have been merged into one!
The bottom line is that this film and a few other Disney documentaries would make biologists and most audience members cringe. I loved their "African Cats" and "Crimson Wing"....but films like "Monkey Kingdom" and "Bear" and "Born in China" are all like documentaries for the incredibly immature. You could do a lot better than "Monkey Kingdom" because of this...and because unlike the other subjects in the Disney documentaries, it's hard to feel connected to or care for these homely macaques.