Better than any movie starring a talking CGI gorilla has any right to be, The One and Only Ivan isn’t so much a family adventure so much as it’s a light character study that younger viewers should also enjoy. The film still runs into a number of the same problems you might expect—haphazard plotting, celebrity voice acting that adds nothing to the characters—but it’s still remarkably thoughtful and has the maturity to explore much sadder territory. As much as movies originally released on Disney+ can at times feel like products churned out from an assembly line, this one feels far more sincere, with a real message behind it.
"A smart kids' movie that is likely to really stick with its youngest viewers."
— Kate Erbland
""The One and Only Ivan" pays off in a soulful way."
— Owen Gleiberman
A gorilla named Ivan who’s living in a suburban shopping mall tries to piece together his past, with the help of other animals, as they hatch a plan to escape from captivity.
Together with the other animals at a circus inside a Florida shopping mall, a gorilla plans to escape from captivity.
You would also expect a film so blatantly about animal rights to have its central human character be a full-fledged villain, but that isn't what happens here. The ringleader (played by Bryan Cranston) is still shown to be in the wrong, complicit in how these animals don't have the freedom they deserve, but the movie still comes from a place of sympathy towards him. He's a person who genuinely cares about Ivan and the others, forced to make difficult decisions given the struggles of his business—and it's this three-dimensional portrayal of the character that actually helps the movie's pro-animal rights stance make a greater impact.
Yes, this was somehow written by the man who made The White Lotus.
Oscars
1 nomination
BAFTA
1 nomination
