Movie Type: Animal Picture, Family-Oriented Adventure
Themes: Monkeys
Main Cast: Rene Russo, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Cumming, Irma P. Hall, Peter Anthony Elliott, Paul Reubens
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 84 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
A lot of people like to say that their pets think they're human, but Trudy Lintz (Rene Russo) has taken this notion to a new level: she likes to treat her pets as if they were human. A wealthy New Yorker, Trudy has a menagerie of animals living in her apartment, including dogs, horses, ducks, and four chimpanzees whom she dresses in human clothing and treats as if they were her own children. Trudy's husband (Robbie Coltrane) is fully aware of his wife's eccentricities but has learned to live with them. However, this gets a bit more difficult when Trudy is persuaded to adopt Buddy, an infant gorilla. Buddy is a tiny creature in poor health when Trudy first meets him, but with love and care she nurses the gorilla back to health. However, the rejuvenated Buddy starts growing into adulthood, and while the chimps are small and docile enough to wear human clothing and obey Trudy's instructions, Buddy becomes a several-hundred-pound adult who hears the call of the wild too clearly to do what Trudy wants, which becomes painfully obvious during a trip to the World's Fair. Jim Henson's Creature Shop helped create the special-effects animals used in the film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Michelan Sisti - Buddy; Leif Tilden - Buddy; Rob Tygner - Buddy; Mak Wilson - Buddy; Peter Hurst - Buddy; Lynn Robertson Bruce - Buddy; Mark Sealey - Buddy; Star Townshend - Buddy
Credit
Thomas Fichter - Art Director, Roland Rosenkranz - Art Director, Carrie Frazier - Casting, Colleen Atwood - Costume Designer, Cara Gillanza - First Assistant Director, Caroline Thompson - Director, Jonathan Shaw - Editor, Francis Ford Coppola - Executive Producer, Brian Henson - Executive Producer, Stephanie Allain - Executive Producer, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Daniel Lomino - Production Designer, David Nichols - Production Designer, Steve Mason - Cinematographer, Fred Fuchs - Producer, Steve Nicolaides - Producer, Jim Henson's Creature Shop - Special Effects, Robert Eber - Sound/Sound Designer, Caroline Thompson - Screenwriter, William Joyce - Screenwriter, Gertrude Davies Lintz - Book Author
The film was based on the life of a gorilla called Massa[1] with elements of Gertrude Lintz's other gorilla Gargantua (who was called "Buddy" at the time). In real life, Massa became the oldest Gorilla on record while Buddy/Gargantua died young as a circus attraction and is now on display in a museum.
Millionaire animal lover and overall spoiled rich girl Trudy adds the title animal, a gorilla, to her family. The ape, named Buddy, finds life in the city very difficult to deal with. Although Trudy raises him as her own son in her mansion (which also houses a few comical chimpanzees), he becomes hard to control due to his strength. A particularly bad experience in the ChicagoWorld's Fair makes things even harder for Buddy.
Production notes
Rene Russo began rehearsals with the chimps a month before principal photography even started.
Reception
In spite of the film's message, animal activists still objected over the depiction of chimpanzees as docile pets, happily carrying on wearing human clothes. Among their concerns, the perpetuation of the idea of chimps as acceptable pets is often cited.
The film has been criticised for its unrealistic animatronics, especially when compared to the real ape performers.
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