Laughs and schmaltz under the big top
The One and Only Ivan (PG, 95 mins) Directed by Thea Sharrock Reviewed by James Croot ★★★
For two decades, people have come from near and far to see Ivan be ferocious. In truth though, the silverback gorilla is a sweetheart who wouldn’t hurt a fly.
Always remembering his father’s words that ‘‘anger is precious’’, he stores it up solely for his performances at ‘‘the littlest big top on earth’’ – the Big Top Mall.
Nestled alongside a video arcade, bowling alley and assorted shops, it’s there that he headlines a show that also features his friends Henrietta the baseball-playing chicken, Frankie the neurotic seal, fire-truck driving rabbit Murphy and the elephant-poodle double act, Stella and Snickers.
But, where they once played to three packed houses a day, they now struggle to attract an audience and the other mall residents can see the writing on the wall.
‘‘I know all about the ebb, I haven’t seen the flow for some time,’’ a departing retailer informs the show’s owner and MC, Mac, (Bryan Cranston) in response to the latter’s reassurances things will pick up.
Undeterred, Mac decides to invest in a new act – a baby elephant he rescues from a bankrupt circus in New Jersey. Ruby proves to be an instant hit, but Mac knows she will quickly grow and with Stella now a very senior pachyderm, he needs to diversify Ruby’s skills.
But training her won’t be easy and, Ivan, not exactly happy about potentially being replaced at the top of the tree, decides he’ll try to extend his repertoire as well, with surprising results.
The One and Only Ivan’s source material, Katherine Applegate’s award-winning 2012 children’s novel, was itself inspired by a reallife Tacoma, Washington, ‘‘mall gorilla’’.
Like the book, Thea Sharrock’s (Me Before You) movie tells the tale from Ivan’s perspective, his bookending, direct-to-camera addresses a source of real charm (thanks largely to some impressive CGI and Sam Rockwell’s soulful vocal performance).
However, the action in-between, beefed up by a bid for freedom not present on the page, feels a little too paint-by-numbers Disneyfication.
Essentially, and yes admittedly viewed a little cynically, Ivan is presented as a songless The Greatest Showman-meets-Dumbo by way of Project Nim.
Screenwriter Mike White (School of Rock, The Emoji Movie) piles on the heart and dishes up the laughs, before ladling on the schmaltz and laying on the guilt as our story of a raspberry-blowing, artistic ape becomes an animal activism push (although the message here is that zoos are fine).
There’s a touch of Happy Feet about Ivan the film’s struggle between being a knockabout, family-friendly viewing experience and a message movie, as Sharrock and White are not always able to successfully and seamlessly swing between the two.
Likewise, while Rockwell, Brooklyn Prince (Ruby) and Danny DeVito (interloping street dog Bob) deliver delightful vocal turns, the talents of Angelina Jolie, Helen Mirren, Ron Funches and Chaka Khan feel somewhat under-used in rather one-dimensional roles.
And while Cranston is at his avuncular best as the circusowner-with-a-heart, his backstory feels a little too muddled and muddied to make his actions make sense.
But leaving aside the small matter of a slightly confusing conclusion, there is actually a lot to like about Ivan.
It has some devilishly clever and engaging point-of-view shots, a couple of brilliantly conceived, subtly delivered darker moments, and a nice, extremely timely line that ‘‘change is scary for all of us, we have to trust that kindness will be there’’.
In the end though, The One and Only Ivan feels like a case of, it’s an OK movie, but If Only...