Unlike the cheetahs and lions of “African Cats,” the chimps here are so eerily humanlike that giving them jokey personality traits feels even more unnecessary than usual. If Oscar’s real-life fate mirrors the one depicted here, it reps a genuinely heartwarming turn of events, but given the sometimes visible string-pulling going on to shape the story, one is never sure just how seriously to take things. However, a rival band of chimps from the wrong side of the tracks, led by the villainous Scar and always accompanied by doom-laden score cues, is poised to impose on their territory.Īfter a territorial battle, most of which appears in the form of whip pans and rustling trees, Oscar’s mother is killed, and he must find a new parental figure or risk starvation. Here, the narrative concerns an immensely adorable 3-year-old chimp named Oscar, and follows him as he navigates the complex ape hierarchy and learns the ways of his elders. Jackson), but the film at least knew when to let the footage speak for itself, and the superimposed story was more simply sketched. Executive producer, Don Hahn.įothergill’s previous Disneynature project, last year’s “African Cats,” also combined elegant photography with a hokey story and kid-friendly narration (from Samuel L. Produced by Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield, Alex Tidmarsh. A Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures release of a Disneynature production.

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