This is probably the best "kids movie" I know of. I don't know why this film hasn't garnered a higher "star" rating...maybe because it isn't "edgy" or cynical enough to fit current sensibilities of the darker society we are becoming. I've noticed many I've presented it to in classrooms or Sunday school groups dismiss it at first blush due to its cover and subject matter, but I haven't found an audience yet, from primary school kids to jaded teens, who have not become totally captured by the story it presents. Not one scene seems superfluous. There is not one minute in this film that does not keep everyone's attention. Thora Birch is perfect in her role. The light and jaunty musical score also receives a lot of credit in my mind as to how everything moves along so well. The music alone brightens my day! And how many movies in this genre have had the animal play his/her part so well? AND ... How many films out there that do as well as this one in conveying to children how serious or complicated things can become when we try to hide things from those we should trust?
Review of Monkey Trouble
