Chimpanzee (2012)

Directors:

Alastair Fothergill
Mark Linfield

Writers:

Alastair Fothergill (original concept) &
Mark Linfield (original concept) ...
(more)

Release Date:

20 April 2012 (USA)

Genre:

Documentary

Tagline:

For Oscar, every day is an adventure.

Plot:

A 3-months-old chimpanzee is separated from his troop and is then adopted by a fully-grown male.

Plot Keywords:

Chimpanzee | One Word Title | Animal In Title | Monkey

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Tim Allen

...

Narrator (voice)

Directed by
Alastair Fothergill
Mark Linfield

Writing credits
Alastair Fothergill		(original concept) &
Mark Linfield		(original concept)
Mark Linfield		(written by) &
Alastair Fothergill		(written by) &
Don Hahn		(written by)

Produced by
Alastair Fothergill	....	producer
Don Hahn	....	executive producer
Mark Linfield	....	producer
Connie Nartonis Thompson	....	associate producer
Alix Tidmarsh	....	producer

Original Music by
Nicholas Hooper

Cinematography by
Martyn Colbeck		(co-cinematographer)
Bill Wallauer		(co-cinematographer)

Film Editing by
Andy Netley

Production Management
Liz Stevens	....	production manager
Emma Zee	....	post-production supervisor

Sound Department
Matthew Gough	....	sound re-recording mixer
Simon Hill	....	mix technician
Kate Hopkins	....	supervising sound editor
Philip Jenkins	....	foley mixer
Doc Kane	....	narration mixer
Kristin Mosher	....	sound recordist: Uganda
Tim Owens	....	sound editor
Johnathan Rush	....	sound mix technician
Jack Stew	....	foley artist
David Turner	....	sound facility director
David Turner	....	sound project manager
Andrew Wilson	....	sound re-recording mixer

Visual Effects by
Lorraine Johnson	....	film recording supervisor

Camera and Electrical Department
Michael Kelem	....	aerial photography
Samuel Munene	....	assistant camera: Uganda
Tim Shepherd	....	time-lapse photography
Warwick Sloss	....	additional photography
Bill Wallauer	....	principal photography: Uganda

Editorial Department
Dan Clamp	....	technical manager
Wesley Hibberd	....	digital intermediate assistant
Luke Rainey	....	colorist

Music Department
Gordon Davidson	....	assistant score mixing engineer
Gordon Davidson	....	scoring pro tools engineer
Andrew Dudman	....	music recording engineer
Andrew Dudman	....	music scoring mixer
Allan Jenkins	....	music editor
Alastair King	....	conductor
Alastair King	....	orchestrator
Matt Mysko	....	assistant recording engineer

Other crew
Edward Anderson	....	field manager
Dan Clamp	....	technical manager
Sarah Garner	....	production coordinator
Maggie Gisel	....	production support
Rachel James	....	production accountant
David Reynolds	....	creative consultant (as Dave Reynolds)
Hugh Wilson	....	field assistant
Kirk Wise	....	creative consultant

Thanks
Jane Goodall	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Great Ape Productions

Distributors

• Disneynature (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2013) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2013) (France) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2013) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (USA) (theatrical)

Other Companies

• Audio Network  additional music
• Halo Post Production  sound post-production
• Real World Foley  foley facility

Also Known As:

Runtime:

USA:78 min

Country:

Tanzania | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | Datasat | SDDS

Certification:

USA:G (certificate #47316) | Malaysia:U | Canada:G (Ontario) | Ireland:G | Mexico:A | Singapore:PG | Argentina:Atp | South Korea:All | Hong Kong:I | Netherlands:AL | Sweden:7 | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Ivory Coast

Company:

Great Ape Productions

Trivia:

The film crew spent three years working on the film in the remote Tai Forest.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno: Tim Allen/Rocket City Rednecks/Jessie Baylin (#20.94)" (2012)

Soundtrack:

Rise

A familiar story interpreted by some close relatives of us.

The most striking feature I noticed while watching this film was the resemblance of these creatures to my neighbors. It's incredible how similar to us they are!

Granted, Doña Carmen and Don José don't go as far as to deflea each other while carrying on a casual conversation on a sidewalk, but the similarities in body gestures and specially when persistently looking at the camera lens (it happened several times, whether intentionally or not) and we could see overwhelmingly human eyes looking at us, can be quite disturbing.

Impeccable photography with so many close ups that one wonders constantly at how they had managed to take those shots without disturbing the animals. I'm sure Disney has the most sophisticated equipment in the World in order to present such splendipherous depth of lenses and superb sharpness all the time, even from long distances, but even so, chimpanzees have a very sensitive sense of smell and I'm sure they could detect human presence from afar, but apparently it left them unconcerned and they proceeded naturally with their daily chores.

The forest, breathtaking, specially from the air, and the lushness of all that green carpet we see below seems to go forever on behind those far away mountains; when the camera goes down to ground level it's disconcerting to notice how very little sunlight reaches these animals.

Since it was a Disney film, obviously thought out for children, the notorious lack of restrain among monkeys and chimps when it comes to bodily functions, including everything related to sex, which is so habitual to see in zoos in broad daylight, here there is no trace whatsoever of it, like in those old Doris Day films, where everything was squeaky clean.

A good film for Eco-friendly fans.

P.S.: I gave it a 9 because of the titanic efforts of the whole crew and the tenacity they put into the project, working under such harsh and probably dangerous conditions.