Funky Monkey (2004)

Boy genius Michael Dean (Adkins) teams up with a super-talented chimpanzee and his caretaker (Modine) to take down an animal testing lab. In exchange the scientist gives the boy some pointers on the girl of his dreams.

Director:

Harry Basil

Writers:

Lance Kinsey (story), Peter Nelson (story)

Stars:

Seth Adkins, Matthew Modine, Roma Downey

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matthew Modine	...	Alec McCall
Roma Downey	...	Megan
Seth Adkins	...	Michael
Alexandre Aubry	...	Clemens Impersonator
Jean-Luc Orofino	...	Clemens Action Impersonator
Pat Finn	...	Peters
Taylor Negron	...	Flick
Liliana Komorowska	...	Nun Cathrine
Kaleigh Krish	...	Christina
Gilbert Gottfried	...	Dr. Spleen
Jochen Nickel	...	Doctor
Fred Ward	...	Don Decker
Jeffrey Tambor	...	Crane
Luke Stratte-McClure	...	Brad
Justine Basil	...	Laura

Storyline

This amusing, darkly comic tale follows CIA agent Jack McCall and a chimpanzee that he attempts to liberate from a testing lab. Named Clemens, the chimp has been trained in martial arts combat, as part of a program designed to turn the creatures into fearsome fighting machines. Naturally this leads to plenty of slapstick moments between Modine and the chimp, especially when they seek refuge in the home of a boy and his mother as the owners of the lab hotfoot it after the escaped primate.

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Plot Keywords:

chimp | chimpanzee | boy | animal | football | 

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Taglines:

He's The Best Super-Ninja Secret Agent Football Star Monkey Hero Around.

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Genres:

Comedy | Family

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for some action violence, language and crude humor

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

17 September 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Hairy Tale

Filming Locations:

Balboa Park - 1549 El Prado, San Diego, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$30,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

ApolloMedia Distribution, Franchise Pictures, Kolin S.A.

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was originally shot in France. But when the studio did not like the results, they decided to re-shoot almost the entire movie in San Diego, California. Only a handful of minutes of the original movie shot in France made it to the final cut.

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Goofs

When Clements the chimp sprays Michael with the hose, a human hand is visible at the bottom of the screen steadying the sprayer.

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Connections

References Planet of the Apes (1968)

User Reviews

Sometimes monkeying around is a necessity...

When I sat down to watch "Funky Monkey" with the family, I must admit that I didn't have any particular expectations to the movie, given the synopsis. But it turned out that "Funky Monkey" was actually a rather funny and entertaining movie for being a family movie and all.

The story is about a top secret program to develop super soldiers from monkeys. Yeah, I know. But when the main chimpanzee escapes captivity with help from his trainer, things change dramatically as both trainer and chimpanzee have to find places in life outside the research facility.

There is an abundance of hilarious scenes throughout the movie, which had the entire family laughing loudly many times. So the enjoyment factor of "Funky Monkey" is rather big if you sit down as as family to watch the movie.

Now, the chimpanzee did perform quite well in its scenes, but there were some fighting scenes where it was just gut-awful obvious that it was a man in a chimpanzee costume trying to pass for a monkey.

There are a couple of familiar faces on the cast list, which includes Matthew Modine, Taylor Negron, Gilbert Gottfried, Fred Ward and Jeffrey Tambor. The hired cast were performing well with their given roles and characters, taking the storyline into consideration.

All in all, then "Funky Monkey" is an enjoyable movie for the entire family.