CHIMPANZEE directed by Alastair Fothergill and Mark Linfield, narrated by Tim Allen. A Disneynature release. 78 minutes. Opens Friday (April 20). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNN
In the latest Disneynature eco-doc, veteran nature filmmakers Alastair Fothergill (African Cats) and Mark Linfield (Earth) document the life of a young chimp living with his troop somewhere in the jungles that run through Uganda and Côte d’Ivoire.
As is becoming standard practice for the Disneynature films, this is pitched at family audiences, which means footage has been organized into an easily understood narrative straight out of The Lion King, right down to the appearance of a villainous chimp called Scar.
It’s a little on the anthropomorphic side, and Tim Allen’s insistently chummy narration grates. But the developments in the second half are genuinely gripping, and the high-def images are stunning.
The making-of featurette that plays over the end credits is a remarkable little mini-movie of camera operators slogging through the wild to capture that footage perhaps we’ll see a Disneynature documentary about that one day.
