Prime Time: MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000)

Jack is a talented chimpanzee. He can use sign-language. He can also skate. Both of these things come in handy when circumstances conspire to leave him in a small town that has a) a struggling ice hockey team, and b) a young, deaf, girl who could do with some support at her school. It's not long until Jack is becoming a favourite on and off the ice.

Director Robert Vince has a LOT of these kinds of animal movies in his filmography. Having also written the script with Anne Vince (wife? sister? cousin? I'm going to go ahead and assume it's one of those connections), he seems to have a very firm idea of what he wants to give viewers.

And what he wants to give viewers is a small-scale drama that features some ridiculous plot development as everyone onscreen just accepts their new simian star. It also features Kevin Zegers as Steven Westover, Jamie Renée Smith as his sister, Tara (the aforementioned deaf girl), and Rick Ducommun as the coach of the ice hockey team.

If that's something that you fancy then good for you. The opening scenes here don't bode well, with a couple of actors mugging in ways you normally only see in TV shows aimed at toddlers, but things do pick up once Jack starts to find his way around a new town. A sighting here and there, a stolen banana, and then it's time for his big reveal. And his ability to communicate with Tara via sign-language is a genuinely nice, and sweet, touch.

Three different chimps are credited for the role of Jack, they're all talented and better onscreen than some actors I have seen over the years. Thankfully, both Zegers and Smith are also very good, interacting with the chimp in a way that is much more tolerable than the way the adults were portrayed in the earliest scenes. And Ducommun does a good job as the coach. It's a shame that he's held back from giving a fully comedic turn, but he's certainly not exactly in line with all of the other adult performances, in a good way. There's also a main villain, of course, a doctor played by Oliver Muirhead, and he's exactly as you expect him to be, pacing around with purpose and barking statements about getting his hands on that monkey.

It's an oddity, a novelty piece, a children's film aimed firmly at younger viewers. Although released in 2000, MVP: Most Valuable Primate already feels like a relic from a bygone era. Putting chimpanzees in outfits and having them do things that humans normally do used to be a more commonplace thing (here in the UK we had chimps selling us PG Tips teabags for many years), but it's not any more. Yet it's still endearing and amusing enough to entertain children who want a film featuring a cute little chimp. Others should probably give it a miss.

3/10

If you have enjoyed this, or any other, review on the blog then do consider the following ways to show your appreciation. A subscription/follow costs nothing.
It also costs nothing to like/subscribe to the YouTube channel attached to the podcast I am part of - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErkxBO0xds5qd_rhjFgDmA
Or you may have a couple of quid to throw at me, in Ko-fi form - https://ko-fi.com/kevinmatthews

Blank Cheque (1994)

A decidedly average Disney movie that, unsurprisingly, I enjoyed more when I was a bit younger, Blank Cheque (or Blank Check) is one of many movies selling its concept in the title.

Brian Bonsall plays young Preston Waters, a lad who never seems to get what he wants, and never has much pocket money. So when he's almost hit by a car backing into him he thinks he's hit the jackpot when the harried driver (Miguel Ferrer) hands him a blank cheque. Preston then makes the cheque out for one million dollars and heads to the bank the next day. Amazing as it seems, he receives the money, but that's not necessarily as good as it seems. Ferrer, you see, is a bit of a crooked type (did he play any other type in the '90s) and when he finds out that his money is missing he becomes determined to get it back. Meanwhile, Preston gets spending, telling people that he is now in the employ of a Mr. Macintosh.

It's funny how $1M doesn't seem like all that much nowadays, but it's worth noting that it wasn't actually all that much back in 1994, when this movie was released. It's a nice, round figure, and it's the type of figure that a kid would aim for, but the film does remind viewers that anyone trying to spend this kind of money like water isn't going to need too much time.

Director Rupert Wainwright keeps everything moving along at a zippy pace, and he makes sure that kids will enjoy watching the main character live his dream, but the script, by Blake Snyder and Colby Carr, never does as well as it should. The humour isn't as sharp as it could be, the tension fails to rise, even when Ferrer starts to get closer and closer to his target, there's a very clumsy story strand involving Preston and a woman (Karen Duffy) that he takes a shine to.

The young lead isn't the best to appear in a Disney film, but he may well be served short by the script so I'm not going to be overly critical. Thankfully, the adults fare slightly better. As well as Ferrer, who can do menacing in his sleep, there are enjoyable turns from Tone Loc and Michael Lerner, as two men helping him to retrieve his money. Duffy is an enjoyable presence, although she's dragged down by being the potential "love interest" for a minor, and Rick Ducommun is a lot of fun as the limo driver who befriends Preston while driving him around.

It still has enough to appeal to its target demographic, but this is by-the-numbers stuff that doesn't leave any major lasting impression. Montage moment? Check. Light and upbeat soundtrack? Check. Moral lesson learned? Check. Adults pratfalling as a kid outwits them? Check. Decidedly average and . . . . . blank? Check.

5/10

http://www.amazon.com/Blank-Check-Jayne-Atkinson/dp/B000089771/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1401500535&sr=8-2&keywords=BLANK+CHECK

I don't get paid for blogging, and some may think that's obvious/a good thing, but every copy of my book sold gets a few pounds in my pocket, and gets you a good read (if I say so myself). So please feel free to remember me whenever you're visiting Amazon.

The UK version can be bought here - http://www.amazon.co.uk/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_3?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1395945647&sr=1-3&keywords=movie+guide

And American folks can buy it here - http://www.amazon.com/TJs-Ramshackle-Movie-Guide-Reviews-ebook/dp/B00J9PLT6Q/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395945752&sr=8-1-fkmr0&keywords=TJs+ramshackle+mov

As much as I love the rest of the world, I can't keep up with all of the different links in different territories, but trust me when I say that it should be there on your local Amazon.