“Why do things have to be put in cages?” asks Julia
(Arrian Greenblatt) during The One and Only Ivan. “Why must people get
sick?” Those are pretty big questions for a child to ask. They’re also the kind
of queries that symbolize the heavily emotional nature of The One and Only
Ivan. This is a film more concerned with tugging at your heartstrings than
making pop culture references. Nothing in Ivan gets anywhere near the introspective darkness of, say, Where the Wild Things Are, but it’s still more Born
Free than Alvin and the Chipmunks. Not all of the poignancy works, but
I’d be lying if I said Ivan didn’t eventually win me over.
Based on a book of the same name by K.A. Applegate, the
titular Ivan is a silverback gorilla played by Sam Rockwell. He spends his days
with a crew of other animals performing for patrons in a circus housed inside a
shopping mall. Though he puts on a big show for audiences of being a ferocious
gorilla, Ivan is much more of a Mr. Rogers than a Mr. Perfect. His softer
nature comes in handy when a new baby elephant named Ruby (Brooklynn Prince) arrives
at the circus. She could use a friend like Ivan to guide her around her new
home. Of course, elephants aren’t supposed to call a circus their home. Neither
are gorillas. It isn’t long before Ivan makes a promise to Ruby to get her and
all the circus animals back to the wild.
It’s quite commendable how tender-hearted Mike White’s
screenplay for One and Only Ivan is. Family movies so often incorporate abrasive
dialogue to make their stories seem “hip”. Ivan, meanwhile, has no hesitation
in depicting the various circus animals just being nice to each other. Even
Ivan’s initial jealousy over no longer being the headliner act once Ruby
arrives quickly evaporates once he sees Ruby being nervous about performing. Maybe
I’ve grown soft in my time in quarantine, but I like kindness. This unabashedly
sincere approach to the dialogue does leave certain supporting characters, like
Julia or older elephant Stella (Angelina Jolie), feeling like vessels to deliver
self-affirmation expressions to Ivan rather than individual people.
Still, the empathetic dynamic between most of Ivan’s
characters warms the heart more often than it leaves it cold. Even better in White’s
script is that it isn’t afraid to just let the movie be still for a while. Rather
than pack the film with noise to ensure kids never stop paying attention, Ivan
and company have extended dialogue exchanges that don’t have to be accompanied
by loudness or frantic activity. There’s an intimate quality to these scenes
that makes the growing bonds between the characters believable. Thea Sharrock’s
restrained direction nicely compliments this aspect of the script. Recurring
nighttime conversations between Ivan and Ruby, for example, are captured so
that our focus remains on the primate and pachyderm. Sharrock doesn’t feel the
need to cut to side-gags or incorporate distracting camerawork.
More problematic than the pathos in Ivan is the comedy, which tends to feel obligatory rather than hysterical. A fart joke here, a comically inept security guard there, a toupee gag in the middle of the story, lots of celebrities (like Chaka Khan) just here to deliver comedic lines off-screen. These are all predictable sources of levity that even your average five-year-old will see coming. Meanwhile, White’s blending together of disparate traits of Ivan’s personality (chiefly his artistic abilities and his struggles to remember his childhood) with Ivan’s desire to get Ruby back home isn’t as organic as it could be. This is the rare kid's movie that could stand to be a bit longer just to allow these individual aspects of Ivan’s life more time to coalesce.
Ivan and the other animals are brought to life with well-realized CGI visual effects as well as solid voice work. It’s especially nice to see Sam Rockwell, whose so often played slimy characters in his career, getting the chance to go outside of his wheelhouse and play the primate manifestation of kindness. The One and Only Ivan is more competent than groundbreaking, but it’s got an endearingly gentle spirit that’s largely absent from modern family movies. I don’t know why things have to be put in cages or why people have to get sick. But, I do know that The One and Only Ivan works quite well as heartwarming family fare.
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