Each year since 2008, Disneynature has brought us a touching documentary about one of our favorite animals. Monkey Kingdom is the sixth theatrical release for Disneynature, the first new Disney-branded film label from The Walt Disney Studios in more than 60 years! Monkey Kingdom is all about a troupe of Macaques in Sir Lanka, with Maya as the heroine of the story.
* * * SPOILER ALERT * * *
As the movie begins, we listen as Tina Fey, the narrator, explains what life is like in the abandoned city where our monkeys live. There is a social structure that Macaques live by, with a king of the monkey kingdom and three sisters who rule the roost, so to speak. The nobility of the monkey kingdom get the best that life has to offer: they live in the shelter of Castle Rock, the rock formation that provides shelter from the elements, and have first choice in all of the best food – the very highest branches of the fig tree that provides their food, first choice in any food finds around the kingdom, and the freedom to do as they please.
That all sounds great, right? Well it is, except for the fact that everyone outside of the small circle of nobility are relegated to the leftovers. They aren’t allowed to eat the ripest fruits, and they can’t hang out in the nice, sunny spots in the trees. They can’t even defend themselves against cranky baby monkeys poking them in the eye while they’re trying to nap!
It’s not very fair, but the situation isn’t completely without hope…more on that later!
Our heroine, Maya, is at the very bottom of the social structure in the macaque troupe, and we spend the first part of the movie watching her trying to find food, being suited by an outsider monkey, Kumar, and eventually having her own baby, Kip! Once Maya becomes a mom, she becomes extremely daring when it comes to searching for food; she has to be able to produce milk for her baby, right? And what a cute baby Kip is!
She finds catepillars, she goes swimming in a the lily pond to find seed pods to eat – all with baby Zip right on her back. Watching macaques swim is really adorable, especially babies!
Not too long after Kip is born, his father Kumar comes back to the troupe and manages to make amends with the nobility, and soon he, Maya and Kip are a happy little family…as happy as a family can be when they’re at the very bottom of the social structure!
Then something horrible happens! Another troupe of monkeys show up at Castle Rock and there is a horrible battle – but this battle scene is perfectly okay for your children to witness, as no actual violence is shown. They only show the monkeys yelling and charging at each other, not hurting one another. After the battle, Maya’s troupe is kicked out of their home and are forced to flee to the city to look for food and shelter.
That’s when things really start to get shaken up! Since Maya has always been foraging for food, she knows what to do once they get to the city – they steal food from the market and people’s homes! The nobility are completely useless and are no longer able to lead the troupe, and once the troupe decides to head back to Castle Rock and try to reclaim their territory, they’re no longer really in charge.
Kumar and Maya lead the troupe back to Castle Rock after they realize that they’re just no place like home – and they are tired of living in a satellite tower! Kumar leads the charge against the invades who stole their home and guess what? THEY WIN! They not only get their home back, but since Kumar and Maya are the ones who made it all possible, the old king is deposed and Kumar becomes the new king…and Maya becomes queen!
That’s right, the monkey on the very bottom of the troupe is now on top and she has all the food she can eat – and so does her little baby, Kip!
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom was a beautiful movie, both in scenery (the location was just breathtaking) and story. If you love movies, you just have to go see this movie! And if you don’t love monkeys? Well, I think that you should go see it anyway, because it will make you fall in love with monkeys!
You can watch the trailer here to get a better idea of the cuteness in store for you!
For every ticket sold opening week (April 17-23, 2015), Disneynature will make a donation to Conservation International to help protect monkeys and other endangered species in their natural habitats. That’s an added incentive to purchase your ticket for Disneynature Monkey Kingdom NOW – help the monkeys, guys!!
Disneynature Monkey Kingdom opens in theaters everywhere on April 17th!
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If you want to bring the monkey fun home with you, enter to win this necklace!
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