Monkey Up

Thank you Airbud Entertainment for sending us this DVD, shirts, a mini barrel of monkeys game, some coupons for free rice and a monkey bag to carry it all in!  

My kids were excited to see this movie, especially after meeting its star actor, Crystal, the monkey who plays Monty in Monkey Up.  Crystal is 22 years old and has been in several movies including Dr. Dolittle 1&2, Night at the Museum, Zoo Keeper, George of the Jungle and many of the Buddies movies including Treasure Buddies, Spooky Buddies, and Super Buddies.  Monkey Up is her first movie where she takes the lead role.

Monkey Up is about an egotistical talking monkey, Monty, who is full of himself and wants to become a big time movie star instead of being the spokesperson for Monkey Up, a sugary energy soft drink.  Monty hears about an upcoming movie role, but the director would rather use a CGI monkey instead of one that’s full of himself and doesn’t know the first thing about family.  Instead of heading back to his trainer to do more commercials, he runs away and hides in a doll house.  

The doll house is delivered that night to a girl named Sophie whose family is a bit dysfunctional with her father switching jobs and her mother putting her career above her family’s needs. Her brother Ethan is nice to her, but is more interested in getting to know their new neighbor girl than spending time with her.  

Sophie can really use a good friend and she’s been asking for a pet monkey for a while. Needless to say that when she found out that her dollhouse had Monty as a tenant, she was thrilled.  Of course Monty only wanted to stay there for a little while, but as he started to get to know the family and help them out, he started to love them and learn what it’s like to put other’s needs before your own.

Monkey Up is a heartwarming movie that promotes family values and has a lot of silly humor that my kids enjoyed.  Adults may not be impressed with the action stunts, but this movie has a good message and it reminds me as a parent to pay attention to my kid’s needs.  It was fun watching Crystal the monkey doing her own stunts and our family looks forward to seeing her in many more movies to come!

(Amazon Affiliate Link)