Kidsday: An exciting 'Chimpanzee'

In the new Disney Nature documentary "Chimpanzee," we get to experience how chimpanzees live. This movie shows how chimpanzees experience emotions similar to those of humans. They have joy and happiness, but they also have some negativity, such as loss and struggle.

This is a story about a chimpanzee named Oscar who lives in an African rain forest. He lives with his mother, Isha, along with 35 other chimpanzees in a troop led by a large, alpha male, Freddy.

Freddy's troop lives in the eastern part of the African rain forest. A rival group of chimpanzees, led by another alpha male, Scar, lives in the west. Freddy's kingdom has many essential resources, such as nut groves and waterfalls. However, since it is not harvest season yet, there are no nuts to eat and food is scarce. When Scar's group has already eaten the food in its area, they attack Freddy's troop.

Scar leads a vicious assault, leaving Freddy and his troop badly shaken, but Scar's troop never gains control of the nut groves. During the attack, several chimpanzees from Freddy's troop are killed, including Oscar's mother, Isha. Young Oscar tries to search for his mother but needs to make sure he himself survives. He has to find a new mom who will feed and groom him. Unfortunately, most of the female chimpanzees have little chimps of their own. Oscar is rejected many times. Finally, he tries the last chimpanzee anyone would expect: the troop leader. Freddy adopts Oscar and teaches him many skills he will need when he is older.

With Freddy distracted by Oscar, Scar begins to cross into Freddy's land because Freddy has not been able to patrol the borders. Nevertheless, the unity of Scar's troop is shaky. Members of Freddy's troop, on the other hand, strengthen their friendships by grooming one another, which also helps Freddy show he is still the boss.

Freddy and Scar go head to head, and Freddy wins! Scar will not return any time soon. A few months later, Freddy's troop is thriving. Oscar is accepted and is now everyone's friend. Oscar's future finally looks bright.

"Chimpanzee" is a good movie. It sends a great message: Teamwork prevails over brute force. This taught us that no matter how strong you are, if you can't work together and have each other's backs, you cannot succeed.

This is not a made-up story, and it must have been difficult to catch real chimpanzees on film.

One of the inspirations of the movie was Jane Goodall. Jane loves chimps and founded the Jane Goodall Institute.

The story line at first was a little cheesy (especially with the name Scar, because Disney already used that name in "The Lion King"), but as the movie progressed, it got more exciting and upbeat.

Rating: 4 of 5