A gorilla (voiced by Sam Rockwell), an ageing elephant (Angelina Jolie) and a dog (Danny DeVito) find themselves in cages at a mall in this Disney live-action fantasy drama based on the novel by K. A. Applegate. Bryan Cranston stars as the mall's owner.
While there’s also the small matter of a slightly confusing conclusion, there is actually a lot to like about Ivan. There’s some devilishly clever and engaging point-of-view shots, a couple of brilliantly conceived, subtly delivered darker moments and a nice, extremely timely line that “change is scary for all of us, we have to trust that kindness will be there”.
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Rather than a heartwarming family favourite-in-the-making, The One and Only Ivan is just a vaguely watchable cookie-cutter caper thrown together by people who should know how to make something far sweeter and substantial, a fleeting attraction for undiscerning young kids and a whelming waste for anyone older.
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The charitable representation of Bryan Cranston’s character greatly diminishes the emotional resonance of the film’s dramatic turns in the final act.
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Jolie, who also serves as producer along with Brigham Taylor and the late Allison Shearmur, invests her fragile pachyderm with a gentle, world-weary wisdom, while Cranston makes you feel his world crumbling beneath him in a performance that could have easily flirted with cartoon villainy in less accomplished hands
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The film’s genuine bursts of emotion, combined with the wry warmth of the vocal performances and the deftly realistic rendering of the CGI animals, give the project a silverback gorilla-sized heaping of heart.
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It builds to a conclusion that, like the best parts of this film, combines movie-magic whimsy with hard-won realism, slipping some very grown-up ideas (and ideals) into a classic talking-animal charmer.
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