{"id":1240,"date":"2024-07-23T14:46:19","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T14:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=1240"},"modified":"2024-10-14T12:55:19","modified_gmt":"2024-10-14T16:55:19","slug":"monkey-trouble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/07\/23\/monkey-trouble\/","title":{"rendered":"Monkey Trouble"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Monkey Trouble<\/strong>\u00a0 (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (a scene of menacing, some rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Franco Amurri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Franco Amurri and Stu Drieger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mark Mancina\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 18, 1994 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Thora Birch, Finster, Harvey Keitel, Mimi Rogers, Christopher McDonald, Adrian and Julian Johnson, Kevin Scannell, Alison Elliott, Remy Ryan, Robert Miranda, Victor Argo, Adam LaVorgna, Jo Champa, John Lafayette.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $16.4 million (US)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0In the grand tradition of Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion, Zebra in the Kitchen and other \u201cMatinee Only Movies\u201d comes Monkey Trouble<\/strong>, a cute comedy about a little girl and her monkey. Before I proceed with this review, perhaps I should explain what a Matinee Only Movie is. It describes a movie you\u2019ll only see at matinee showings for kids because no self-respecting adult would see it on their own at some late hour of the day or night. Clarence and Zebra are perfect examples of what I\u2019m talking about. Both were rereleased to theaters in early 1981 on the weekend kiddie matinee circuit. You can tell solely by the titles what demographic the makers were targeting. I don\u2019t know how much of a crowd either one drew, but they played for more than one weekend so I guess they did okay.<\/p>\n

\u00a0ANYWAY, Monkey Trouble<\/strong> is that kind of movie. I actually saw it at a late showing (around 9:30pm) at a local multiplex. By 1994, theaters had pretty much stopped showing Matinee Only Movies. Had this not been the case, it\u2019s likely it would have played exclusively at 1pm (or earlier) on Saturdays and Sundays. It\u2019s a movie only a child would like, right? Well, I consulted my inner child and we both like Monkey Trouble<\/strong>. It\u2019s actually pretty good.<\/p>\n

\u00a0All 9YO Eva (Birch, Now and Then) wants from life is a dog and her parents aren\u2019t having any of it. Firstly, her stepdad Tom (McDonald, Grease 2) is allergic to animal fur. Secondly, her mom (Rogers, Gung Ho) doesn\u2019t think Eva is responsible enough to take care of a pet. Her room is a mess. She never gets anything done on time. Also, she\u2019s extremely jealous of her baby brother Jack. Eva is a very unhappy little girl. That is, until a cute little Capuchin monkey (Finster) literally drops into her life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The monkey actually belongs to Azro (Keitel, Reservoir Dogs), a gypsy who works as an organ grinder on the Venice Beach boardwalk. He\u2019s trained the monkey to pick the pockets of the spectators. He\u2019s also adept at breaking into homes and stealing valuables. This catches the attention of a couple of mobsters who want to use the monkey for a big upcoming job. The monkey, however, has a different plan. Sick and tired of Azro\u2019s treatment of him (borderline animal abuse), he runs away. He makes his way to a tree in the park. That\u2019s when he drops into Eva\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The delighted little girl names him Dodger because he likes her baseball cap. Knowing her parents wouldn\u2019t let her keep him, she hides him in her bedroom. She instantly becomes more responsible. She cleans her room and starts getting herself ready for school. She acts more responsibly. She even starts getting along with Jack, the only family member who knows about Dodger. It\u2019s okay, Jack can\u2019t talk yet so he won\u2019t spill the bananas (see what I did?). Meanwhile, Azro is looking all over for the monkey; the mobsters are pressuring him to show their boss what the monkey can do.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Monkey Trouble<\/strong> is a complete delight! I really enjoyed it. I guess I\u2019m a sucker for movies with cute animals and cute kids. I always found Birch endearing especially when she was a child. Yes, the monkey runs off with the show, but Birch still manages to hold her own by just being a kid. More importantly, she plays a believable kid. Eva isn\u2019t wise beyond her years nor is she a little comedian who constantly wisecracks her way through situations. She\u2019s a messy kid who neglects her school assignments and nags her parents incessantly about getting a dog. This describes a lot of real-life kids. Real-life kids will relate to her as will many parents. Kudos to director\/co-writer Franco Amurri (Flashback) for writing Eva\u2019s character this way.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Some of you might wonder what Keitel is doing in Monkey Trouble<\/strong>. To tell you the truth, I wondered the same thing myself. He was fresh off the success of Reservoir Dogs, Bad Lieutenant and The Piano, all well-received films for adults. What\u2019s he doing in a silly kid movie? Scaring the hell out of the kids watching, what else? This is the only element of Monkey Trouble<\/strong> some parents and kids may have a problem with. His character is a scary guy. He\u2019s not nice to the monkey. He assaults a female pet store owner (off-camera) to get to Dodger. He grabs and threatens Eva. There\u2019s a gun involved too. He\u2019s an idiot but he\u2019s NOT the clumsy, inept bad guy you typically see in kid-oriented movies. Don\u2019t get me wrong, Keitel does a good job in Monkey Trouble<\/strong>. But is it too much for children? I guess it depends on the child.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monkey Trouble\u00a0 (1994)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Line\/Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 96 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG (a scene of menacing, some rude humor)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Franco Amurri\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Franco Amurri and Stu Drieger\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mark Mancina\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Luciano Tovoli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: March 18, 1994 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Thora Birch, Finster, Harvey Keitel, Mimi Rogers, Christopher McDonald, Adrian and Julian Johnson, Kevin Scannell, Alison […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1240","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-comedies","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/Monkey-Trouble-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1240"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1878,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1240\/revisions\/1878"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1240"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1240"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1240"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}