MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000)
Jack skates a little faster... Shoots a little harder... And is driving everyone bananas.
I felt it only appropriate to close out Monkey Week here at Stale Popcorn with one last doozy of a movie, and despite my lifelong adoration for Dunston Checks In, this may be my favorite monkey movie from the week. Similar to Dunston, this one has a very unfair low Rotten Tomatoes score (20%), and for some reason I was also under the assumption this movie was a Disney Channel Original, not part of the Air Bud franchise. I should have known since it features a monkey playing sports.
What movie are we digging into today? MVP: Most Valuable Primate, a 2000 feature by Robert Vince who would go on to do an entire MVP franchise as well as pretty much all of the Air Bud movies featuring the Buddies. This movie gives us what we want most from a monkey movie; the movie primarily follows and focuses on the monkey, Jack, who speaks sign language and befriends some kids and joins a hockey team after escaping from a cruel professor who wants to sell Jack for medical testing. Unlike Ed, this movie features a real monkey playing sports, so it’s automatically good. I have never seen this one but have been informed that it is an established classic in Canada, which makes me even happier to be viewing it. So let’s monkey around one more time this week and press play.
Our movie opens with Jack, a monkey, getting out of bed in his childhood bedroom and getting ready for the day. There’s some classic 90s-style opening music and monkey antics involving shower and blow-dryer so we’re off to a good start. Jack makes breakfast for him and Dr. Kendall (Lormax Study). Meanwhile in Canada, Steven (Kevin Zegers) plays hockey with his sister Tara (Jamie Renee Smith). Dr. Kendall and Jack head up some kind of lecture but Jack misbehaves in front of the students with Kendall lamenting that no one will believe he’s a genius if he acts like a monkey.
Kendall makes a call to a monkey reserve or something. Tara and Steven get home and Tara is crying as she wasn’t invited to a birthday party that all her classmates were invited to. Tara is deaf and the family is new in town so she’s being bullied unjustly. Kids suck. Jack meanwhile rollerblades around the college or whatever he’s at with his friend the janitor. I have no idea who the actor is who plays his friend because they don’t say his name and IMDB is really unclear. Sorry folks, I know you rely on me for hard hitting journalism. I guess Jack is being returned to the preserve due to lack of funding for Kendall’s monkey sign language program? Anyway, Kendall dies in his armchair which will probably complicate things here.
Steven joins the B-team squad for hockey and is introduced to the other players by Coach Marlow (the legend Rick Ducommun). Steven does well but the other players intimidate him. Back at Kendall’s class, the students and Jack are informed of the doctor’s passing. At the opening game for Steven’s team the Nuggets, we get the crazy old guy from Boy Meets World as a superfan and Dave Thomas as an announcer. The Nuggets are down 0-4.
Kendall’s boss Dr. Peabody (Oliver Muirhead) announces secret plans to sell Jack off to hepatitis research which is overheard by Jack and the janitor. The janitor decides to help Jack escape. Ok the janitor’s name is Darren (Russell Ferrier…and his friend is Jack. Jack Russell Ferrier. I’ll show myself out). Darren stashes Jack on a train that has English and French signs so I assume he’s not on his way to San Francisco but Canada. This was definitely pre-9/11 because Darren was allowed to just leave an unattended bag in the baggage area and leave. No way that’d fly today, he’d be spotted in three seconds.
Steven goes to make a goal but gets hit with eggs from the opposing team’s fans and screws up. Steven gives into the bait from the other team and starts a fight, getting himself ejected from the game. After the game, Tara is concerned that Steven needs to focus more in case he ends up getting scouted. On the train, Jack sleeps through his stop and the train makes it way to snowy terrain, arriving in Nelson, BC, Canada at the end of the line. Hey that’s the same town Steven’s family just moved to! Now we got us a movie here. Jack manages to exit the train with his belongings undetected. Jack wanders town looking for…I don’t know. Steven and Tara are walking nearby and are spotted by Jack. Whenever the monkey spots the protagonists, they’re instantly best friends. It’s the rule of monkey movies. Tara sees Jack but Jack slinks away, wandering into the woods. I hope my man’s got a blanket because it’s snowing. He finds a semi-furnished treehouse and makes his home.
The next day, Jack makes his way to where Steven is practicing and nabs Tara’s banana. Jack reveals himself, startling her and drawing Steven’s attention. Steven doesn’t believe Tara when she signs that she saw a monkey even though she’s clearly upset. At the university, Peabody learns that Jack never made it to the sale and confronts Darren. After school, Tara goes exploring and finds Jack’s treehouse but Jack’s not there. Jack then pops down and scares Tara so bad she faints. Jack watches over her until she comes to. Jack, being fluent in sign language, signs to her to ask if she is okay and Tara realizes she has a friend she can communicate with.
Tara sneaks Jack into her house while Steven is at hockey practice. She makes a little apartment for him on the top shelf of her closet and tells him to keep quiet. I really like Jack. Steven arrives home and Tara keeps Jack hidden while Steven retrieves his math book. In the morning, Jack quietly awakens and wanders the house before the family is up, using the bathroom, making coffee and helping himself to some cereal. The boy has his routine down pat, that’s for sure. Steven sees Jack eating cereal at the table and Tara comes downstairs. Steven warns that their parents won’t let them keep Jack but they can keep him in secret for the day and leave with Jack as well as some ice skates for Jack at his request.
Steven practices hockey and Jack takes to the ice in his skates, learning naturally since he can already rollerblade. Peabody addresses the press at the university, assuring them he will find Jack and return him to the department. When Steven and Tara leave to attend one of Steven’s games, Jack wants to join and sneaks out of the house with his hockey gear during a homeowner’s association meeting. He causes one of the study old women to faint when she sees him briefly. He’s got a skill.
At Steven’s game, the crowd is dead. Jack manages to sneak into the locker room where he dons a team uniform and takes to the ice with his jersey name listed as “Bchimpski”. Tara sees him and gets worried but Jack reassures her before climbing over the crowd glass and taking to the ice. Jack intercepts a pass and powers it to the goal and scores. The crowd goes wild and everyone just thinks he’s like some new guy until they realize Jack is a chimp. The crowd laughs and Jack climbs out of the area to escape as the team’s point is taken away. Coach says Jack looks like a keeper.
Jack feels bad for upsetting Tara after the game. Steve, Tara and their dad (Philip Granger) get home, introducing Jack to the mom (Jane Sowerby). Mom calls the zoo to see if Jack escaped, but learns all chimps are accounted for so they keep him. Meanwhile, Coach Marlow insists to team owners and sponsors to keep Jack on the team as a surefire way to win and as a cash grab as they’ll sell a lot of tickets to see a hockey playing monkey. The board allows Jack on the team and some teammates aren’t happy about it even though this will pretty much guarantee them a victory. Jack wows the team with his abilities.
During the next game, Jack takes the ice and Steven reassures him that the crowd is cheering for him. Tara reassures him from the stands and Jack and Steven have some good player chemistry as they almost immediately make a goal. Jack easily outdoes the rival team’s best defenseman and makes another goal. Jack’s continued monkey antics result in not only a win for the Nuggets but an extremely entertaining game for the crowd. After the game, Tara congratulates Jack with Marlow.
Tara brings Jack in for show and tell at school and the kids love him, finally gaining her some acceptance with her classmates. At practice, Steven discovers team goalie Magoo (Ray Galletti) has vision problems and gets him some glasses. Tara is happy with her new friend and their status around town due to Jack’s hockey skills. The team continues to win games and Jack becomes easily integrated into the team and the family, even celebrating Christmas with them. He also teaches some sign language to the kids of Tara’s class.
Jack helps the team clench their place in the local finals against their old archrivals, the Tigers. The game ends up in overtime after a ref doesn’t count a goal Jack shot. Turns out the net had a hole in it, which wins the Nuggets a place in the Harvest Cup. At the university, Peabody sees a news piece about Jack’s hockey victories and runs off to retrieve him from the Cup. Tara learns of the nature preserve that Jack is originally from by reading a stamp on the back of one of Jack’s photos.
The team and family are off to Vancouver for the Harvest Cup. The team, clearly small own guys, are mindblown by large buildings and attractive women in the city. The team is excited and electrified to be in this big moment against the team from Calgary. The game is off to a rough start as Calgary plays very aggressively. Magoo is able to make a crucial save, keeping Calgary from getting too large of a lead.
In the halls, Tara runs into Peabody who asks if she’s seen Jack. She runs off cluing the team in before Peabody can arrive at the locker room. Marlow forbids Peabody from entering the locker room and the game continues. Jack puts the team on the scoreboard. Tara overhears Peabody and his assistant saying they’re going to snatch Jack off the ice before the game ends and escape past security. She tells Steven and Marlow and also informs them of the preserve that Jack is from, suggesting they get him home to his family. Steven makes the arrangements to get Jack out safely while the real Bchimpski returns to action. Jack is also somehow on the ice with the team even though Steven is in a cab with Jack. The team covers Steven by saying he’s out with an injury. With seconds left on the clock and the puck teetering on the goal line as all teammates are tied up, “Jack” knocks the puck into the goal, winning the cup for the team. “Jack” was Tara in disguise. Not only did she win the game for the team, but she successfully helped Jack get home. Go Tara!
Peabody attempts to take Jack with a court order but finds that Tara is in Jack’s place and realize he’s defeated. At the airport, Steven helps Jack board his plane and gives Jack some candy from Tara and the two say goodbye with Jack telling Steven that he loves him. Meanwhile, the team celebrates with Tara as Steven arrives back to tell Tara Jack is safely on his way home. Magoo gets signed by scouts based on his performance and Jack enjoys an in-flight beverage on the plane. Marlow introduces Steven to a coach who signs him to a team in Vancouver.
Back at the El Simian Nature Preserve, Jack is thrilled to find his buddy Darren working there and the two have a joyful reunion. Jack’s family welcomes him back excitedly and he runs off to play in the trees, and that’s our movie.
Holy shit I loved this one. This was really good and honestly may be my new favorite monkey movie. Sorry, Dunston. Jack is a great monkey actor and a hell of an athlete and this movie has a lot of heart. This one for sure deserves a much higher Rotten Tomatoes score, but alas, the world is not a fair place. I’m going to have to watch the sequels because this was great and I for one am sad Monkey Week is over. Don’t worry, we’ll have a bunch of trash for you next week. In the meantime, MVP is on Prime free with ads, and it didn’t even show any ads when I watched it, so go check it out for yourself. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.