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This post was written by Julie
My nephew (age 8), niece (age 11), daughter (age 10) and I attended the preview for Monkey Kingdom last week. All of us love animals and we were very excited to see this movie!
Monkey Kingdom is a wonderful movie. It provides the audience with a real-life experience of how this type of monkey survives in the jungle. It’s interesting to watch how the monkeys are ranked and where they live and how they are treated according to their ranking.
Once you are rank in this Monkey Kingdom, it is very difficult to change your place. I love this movie because against all odds one monkey (Maya) was determined to change her ranking for the sake of her child. The child’s father (Kumar) was kicked out of the tribe because the king (Raja) didn’t like him. For now, the fate of Kip, Maya and Kumar’s son, was all in the hands of his mother.
Throughout the movie, Maya was looked down on and treated in a horrible manner. These low-level citizens had to eat scraps, groom the elite monkeys, and really put up with a lot of nonsense from the higher ranked monkeys. At one point, Kip was even put into danger. Maya pushed on and led the lower citizens to survival. She helped them to safety and led them to food, even if they had to step outside the Kingdom. Maya was a true leader and her friends adored, loved and followed her.
In time, Kumar returned to the Kingdom. He became stronger and was ready to take his place in the community. He found Maya and their son Kip. Kumar established a connection with all the monkeys and even became friends with Raja.
The elite monkeys still held their place in the Kingdom. One day, another group of monkeys tried to take over the village and did for a time. Maya and Kumar rose to the occasion and led the tribe to victory. Eventually, they regained their territory. Amazing how belittled citizens were able to rise to rise to the occasion and save the kingdom. Two monkeys from the lower class saved the tribe. Maya managed to establish a name for herself and her family.
The kids and I really enjoyed the real-life experiences of the monkeys. We loved how the monkeys, within the lower class, took care of each other. We also really enjoyed when the monkeys left the jungle to get food. This was a very funny part.
One scene my niece was disturbed by was the part where the monkeys interacted with a dog. She thought the dog was annoyed with the monkeys and didn’t like how the dog was treated. My daughter doesn’t agree with her cousin. She believes that since this movie is a true story, no one should interfere with the natural habits of nature. She said that since the monkeys bite each other as a natural way of greeting and grooming, the monkeys didn’t do anything wrong, they were just saying, ”Hello.” My niece thinks that the humans could have done something about the monkeys biting the dogs. I personally see both sides.
A lot of time was put into this movie and we really did enjoy watching it. It’s an amazing story with wonderful photography within it. The story relates to our world too. It really makes you think about our social classes and how we treat one another.
The free Disneynature MONKEY KINGDOM Educator’s Guide includes nearly 100 pages of lessons and activities targeted to grades 2 through 6. The lessons are aligned to Next Generation Science Standards, National Science Standards, and common core Language Art and Math Standards.
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- For every ticket sold opening week (April 17-23, 2015), Disneynature will make a donation to Conservation International to help protect monkeys and other endangered species in their natural habitats. Order Monkey Kingdom Tickets on Fandango!
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