Starring: Sam Rockwell, Angelina Jolie, Danny DeVito, Bryan Cranston, Ramón Rodríguez, Brooklynn Prince, Ariana Greenblatt, Helen Mirren, Chaka Khan, Ron Funches, Phillipa Soo, Mike White
OUR RATING: ★★★☆☆
Story:
Disney’s fantasy comedy directed by Thea Sharrock. The story follows Ivan (Sam Rockwell), a gorilla who shares a communal habitat in a suburban shopping mall, owned by Mack (Bryan Cranston), with Stella (Angelina Jolie) the elephant, Bob (Danny DeVito) the dog, and various other animals. Ivan has few memories of the jungle where he was captured, but when a baby elephant named Ruby (Brooklynn Prince) arrives, it touches something deep within him and makes him question his captivity.
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Our Favorite Quotes:
'Anger is precious. Use it to keep order and warn others of danger.' - Ivan (The One and Only Ivan) Share on X 'Sometimes it's hard to roar for no reason.' - Ivan (The One and Only Ivan) Share on X 'Change is scary for all of us. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith. Trust that kindness will always be there when you need it.' - Ivan (The One and Only Ivan) Share on X
Best Quotes
Ivan: Hi, I’m Ivan. I’m a gorilla. It’s not as easy as it looks. You’ll see.
Ivan: Out this window is the billboard for my show. I’m the headliner. Which means I’m the star. I look pretty ferocious, don’t I? I’m never really angry, but I can pretend. That’s my job.
Ivan: For twenty years humans have come from miles around to visit me at the Big Top Mall and Video Arcade at exit eight. And this is our tent, where we perform inside the mall.
Ivan: This is Mack. I’ve known him for as long as I can remember. He’s a little bit of a ham.
Ivan: I don’t do any tricks. Mack says it’s enough for me to be me. But I’m the headliner, so I come on last. Sounds like a lot of pressure, I know, but I love my job.
[to Ivan, referring to their fall in ticket sales]
Mack: This ain’t good, kid. This won’t even begin to cover food and rent. We got to pack them in again. Get the excitement back, you know? If we don’t, it’s over. Then what are we going to do?
[Ivan huffs]
Mack: Great. Asking a gorilla for advice.
Stella: Don’t you just love the moon, with its untroubled smile?
Ivan: I prefer the sun. I love the feel of sun on my belly.
Stella: It is an impressive belly, my friend.
[referring to Bob, who’s sleeping on his belly]
Ivan: You know, the first night he snuck in here he was half this size. He was adorable. I dreamt I ate a furry doughnut.
Ivan: Do you think I’ve lost my edge? I mean, if they want an angry gorilla, I can still be that. Why do they want an angry gorilla anyway?
Stella: I think humans like us one way. And gorillas they see as angry.
Ivan: My father used to say, “Anger is precious. Use it to keep order and warn others of danger.” But here, there’s no one to protect. Sometimes it’s hard to roar for no reason.
Stella: I know.
Thelma: It’s all under control. It’s all under control.
Mack: Do the words “Bird for sale” mean anything to you? Do they?
Thelma: “Bird for sale”?
Mack: Yeah. Well, just remember that.
[referring to the crayons Julia left for Ivan]
Bob: What are you going to do with that?
Ivan: I’m not sure.
Bob: I’d probably eat it.
Ivan: It’s a crayon.
Bob: I know it’s a crayon.
[referring to Ivan’s drawing]
Bob: What is it? A flying cow?
Ivan: No.
Bob: Is it a hand?
Ivan: No.
Bob: Hands are so tough to get right.
Ivan: Really?
[referring to Ivan’s drawing]
Bob: It’s a lonely haystack on a late summer day.
Ivan: It’s a beetle.
Bob: Oh! A beetle, huh? I never would’ve guessed. A beetle. Right, there are the legs. I see the legs.
Mack: Things will be picking up around here in no time. You know, it’s ebb and flow.
Mike: I know all about the ebb. I haven’t seen the flow in a while.
Bob: Hey, Ivan. My heart’s still racing from your show.
Ivan: Really?
Bob: Yeah. I mean, that was real rage, right? What did do, stick pins in your feet?
Ivan: No. I was just acting.
Bob: What? You should be teaching a class.
Ivan: Thanks, man.
[after Julia does a drawing of Bob giving him his name]
Bob: A little presumptuous, don’t you think?
Ivan: What’s “presumptuous” mean?
Julia: Look what Ivan drew.
George: Oh, look at that. He made a little scribble, huh?
Julia: It’s not a scribble. It’s a beetle. He drew a beetle.
George: Well, I guess you need an artist’s eye to see it, huh? Like yours?
[referring to Julia’s name for him]
Bob: Bob? Why do they think they can go around naming everything? If she weren’t so cute, I’d nip her on the nose.
Bob: Curiosity killed the cat, but fed the dog.
Snickers: Why don’t you just give in to domesticity?
Bob: Because I like my freedom, thank you very much.
[starts eating from Snickers food bowl]
Bob: May I?
Snickers: Well, then, you’ll just have to keep on eating leftovers and sleeping on cement.
Bob: I never sleep on cement. I sleep on Ivan.
[referring to Ivan’s baby gorilla soft toy]
Ruby: Why is she named Not-Tag?
Ivan: It’s a long story.
Ruby: Ooh, I love stories!
Ivan: I’m sure you do, but I’m busy.
Ruby: You don’t look busy.
Ivan: Looks are deceiving.
Bob: Ivan’s always been the headliner here.
Ivan: You hear that? The headliner.
Ruby: Wow! Why?
Bob: Because he’s a silverback. He terrifies humans.
Ruby: [giggles] You’re not terrifying.
Ivan: Yeah, I am. I’m very scary. So, you know, run along, before I start thumping and roaring with rage.
[referring to Ruby]
Henrietta: That little angel is the best thing that could ever happen to us.
Ruby: Know any jokes? I do. How do you know an elephant has been in the refrigerator?
[Ivan groans]
Ruby: Footprints in the butter! Isn’t that funny?
[as Ruby begins to be more popular and draws in the crowd]
Bob: She’s a flash in the pan. Babies don’t stay babies forever. Your appeal is timeless.
Ivan: It’s not the baby’s job to save the troop. It’s the job of a silverback. It’s my job.
Bob: Uh, I don’t think she got the memo.
Stella: You’re doing so great in the show, Ruby.
Ruby: Thanks, Aunt Stella. I’m sorry about your foot.
Stella: It’s just tired of carrying me around all these years.
Stella: Not all humans are bad. They can surprise you.
Bob: [skeptically] Uh-huh.
Ruby: Are all animals free in the wild?
Stella: Yes.
Ruby: Well, will we ever be free?
Stella: There are places, not very far from here. Safe places. With trees, and grass, and lakes. Where animals can roam free.
Ruby: The wild.
Stella: Like the wild. Where humans make amends.
[as Ruby is scared to do face the crowd on her own]
Ivan: Listen to me. They’re going to love you.
Ruby: Really? Are you sure?
Ivan: Sure, I’m sure. You don’t even have to do anything. Just stand out there and be you.
[as Ivan is going to draw a carrot for Ruby to help with her hunger]
Ruby: You know how to draw?
Ivan: Yeah. But don’t tell anybody.
Ruby: Why?
Ivan: Because I’m a silverback.
Ruby: So?
Ivan: So just don’t say anything, because, well, then everybody will want one. Then what am I going to do? Then I got no time to be ferocious.
Ivan: Do you want to hear a story?
Ruby: Yes, please. Like one of Stella’s stories, from when you were little.
Ivan: Oh. I don’t remember things from when I was little.
Bob: Yeah. He’s the total opposite of an elephant. He can’t remember a thing.
Bob: You want to hear about my life?
Ruby: Yes.
Bob: Okay. Well, I was living a pretty good life, until I was abandoned in the streets by a mean human being. Then I fell off a bridge into a river and almost drowned. That’s it. End of story. Now go to sleep.
Ivan: Okay. That’s… Thanks. That’s not a bedtime story.
Bob: Ah, guess not. It’s got a happy ending though. I ended up here with you, my best buddy ole pal.
[as Ivan begins to tell Ruby a bedtime story] [continuing his backstory with Mack] Stella: I need you to promise me something. [referring to his promise to Stella to set Ruby free] [to Ivan, referring to Stella’s spirit] [referring to Ivan’s drawings] [referring to his drawing] [referring to his drawing] [telling Ruby a story] Mack: Did you draw these? Mack: The press is going to eat this up. A gorilla who can actually draw. That’s like, that’s a game changer! [reading from the mall billboard poster] [as Mack is getting the security guard to throw Bob out] Ivan: Bob, I have a plan. [after Ivan and Bob trick the security guard and free themselves] [after they’ve broken out the mall, as he’s sliding himself on the street] [referring to the other side of the highway] [after Ivan saves Murphy from being hit by a car] [after they’ve made it to the other side of the highway] Henrietta: Hey, Frankie, do you miss your ball? [after they discover the forest is just an intersection] [after Mack finds Ivan and the animals] Ivan: Ruby, listen to me. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise. Ivan: I remember my parents. They called me Mud. Ivan: I would use mud to draw on anything I could find. I would get lost in a world of my own. While other gorillas were learning to swing from vines and gather fruit, I was always down on the ground, in the mud, drawing. I could draw all day. My father thought that was a little strange, so he tried to teach me how to be strong and fearsome. This did not come naturally to me. I was a work in progress. But my dad still loved me. Ivan: The only thing I loved as much as drawing was playing with my sister, Tag. My parents called her Tag. That was the game she loved to play. She was good at tag. She’d always win. [after Ivan tells the story of how he was separated from his family by poachers, referring to Not-Tag] Bob: Ah! Humans are the worst. Cockroaches have bigger hearts. Ruby: I bet your father loved you for who you are, Ivan. I bet he loved your drawings, like I do. Ruby: Goodnight, Bob. Henrietta: Hey, it was fun while it lasted. And look, you got a new truck. Frankie: Sorry I left you, ball. Don’t be mad at me. Julia: I heard about last night. You don’t want to be here anymore, do you? I wish I could help you, Ivan. Just like I wish I could help my mom. Why are things stuck in cages? Why do people have to be sick? That’s why I like drawing. I can draw things the way I want it to be, and it’s almost like if I draw it well enough, it’ll come true. [referring to her drawing] Mack: The Primate Picasso himself! The one and only Ivan! [referring to Ivan’s forest mural] Julia: [to George] Ivan needs to be free. Don’t you always say we should try to do the right thing? [as Mack watches the news on TV] [referring to the protestors outside the mall yelling for the animals to be freed] [as the animals are being taken away] Ruby: I’ll tell them about you, Ivan. And Bob, and Julia, and Henrietta, and Murphy, and Frankie, and Thelma, and Stella. Ivan: I guess all good things come to an end. Ivan: You’ll be alright. You’re a wild beast, remember? [as Ivan gives him Not-Tag] [as they are saying goodbye] [as he shows Ivan a photo of himself holding baby Ivan] [las Ivan sees Ruby with the other elephants in the same enclosure as his] [mid-credits line; Bob comes to visit Ivan at the enclosure] [as Bob’s been adopted by Julia and George] [as Julia, George and Mack come to visit the enclosure] Bob: Never forget, pal. You’re the one and only Ivan.
Ivan: So, once there was a little baby gorilla named…
Ruby: Ivan!
Ivan: [chuckles] Yeah. Okay. Ivan.
[we see how in flashback how Mack and his wife, Helen, adopted him when he was a baby]
Ivan: And little Ivan, he wore diapers. And he drank from a bottle. And he had two nice human friends that adopted him. They spent every waking minute together. He lived in a nice house. And he slept in human beds. And he was loved. And he was so lucky, because he got to go to restaurants, and baseball games, and movie theaters, and playgrounds. Playgrounds were his favorite. People stared, but he never even noticed. It felt like the whole world was his playground.
Ivan: Little Ivan had a lot of freedom, and he enjoyed it. Sometimes his human friends would get very upset. And the little gorilla didn’t know why.
[we see has Helen leaves Mack because of Ivan]
Ivan: One of them got so upset, she left. And she never came back. And then one day, he came here. He had a new home built just for him. And he’s been here ever since.
Ivan: Anything.
Stella: I need you to take care of Ruby. I can’t be here for her. I want her to have a life different from mine. I want her to be free. In a safe place. Not…
Ivan: Not here.
Stella: Not a cage. Promise me.
Ivan: I promise, Stella. On my word as a silverback, I promise.
Stella: Thank you, Ivan. Goodbye.
[she closes her eyes as she passes away]
Ivan: I shouldn’t have even made that promise. How am I supposed to get her out of here? And where would we go? And what about Mack? He’s taken care of me my whole life.
Bob: You’ll figure it out. You’re the one and only Ivan. Remember?
Ivan: No.
Bob: Say it. Go on. Say it.
Ivan: I’m the one and only Ivan.
Bob: And don’t you ever forget it.
Bob: She’s up there. Can you see her smiling? It’s because she knows you’re going to figure this out.
Bob: Wow. Look at all those drawings. I always kind of figured you were an artist. I think we’re all a little artsy. Sometimes I arrange my popcorn on the floor in cute little patterns.
Ivan: Can you tell what this is?
Bob: A Cheeto?
Ivan: No.
Bob: A wig? Mack’s wig?
Ivan: Mack’s… What?
Ivan: It’s a key.
Bob: Oh.
Ivan: I need to get Julia to give me the key. If I had that, I could free Ruby from her cage.
Bob: Cool! And then what?
Ivan: I don’t know. We’d go.
Bob: Go where?
Ivan: We’d just go.
Bob: Where you going to go?
Ivan: The forest.
Ivan: So, once there was a baby elephant. Who was smart and brave. But she lived in a small domain. And she needed to live in the wild, where she could be free.
Ruby: Does the baby elephant get to be free?
Ivan: Yes, because she had a friend. A friend who made a promise.
Julia: No.
Mack: Oh.
Julia: Ivan drew them.
Mack: Did he? You know, actually these aren’t too bad. How about that, huh? A gorilla who draws.
[he starts to walk off, but stops]
Mack: A gorilla that can draw. A gorilla who draws! Now that’s something! Oh, boy!
Thelma: Game changer.
Bob: “Ivan the Artistic Ape.”
Bob: It’s too bad you can’t have it all. You can have your freedom, but you got to live by your wits with no security. Or you can have security, but you’re stuck in a cage all day,
doing tricks for humans. It’s a tough call.
Bob: You just called me Bob!
Ivan: Yeah. Kind of fits you.
Bob: You think? Bob?
Ivan: Yeah.
Bob: Snickers! Snickers! This is it! The moment of truth! We’re all taking off. Come with us.
Snickers: What? And go where?
Bob: The wild.
Snickers: The what? But I wouldn’t last two minutes in the wild.
Bob: Why?
Snickers: Well, there are no blow-dryers.
Bob: Oh. Okay.
Frankie: Guys, this is really chafing my belly. Ow.
Henrietta: Come on, Frankie. You hear that alarm? The po-po will be here any minute.
Murphy: Let me at them. I’ll blast them back with my hose.
Henrietta: That rabbit’s crazier than I thought.
Ivan: Okay. All we have to do is make it across, and we’re finally free.
Henrietta: Well, I’ll just cross the road then.
Bob: Why would you cross the road, Henrietta?
Henrietta: To get to the other side.
[they all laugh]
Murphy: She said it!
Henrietta: Murphy, baby, you okay?
Murphy: I almost died.
Henrietta: You just made it by a hair.
Murphy: I saw my whole life flash before my eyes.
Henrietta: And?
Murphy: I think I could do better.
Henrietta: Look at me. Out in nature. Just trees and grass, and empty soda cans.
Frankie: Not at all. I’ve wasted so much of my life with that stupid ball!
Henrietta: You wasted your life? I played baseball. And I’m a chicken.
Bob: I got to level with you, Henrietta. It could have been a lot worse for you.
Henrietta: I knew this was too good to be true.
Ivan: We’re in this together, Ivan. We’re family.
Ruby: But what is the wild like, Ivan? Will you tell me?
Ivan: You know I can’t remember that kind of stuff.
Ruby: But I’ve never even seen it.
Ivan: Ruby, I told you, I can’t remember. I don’t, I can’t remember the wild.
Bob: Stella used to say, “There’s a difference between ‘can’t remember’ and ‘won’t remember.'”
Bob: Mud?
Ivan: Yeah.
Bob: It’s better than Bob.
Ivan: Julia gave me this. I named it Not-Tag because it’ll never be Tag.
Ruby: “Not all humans are bad.” Remember what Stella said, “Humans can surprise you.”
Bob: Now they’re all calling me Bob.
Murphy: Yeah, but who drives a yellow fire truck?
Julia: This is my mom. This isn’t what she looks like right now. One day she’ll look like this again. You’re a real artist, Ivan. I know you understand.
[the crowd goes quiet as they see Ivan’s mural, a recreation of the forest]
Mack: Well, he’s quite the artist, isn’t he, folks?
Julia: It’s how he wants things to be. Ivan wants to be in the wild.
George: What?
Julia: Ivan doesn’t want to be here anymore, dad. And I know it. We have to do something.
Candace Taylor: As you can see, I’m now standing in front of the Big Top Mall. Remember Ivan? The gorilla that likes to draw? Well, his painting is clearly a sign he wants to be free.
Ivan: Remember, Stella knew there was something better out there for us. She couldn’t get there herself, but she wanted to make sure that you would.
Ruby: I don’t want to go anywhere without you.
Ivan: Well, you know, change is scary for all of us. Sometimes you just have to take a leap of faith, Ruby. Trust that kindness will always be there when you need it. “Not all humans are bad. They can surprise you.” Remember?
Ruby: I remember.
Ruby: Will they like me?
Ivan: Yeah, of course they’ll like you. You bet. You can tell them the refrigerator joke. They’ll love that.
Ruby: Footprints in the butter!
Ivan: Exactly. Works every time.
Ivan: Yeah. You be sure to tell them about Stella.
Ruby: I will.
Bob: Yeah. How am I going to fall asleep without that warm tummy of yours?
Ivan: You can sneak in there, with me.
Bob: Humans are dumb, but they ain’t that dumb.
Bob: Well, technically, I’m a domesticated species. But I’ll figure something out. I always do.
Bob: What’s this for?
Ivan: That’s to help you sleep.
Bob: Aw. Thanks.
Bob: You’re the one and only Ivan, pal. Remember that.
Ivan: Yeah. And you’re the one and only…
Bob: Bob. Everyone needs a name. I guess mine’s Bob.
Mack: Remember that? The day I brought you home. Best times of my life.
[Ivan then touches his forehead to Mack’s]
Mack: Well, good luck, kid.
[he turns to leave]
Mack: I’m going to miss you, Ivan.
Ivan: She’s here, Stella. She’s free.
Bob: Hi, pal! Long time no see.
Ivan: How did you get in here?
Bob: Are you kidding? I can sneak in anywhere.
Bob: Turns out her mom likes having me around. Who could blame her? So, I live with them as, well, as kind of a favor, you know? Just to keep everyone happy.
Ivan: Really?
Julia: Uncle Mack, he looks great, doesn’t he?
Mack: He really does.
Julia: [to Ivan] See? You drew it so well, you made it come true. I’m so proud of you.
Ivan: That’s me. Mighty silverback.
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