The One and Only Ivan

Light-hearted, superficially entertaining film suffers from a schizophrenic tone and intent - there's an intriguing angle here about the thoughtless, not necessarily malicious exploitation of zoo/circus animals (personified in the ambivalent portrait of the Cranston character, strictly speaking the antagonist but portrayed sympathetically). Had the film probed these contradictions, it might have worked better, but the anthropomorphising of its animals trivialises the dramatic power of the story.

As far as for a plot in a movie goes, there might not just be quite enough substance here for a full runtime of a film, but it still somehow works, mostly due to the talented cast lending their voices to these animals. It's a cute story with nice visuals, good for when you just want to chill and watch some talking animals for a while + it does have Sam Rockwell and Danny DeVito.

Ivan is a 27-year-old, friendly silverback gorilla who lives behind a glass wall in the mall. He has become used to people watching him continuously. He doesn't remember what his life was like before, in the jungle. Instead, he is engaged in watching television, painting and his friends Stella (an elephant) and Bob (a stray dog). When Ruby, a baby elephant who recently lost her mother in the wild, comes to live with them, Ivan begins to see his home and his art with new eyes.

Surprisingly decent. Great cgi, good voice acting, well built (real) story.

Well-made, but the film's story was seriously watered down from the book.

My kids were enthralled by this which goes in its favour. In reality it’s passable family fare at best, but well enough performed by those involved to lift the basic material.

Laughter, tears, a good cast, a short runtime -- Ivan has everything you could want from an ideal movie-of-the-week. Had this actually gotten its theatrical release, it's plain and talky (some kids, like mine did, might bail because of the lack of action) story might have felt much too small for that theater. Here, streaming at home on a rainy afternoon after hours at the beach, it was exactly what my family needed.

For what feels like a Disney movie on a budget, The One and Only Ivan (2020) seems to touch most of the right buttons. Never truly amazing, but within its simplicity it does get the most out of the captive situation.

I hadn't heard about this one until maybe three days before it aired. Watching it recently, I've come to realize this is one of the more cinematic films to be released as a Disney Plus Original film. The cast is great, the story is not too bad, the graphics are all well done. I wouldn't say it's the best movie all year or anything, but it was a fantastic popcorn flick to watch with the kiddos