Issues aren't monkey business

Monkey Kingdom, Disneynature's latest Earth Day offering, is an intriguing peek inside the social structure of macaque monkey society in Sri Lanka.

It has plenty of cute macaques playing and cavorting, but there's also a little social commentary in the mirror the movie holds up to us.

It's about Maya, a young female trapped by birth among "the low-born." The alpha male and three testy red-faced queens, "the sisters," get the dry sleeping quarters, the ripest figs in the top of the tree, and first pick of the mushrooms and assorted fruits that make up the diet of their tribe of 50.

Maya, as Tina Fey narrates, "gets the scraps. This is what it means to be last in line." When she has a baby by a displaced male looking for a community to join, her story becomes a single mom's tale, protecting tiny Kip from a monitor lizard and other external dangers, and the cruelty of "the sisters" and an unjust social hierarchy.

Heavy stuff - not that the very young members of Generation ADHD will catch all of it. But they may be bothered by the violence. Macaque cliques go at it, with their vampire fangs flashing in attacks designed to uproot Maya's tribe from Castle Rock and the abandoned ancient Sri Lankan city they call home.

Monkey Kingdom begins cloyingly, with frolicking set to "Hey, Hey, We're the Monkees." The arrival of Kumar, Maya's monkey-love, prompts a cover of Salt-N-Pepa and En Vogue's "Whatta Man." And even the violence and social commentary to come are leavened by comical food raids on humanity - a child's birthday party is ruined, a town market is overwhelmed by wily, quick-witted, and light-fingered macaques.

But entertainment value and catering to their very young audience aside, Chimpanzee filmmakers Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill never stray far from the overarching mission of Disney's noblest film endeavor - capturing natural worlds and animal behavior at their rawest.

Directed by Mark Linfield and Alastair Fothergill. With narration by Tina Fey. Distributed by Disneynature.

Running time: 1 hour, 21 mins.

Parent's guide: G

Playing at: Area theaters.

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