In another timeline, one in which this movie was allowed to make its projected theatrical release, Thea Sharrock's The One and Only Ivan might have been a reprieve from the explosions and car crashes that stuff the theaters around this season. But alas, this is the world in which we live, a world in which even curated blockbuster champions such as the Mulan remake are liable to be demoted to an online premiere. A world in which an unassuming film such as The One and Only Ivan never stood a chance at holding onto its coveted release window. However, viewers can take solace in the film's own private successes. Though the film's moving parts don't always congeal as they ought, the movie's glowing painting of friendship and kindness is uplifting just the same.
Ivan (Sam Rockwell) is the star attraction of a miniature circus housed inside a shopping mall, which also features animal performers like the matriarchal Stella the elephant (Angelina Jolie). Ivan's greatest asset, or so he is told, is his ferocious, monstrous, chest-beating affect. This is of course at odds with Ivan's innate tenderness and untapped artistic talent. Perhaps this discrepancy is the reason why the show continues to draw diminishing crowds. In an attempt to lure in new audiences for the show, the circus' eccentric manager, Mack (Bryan Cranston), enlists the aid of a baby elephant, Ruby (Brooklyn Prince). Though initially resentful of having to share the spotlight, Ivan is eventually endeared to the baby elephant such that he starts to want more for her than life inside a pen. Delivering Ruby and his friends to the promised land is no small task, but Ivan learns that he may already have just what he needs to set himself free.
The film admittedly relies a lot on the audience having a built-in understanding that captivity=bad and wild=good. The animals have it pretty good in this circus as far as we can see. Mack is a doting if bumbling caretaker, their physical needs are all met, they have the communal support of one another, and they all around seem fulfilled as is. The film doesn't even try to invent some external conflict to incentivize them to escape. Ivan isn't trying to reunite with his lost family or anything of that nature. It's not clear what exactly these characters have to gain from leaving their environment except that they're supposed to want it.
A few other plot contrivances slip through the cracks as well. A few of our characters are fixated on whether humans are basically good or bad, for example. This would make sense if our characters had known anything but the unceasing devotion of Mack their human caretaker--their human caretaker who even amidst economic distress has never failed to provide them with ample food and shelter--and the circus crowds whose reactions to the show range from politeness to adoration. There's even a sequence where Mack tries to train Ruby in her new routine with no success. Ivan and others look on in helpless anticipation as Mack's frustration only aggravates, and the sequence seems to be building to Mack losing his temper and beating Ruby with a stick or something similarly horrific. No such thing transpires, and I honestly don't know whether the movie is better or worse for not depicting animal cruelty.
The movie invokes deep-rooted cultural anxieties over our relationship to animals without giving more than a passing thought to how that works in the psychological ecosystem of the characters. These oversights have a rippling effect that leaves the resolution (for reasons I will not spoil) only mostly satisfying.
Where the movie spares no expense is the palpable emotional lifeblood of the characters. Tenderness abounds in this film. It's there with Ivan letting Bob the stray dog sleep on his big gorilla belly. It's there with the bedtime stories Stella tells Ruby to soothe her to sleep. It's there with Ivan's glowing summation of his friends' marvelous tricks in the circus. And it permeates every link in this animal community as they all work for one another's benefit. In a society as politically divided as ours, an ensemble of creatures who all look and walk different from each other yet still hold so much love for one another should not go unacknowledged. Such unflinching sincerity doesn't pan out well in every film that attempts such unbridled sentiment, but Sharrock knows when to lean into a moment and when to let it speak for itself.
Very little about Sam Rockwell's acting history suggests he would be a natural fit for a gentle giant like Ivan, but he nonetheless turns this walking tank into the most approachable character you could ask for. Perhaps Mr. Rockwell should dip into this pool of family entertainment and voice acting more often. Likewise, Danny Devito surprises in his role as Bob the dog with a most un-Devito-like endearing quality. Meanwhile Brooklyn Prince's boundless enthusiasm spills off the screen in her role as Ruby the baby elephant, yet she never feels saccharine or cloying.
The performances translate astonishingly well onto the animation of the animals as well. This is not a Lion King remake scenario where the realistic rendering of the animals saps them of pathos. You'll notice very early on how expressive these animals are allowed to be and how that in turn enlivens the story. This is most clear in our primate protagonist whose facial features are not dissimilar to that of human performers, but characters all across the animal kingdom perform with more enthusiasm than you'd dare ask from computer-generated puppets.
One wishes the movie had been allowed to bake just a little longer in the screenwriting stage, but those who still choose to spend their time in the loving milieu this film creates will no doubt be warmed by its embrace.
--The Professor
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