True story adaptations are always tricky to do justice too, spend too much time on the backstory and you move things to slowly, spend to much time ignoring how things can to be and people can be left confused, it is one of the reason I tend to avoid them as movies. With The One and Only Ivan, Disney elected to adapt a book, that was already a based on the true story of Ivan the Silverback Gorilla and with it, managed to bring a little colour into what could easily be a sad story.

The story of Ivan is told in pieces, over the course of the movie, from the outset, we get to know a little about him, thanks in part to the narration of Sam Rockwell, who voices the mighty Ivan. While the life Ivan leads might not be the best for his species, Ivan seems to have little worries about it, he does little throughout the day, except roar at a crowd of customers, which are comprised of folks that are walking through the shopping mall. While Ivan enjoys his life, the small circus he is apart of, is not fairing as well, leading Ivan’s owner Mack to try and salvage things, which he does upon the purchase of a new baby Elephant known as Ruby. The other animals located with the mini circus, Stella the Elephant, Thelma the Parrot and the others, are all excited, but Ivan feels he is being replaced, something that I am sure many people have had happen to them in the past. While Ruby is a new draw card, it is not long before Ivan begins to draw in earnest and Mack decides to capitalise on the newfound talent.

The problem with all that, is you might expect it to take around 50 minutes to get to that point, but it does it just under 30 minutes and in that time one of the animals also passes away, which is another thing to process. This highlights the issue with the movie and that is pacing, there is not a consistent pace throughout and while when it picks up, it really does, there are times when a few extra minutes spent on a few key scenes would help it out greatly. The story as a whole is nice and simple, animals in cages, animals want to go free, but the underlying messages that the movie attempts to provide are a little less clear. While the idea of poaching is horrible and needs to be stopped, the movies flashback sequence to Ivan living in a human house, being treated like a human and saying that he liked it, muddles that message. As a Disney movie, you would expect some heart lifting moments and they do exist, because of that pacing issue, when you get one, you only get a few moments to enjoy it, before you are onto the next moment.

The film is brought to life by a number of CGI animals, being presented next to the human actors and both fit in pretty well, but there are a few times when the animals lose their photo-real looks and stand out as fake. Back with the human actors, Bryan Cranston carries most of the movie, with some support from Ramon Rodriguez and Ariana Greenblatt and with the limited number of human roles, they still manage to make it all work. Cranston is able to achieve a balance of being a little slimy at times and being genuine in his desire for the animals, but there is always the question if that desire is real or because it effects his potential income, Greenblatt is perhaps the human heart of the movie, as well as the audiences way of translating what Ivan is feeling to Mack. While the humans are portrayed with some heart, the animals are where things shine and that is where the almost perfect voice cast comes in.

As I mentioned earlier, Sam Rockwell voices Ivan and does a solid job of it, his natural calm tone is a bit of a contrast to the rage that his character has to provide for the show. Alongside him is Danny Divito as Bob, the dog, a stray animal that finds his way into the animals enclosures and becomes friends with the Silverback. The rest of the original animals are voiced by a decent selection of named talent and then a few that might fly over your head, Helen Mirren puts in an effort as Snickers, the French Poodle, a pampered pooch with only a few lines in the entire thing, Chaka Khan does the usual job of a person with a big voice, in a small creature as Henrietta the chicken. The one that is a little odd is that of Angelina Jolie as Stella, the problem with the casting is that Stella is portrayed as an older animal, but the voice comes across as Jolie just whispering to appear older and it does not stick. Ruby, the precocious little elephant that joins is voiced by Brooklynn Prince and while not a household name, she does a solid job of providing a sense of wonder and fear, depending on the part required at the time.

All the voice work is brought to life by some incredible visual effects, which are provided by MPC and if that name sounds familiar to you, they are the visual effects house that recreated The Lion King on the screen, so they know a thing or two. But while most of the visuals are on point, there are times when they become less real and they tend to stand out, but these times are few and far between, thankfully, they are rare in how often they appear. What is a bit of a downside is after the movie is done, there is some footage of how Ivan looked when he was in the Zoo, after he was removed from the mall and there is a visual disconnect between that Ivan and the CGI, it is not a big deal, but given there was plenty of photos and videos of the original, the fact they were with a more generic was a bit of a letdown.

As far as movies go, there are plenty worse ones out there and a few better ones, and that is the real issue with this one, it sits in the middle and it does so comfortably. The film is based on an account of a true story and even then, does very little to explain anything, outside of some general themes, it managed to portray a face to the effects of poaching and animal captivity, even if they are CGI, so that is nice. If your expecting an uplifting movie, there are moments of it here, but there are also some very sad moments, which again points to the middle ground it sits in. All that being said, The One and Only Ivan is a good movie, there is plenty to enjoy here, just don’t expect a lot by the end.