A gorilla, separated from his home in the Congo, spent 27 years in a locked enclosure inside an American shopping mall as an attraction for...
A gorilla, separated from his home in the Congo, spent 27 years in a locked enclosure inside an American shopping mall as an attraction for customers. After a wave of campaigning by animal welfare organisations, Ivan was shifted to a zoo.
Disney’s new film, The One and Only Ivan, does one better. Here, Ivan is shifted to a sanctuary instead of a zoo. “The idea of the movie was that everyone deserves to live a life outside a cage so a sanctuary seemed more humane than a zoo,” screenwriter Mike White told Scroll.in. Directed by Thea Sharrock, the film is based on KA Applegate’s novel of the same name, which fictionalises the true story of Ivan. The film will be out on Disney+ Hotstar on August 21.
The performances are a combination of live-action and motion capture technology. Bryan Cranston plays Mack, the owner of the circus-themed mall where Ivan is kept. The animals include Ivan (Sam Rockwell), the calm and wise African elephant Stella (Angelina Jolie), the friendly stray dog Bob (Danny Devito), a snooty poodle Snickers (Helen Mirren), a baby elephant Ruby (Brooklynn Prince), the chicken Henrietta (Chaka Khan), and the seal Frankie, played and voiced by White.
“What I liked about the story was the theme...
