Thea Sharrock’s The One and Only Ivan loosely tells the true story of a gorilla who, after being rescued from poachers in Africa, is briefly kept as a pet before being caged and promoted as the top-billed animal attraction at a local suburban mall for two decades. If a wild animal being holed up at America’s former consumerist utopia sounds like an odd premise for children’s entertainment, rest assured that the film, adapted by Mike White from Katherine Applegate’s 2013 Newbery Award-winning novel of the same name, meticulously sugarcoats every aspect of the silverback gorilla’s existence.
The facilities where Ivan (voiced by Sam Rockwell) and the film’s other CGI characters are kept, while certainly modest, are presented as perfectly humane, and every effort is made by the filmmakers to stress just how devoted and compassionate Mack (Bryan Cranston) is to his animals at the eponymous circus-like show that he hosts inside the Big Top Mall. Their living conditions may be serving a small-scale system of exploitation, but never fear, the kids who attend the show will be almost entirely spared of seeing cute animals in a state of discomfort.
The One and Only Ivan’s first act not only fixates on how close Ivan and Mack are, but also on the bond between the 400-pound gorilla and the other animals he lives with, particularly Bob (Danny DeVito), a feral dog who’s snuck his way into Ivan’s cage, and Stella (Angelina Jolie), a sweet, elderly elephant. These friendships are endearing and entertaining enough for kiddie fare, but the seeming horror of living beneath the standards of even the worst city zoo are glossed over in favor of the joy on children’s faces in the crowd and the fact that every animal here appears to understand that their participation in Mark’s show is simply a job.
As The One and Only Ivan progresses, it becomes a bit clearer that Mack isn’t perfect, as the film highlights his desperation to keep his business afloat when crowds begin to dwindle. But his professional decisions, whether bringing in a new baby elephant, Ruby (Brooklyn Prince), or using Ivan’s newfound fondness for drawing to attract new patrons are seen as, at worst, moderately self-serving. In only one instance, when Mack pushes Ruby to practice a little too hard, are his methods seen to be remotely insensitive, let alone harmful, to any of the animals under his care. Mack is shown to be flawed, yes, but entirely well-meaning, and this charitable representation—along with the film’s tendency to focus on how good Ivan and his mates have it—greatly diminishes the emotional resonance of the film’s dramatic turns in the final act.
Ivan and Ruby’s eventual yearning to live in the wild stems not from their recognizing the injustice of their current situation, but rather from a simple desire to fulfill the wish of one of the other animals. The phrase “not all humans are bad” is repeated throughout the film, but as Ivan edges toward an epiphany of his own and the outside world suddenly cools on Mack’s shady business practices, The One and Only Ivan remains resistant to condemning, or even criticizing, him for the animals’ adversity, instead foregrounding the depth of his connection to Ivan. Maybe it’s a bit of Stockholm syndrome for the silverback, but it appears that the real message that sums up the film is that no humans are bad.
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