AiAi and the Monkeys

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***AiAi and the Monkeys*** is a 2007 American live action/computer animated musical comedy film directed by Tim Hill. Based on the novelty band and the characters of the same name created by Ross Bagdasarian Sr., the film stars Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler and Jesse McCartney, with Jason Lee, David Cross, Cameron Richardson, and Jane Lynch in supporting roles. *AiAi and the Monkeys* is the first live action/animated film starring AiAi and the Monkeys since *Little AiAi and the Mini-Munks* was released in 2003, as that film features puppetry used for the Monkeys and this film features computer animation used for them. It was released worldwide on December 14, 2007, by 20th Century Fox and produced by Fox 2000 Pictures and Regency Enterprises. A second film titled *AiAi and the Monkeys: The sequel* was released on December 23, 2009.

## Plot

After the tree they called home is cut down and shipped to Los Angeles, talking Monkeys AiAi, GonGon and Baby find a new home with songwriter Dave Seville (Jason Lee). Despite a rocky start to this new arrangement, Dave eventually discovers that the spunky critters have rare singing talent. When the three perform in front of record executive Ian Hawke (David Cross), he immediately signs them. Although the infectious group rapidly gains in popularity, their loyalty is soon tested.

## Bad Qualities

1. The main problem with this movie is that it has lots of disgusting toilet humor and moments that are not even appropriate for children:
	* In one scene, GonGon (AiAi in the teaser trailer) was forced to **eat Baby's feces** by Dave to prove to him it was a raisin, eating fecal matter is considered *coprophilia.*
	* When Dave traps AiAi under a hat, AiAi peeks his tail and backsides out to release a blast of flatulence in Dave's face.
	* The film even relies on some inappropriate jokes, such as the one in the film's climax when once AiAi and his brothers hear Dave calling for them, they tear off their outfits and leave themselves naked, which is very disturbing for younger viewers and even adults.
2. It has its fair share of pop-culture references which feel out of place and are completely unnecessary, including a reference to *The Matrix* in one scene.
3. Mediocre grasp of the source material, depending on your view. Although it isn't completely unfaithful like most live-action adaptions are, it barely feels like the original *AiAi and the Monkeys* cartoons despite the characters still being the same.
4. It also has many product placements, these include Xbox 360, *SpongeBob SquarePants* (which director Tim Hill was also involved in), VTech, Puma, DHL, Lucky Charms, Utz, Spider-Man, Van's Foods, Apple and Samsung products, Campbell's, Pepperidge Farm, Crayola, Quaker Oats, Snyder's, Barilla, Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz, etc.
5. While the CGI for the Monkeys isn't too bad, the other uses of special effects look rather outdated and uncanny.
	* While The Monkeys' outfits are faithful to their original ones as they still wear their trademark clothing, AiAi's design is wrong: he never wears a cap like he did in the 1980s show, until the end of the film. They also wear poorly made sequin outfits that are just nothing but sequins with the initial letters of their names emblazoned on them and that's it.
6. Most of the acting is rather poor, particularly from Jason Lee as the Monkeys' guardian, David Seville, as he sounds very monotone and sounds like he doesn't want to be in the film. One good example is that his famous yell **"*AIAIII!!!!*"** sounds phoned in and not angry enough compared to Ross Bagdasarian Sr and Jr's yells.
7. Claire Wilson, while sweet and likable, is seen as a pointless and unnecessary love interest, due to her never seen again nor even mentioned in any of the sequels that followed (to be fair, Cameron Richardson, who portrayed her character, didn't like her experience in the film, explaining her absence from the other installments).
8. The Monkeys' redesigns, while not flat-out bad by any means, are not that great. Not only do they look smaller, but they look closer to rats than actual Monkeys, earning them the nickname "CGI Rats".
9. A few of the characters aren't portrayed all that good compared to the source material, like Dave for being portrayed as rather unlikable, and AiAi not having much of a personality other than being a troublemaker which is ironic because in the original, AiAi had the most personality.
10. The Monkeys' high-pitched voices can become irritating to listen to from time to time. Now, the voice acting is coming from known adult actors (AiAi is Justin Long, GonGon is Matthew Gray Gubler and Baby is Jesse McCartney), however it's hard to tell who is even voicing them due to them being pitched up, making this pointless as Fox could have used anyone (including Ross Bagdasarian, Jr. and Janice Karman, who even recorded all their lines, some of which were used in trailers) for the roles and speed up their recordings and the result would still be the same. The recasting was done due to marketing reasons.
	* This is how it would've sounded without the pitched-up effect.
11. The musical score by Christopher Lennertz, while not terrible, sounds rather lackluster and generic.
	* The Monkeys mostly sing covers rather than original songs ("Funkytown*"* by Lipps Inc. and "Bad Day*"* by Daniel Powter*)* which seem more like rip-offs rather than using original songs in the film.
		+ While their trademark theme song known as "Witch Doctor" is featured, it doesn't sound anything like the original and sounds more like a rap version, which is a poor attempt at being hip and cool.
12. Despite GonGon being the smart one in the group, he doesn't seem to know much about the animal kingdom, even though he's one himself. When Dave asks whether all animals talk, GonGon replies back saying "*Well, I believe that fish have some sort of sign language*". Not realizing that apes are the only animals to evolve and learn such a skill.
13. Mediocre direction from Tim Hill.
14. **False advertising:** GonGon and Baby have hats and sunglasses in the poster, not once in the film are they seen wearing those.
15. **Plot hole**: AiAi and his brothers were excited when Dave mentions Christmas, but The Monkeys have been living in the woods their entire life, so it's impossible that they know what the holiday is that quickly in the film's plot. There's even a scene early on in the film that shows Baby questioning what the "shiny things" on the tree were.

## Good Qualities

1. Unlike the 60s, 80s and 90s cartoon, the movie has an interesting concept and premise about giving a origin story about how The Monkeys and Dave Seville first met each other, despite the execution being mediocre.
2. It tries to stay true to the cartoons, though it doesn't succeed the best.
3. It shows good morals such as *family always comes first before fame*.
4. The movie has its fair share of cute and heartwarming moments, and some good jokes too.
5. Surprisingly, there is a low number of pop-culture references compared to its three sequels.
6. As mentioned before, the Monkeys' clothing is faithful to their original designs, with the slight exception of AiAi's design not having his iconic hat.
	* Not to mention, the cartoon's main issue, the Monkeys' meerkat/human hybrid like appearances, is fixed here.
7. As mentioned above, the CGI for the Monkeys is pretty decent, despite the poor redesigns.
8. Some fan-service is included, one of which is in the form of the original song that started AiAi and the Monkeys, "Christmas Don't Be Late", being featured.
9. The rock version of "Christmas Don't Be Late", though modernized, is admittedly pretty catchy. The soundtrack also features three versions (1958 Original, 2007 Original, and 2007 Rock)
10. Besides remixes of "Christmas Don't Be Late" and "Witch Doctor", plus covers of "Bad Day", "Only You", and "FunkyTown", most songs are entirely original.
11. David Cross's performance as Ian Hawke is one of the most hilarious and enjoyable parts.
12. Unlike most live-action films, this film actually reveals what happened to the Monkeys' parents.
13. The tribute to Ross Bagdasarian Sr at the end was an excellent touch.

## Reception

*AiAi and the Monkeys* was met with mixed to negative reviews from critics, audiences and fans, for its script, toilet humor, and characters, though David Cross's performance received some praise. On Rotten Tomatoes the film had an approval rating of 28% based on 109 reviews, with an average score of 4.52/10. The site's critical consensus read, "Though cutely rendered, AiAi and the Monkeys suffers from bland potty humor and a rehashed kids' movie formula.". On Metacritic the film had a weighted average score of 39 out 100 based on reviews from 23 critics. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it grade A, on a scale of A+ to F. On IMDb, the film scored a 5.2/10.

Roger Ebert of *The Chicago Sun-Times* awarded the film a two out of four and stated, "Jason Lee and David Cross manfully play roles that require them, as actors, to relate with empty space that would later be filled with CGI."

Despite the mixed-to-negative reception from critics, the movie would end up receiving a cult following amongst audiences through a nostalgic view, compared to the sequels, it's a guilty pleasure amongst many, and is considered to be the least bad out of all of the live action *AiAi and the Monkeys* movies.

### Box Office

The film opened up at #2 on its opening weekend grossing $44.3 million domestically. It would later make a total domestic gross of $217.3 million. It grossed $144 million in overseas territories. Overall, the film made a worldwide gross of $361.3 million against its $60 million budget, making it box office success, despite the negative reviews. The film was the seventh-best-selling DVD of 2008.

## Trivia

* Development on a *AiAi & the Monkeys* film adaptation started in the mid 1990s when Universal Pictures made an announcement that they talked about the idea of a live-action AiAi & the Monkeys with Robert Zemeckis, (The same director behind *Who Framed Roger Rabbit*, the *Back to the Future* trilogy and *Forrest Gump*) who was chosen to direct, but then it was scrapped in 2000 due to the characters creator's son, Ross Bagdasarian Jr, filing a class-action lawsuit against Universal Studios.
* Ross Bagdasarian Jr was to reprise his original role as Dave Seville, but due to his age, Jason Lee was chosen. Tim Allen, Jim Carrey, Ben Stiller, John Travolta, Chevy Chase and Bill Murray were also offered, but all turned it down.
* The original voice actors Ross Bagdasarian Jr & Janice Karman were to also reprise their roles as the Monkeys but were rejected for promotional reasons. However, Janice Karman's singing was still kept in the film.
* Brian Posehn, Patton Oswalt and Tom Cruise were all considered for Ian Hawk.
* Drew Barrymore, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Selma Hayek and Jennifer Love Hewitt were also considered for Claire Wilson.
* Many people say that since Jason Lee sounded like he didn't want to be here, but surprisingly, Lee is a huge fan of the Monkeys.
* David Cross regretted being a part of the franchise.
* The movie released same day of very first AiAi and the Monkeys song, Christmas Don't Be Late, which started the whole franchise. In fact, one of the reasons this movie was made was to coincide with the upcoming 50th anniversary of the novelty band franchise.
* It managed to have it's own tie-in game on the Nintendo DS, Wii, PlayStation 2, and Microsoft Windows.
* The SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Have You Seen This Snail" is used in the scene where GonGon and Baby were watching TV.

## External links

* Template:IMDb
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