Film
Monkey Trouble
- Comedy
- Light-hearted
A scrappy 1994 family film about a young girl who adopts an escaped capuchin monkey trained as a pickpocket. It's earnest, occasionally charming, occasionally bewildering—the kind of '90s live-action kids' movie that swings wildly between heartfelt and contrived. For families willing to embrace its oddness and pet-movie chaos.
If you liked this
Beethoven1992
Dog-centric family comedy with similar energy: a mischievous animal wreaks havoc on a household while winning hearts. Charles Grodin's exasperation is priceless and the chaos is genuinely funny.
But The pranks and slapstick feel dated now, and the plot resolves neatly in ways that insult your intelligence.

Home Alone1990
Peak '90s family entertainment with better execution: a kid alone in a house creates ingenious chaos. Macaulay Culkin's charm and the set pieces are immaculate—this is what that era did brilliantly.
But You've probably seen it multiple times already. Revisiting it as an adult can feel hollow.

Free Willy1993
Another '90s animal-rescue film with real emotional stakes. The boy-and-creature bond feels earned, and there's genuine environmental conscience underneath the family-film veneer.
But The finale veers into schmaltzy territory hard, and some whale-CG hasn't aged gracefully.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Monkey Trouble
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Roar1981
Both are films so committed to putting real animals on screen with actors that they careen into inadvertent absurdity. Where Monkey Trouble aims for heartwarming and sometimes misses, Roar aims for adventure and achieves only surreal danger.
A filmmaker and her family move to Africa with dozens of untrained lions, tigers, and big cats roaming freely. It's chaotic, genuinely unhinged, and hypnotic in its weirdness—part exploitation, part pet-film hysteria, wholly unbelievable.
But Multiple cast members were actually injured by the animals during filming. Knowing that context makes the spectacle uncomfortable, and the movie is genuinely incoherent.

More like this (8)
Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey1993
Three animals on an adventure told with surprising tenderness. The journey feels genuine, the animal personalities are distinct, and it trusts its young audience to care.
But Slow pacing in the middle, and the talking-animal narration grates after a while.

Andre1994
Another '94 entry about a girl and an animal (a seal, this time). Genuine sweetness and a girl-and-creature dynamic that actually works without manipulation.
But Aggressively earnest to the point of being saccharine. The emotional beats are all very obvious.

Babe1995
A talking pig on a farm learns to herd sheep. Technically dazzling for 1995, genuinely clever, and it works on multiple levels—kids love it, adults find real substance.
But The talking animals can feel precious or affected if you're not in the right headspace.

Mighty Joe Young1949
A girl and a giant gorilla bond story that predates Monkey Trouble by 45 years and does it with more grace. Stop-motion, real charm, and genuine warmth.
But Pacing is glacial by modern standards, and the racial politics of 1949 Hollywood linger uncomfortably.

Charlotte's Web1973
A girl and an animal form a life-changing bond. This animated adaptation captures the quiet grief beneath the friendship—it's family entertainment that doesn't talk down to kids.
But The ending is genuinely sad, which some families come to unprepared. Very gentle throughout.

Racing Stripes2005
A zebra learns to race, a girl believes in him, talking animals galore. It's silly in exactly the way Monkey Trouble aims for, but with slightly sharper execution and better comic timing.
But The humor is very broad, the plot is paper-thin, and the racing sequences feel padded.

Beastmaster 2: Through the Portal of Time1991
Both are '90s films about humans controlling or bonding with animals in ways that should be impossible, but both play it completely straight. Where Monkey Trouble is earnest family comedy, this is earnest sci-fi action—different tone, same fundamental absurdity.
A warrior with supernatural animal-command abilities travels to modern Los Angeles. It's utterly bonkers, cheap-looking, and committed to being a B-movie that doesn't care. Pure Friday-night entertainment.
But The special effects are bargain-basement, the plot makes no sense, and it trades in dated action-movie tropes that feel quaint now.

Animals United2010
Both center animals as protagonists with agency and personality rather than props. But where Monkey Trouble plays the animal as pet-commodity, this one gives its animals genuine rebellion and voice—it's the ideological inverse, told in a completely different medium.
A German animated film where animals stage a protest against humans. It's visually sophisticated, politically engaged without preaching, and wildly funny in a way that works for kids and adults differently.
But Animated, non-English, and the environmental message is explicit rather than buried. The humor sometimes leans European in ways American audiences find abrupt.

People
Cast
Thora BirchEva
Harvey KeitelAzro
Mimi RogersAmy
- Adrian JohnsonJack
- Julian JohnsonJack
Kevin ScannellPeter
Alison ElliottTessa
Robert MirandaDrake
Victor ArgoCharlie
Remy Ryan HernandezKatie
Adam LaVorgnaMark
Directing
- Franco AmurriDirector
- Elizabeth Ludwick-BaxScript Supervisor
Writing
- Franco AmurriWriter
- Stu KriegerWriter
Production
- Christian Halsey SolomonAssociate Producer
- Doreen LaneCasting
- Karen ReaCasting
- John C. BroderickCo-Producer
- Ridley ScottExecutive Producer
- Heide Rufus IsaacsProducer
- Mimi Polk GitlinProducer