Film

MVP: Most Valuable Primate

Name: MVP: Most Valuable Primate
Genre: Comedy, Family
Released: 2000
Cast: Kevin Zegers, Jamie Renée Smith, Alexa Benette Fox, Lomax Study, Russell Ferrier

Comedy
Light-hearted

A cheerful sports comedy where a sign-language-fluent chimp joins a struggling junior hockey team. It's broad, sentimental, and engineered entirely around the premise that a monkey playing hockey is inherently hilarious. Made for families who enjoy talking-animal movies and don't need much beyond that high concept to have a good time.

TMDb rating

2.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy gentle, silly family comedies built around a sincere underdog team and an animal with more personality than most of the cast, the kind of goofy premise played straight with a warm heart.

Skip it if you want sharp, grown-up wit or a fast-moving plot, since this is a light, predictable kids-and-sports story where the jokes lean broad and the hockey scenes do most of the heavy lifting.

What it asks of you: Little from you beyond an hour and a half and a willingness to accept a talking-with-hands chimp on skates; it moves at an easy, unhurried pace and stays bright throughout.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

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Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey1993

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Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from MVP: Most Valuable Primate

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

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But If you're exhausted by family films that wink constantly at parents, this one does that too. The cuteness is relentless.

Babe1995

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But The 90s sentimentality is thick, and the pro-freedom message can feel like it's clubbing you over the head by the finale.

The Lion King1994

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Racing Stripes2005

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But It's thin on surprises and thinner on genuine comedy. The film coasts on the novelty of its premise and doesn't dig deeper.

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Both are 90s family-adjacent comedies about acceptance and belonging, but where MVP resolves conflict through spectacle and winning, Benny & Joon resolves it through genuine emotional recognition—slower, quieter, more earned.

A woman with mental illness and her brother's enigmatic friend form an unlikely romance. It's genuinely funny and moving without ever condescending to its characters or their struggles.

But It walks a tightrope between whimsy and disability that not everyone will buy. The romance can feel manic-pixie if you're not in its wavelength.