Ask The Monkey – Volume 2
Picture from www.bracestower.co.uk
Talking Monkey,
You say that you enjoy shows with monkeys in them, but not people in monkey suits. I find myself wondering about monkey movies. For example, the original King Kong is right out, due to the fellow in the monkey suit. (I understand that they had a real giant ape to play the part but couldn’t afford the catering, or subsequent clean up). But what about Gorillas in the Mist, or Cargo, (that had a cameo of Jimmy Buffett you know) or even the remake of Planet of the Apes, in which people are not in monkey suits, BUT, are dressed up like monkeys. If you could take time out of your busy day to clarify this matter for me, it would be much appreciated!
Regards,
Frank The Tank
Thank you for reading, Mr. The Tank. It appears I may have painted with too broad a stroke: Thank you for pointing this out.
In my “About the Talking Monkey” post I was more focused on my enjoyment of monkeys (apes) acting human and had a few bad examples of monkey suits stuck in my mind.
In regards to your King Kong example, you may want to check your facts. While using a real, giant ape for filming would be a great inconvenience, I’m pretty sure that’s what happened. There were no humans large enough to play that role. However, in the new version of King Kong, that was not an authentic giant gorilla. That was clearly a CGI ape (Comprehensive Gorilla Inbreeding).
In the Planet of the Apes remake, those were highly evolved, humanesque apes, so they had to be costumes. Apes that smart would never work with Marky-Mark.
As far as Cargo goes, I’ll try to find the other person that watched that movie, and get a second opinion.
Thanks again for your question, Mr. The Tank. I agree that there are some examples of good movies with guys in ape suits, but I still prefer the real thing. Well, I’ve got to go. This monkey suit is starting to itch.
