Don't Let This Movie Make A Monkey Out Of You, Darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                    My equally movie knowledgeable friend Chris, and I, talked about seeing this in the theater.  Chris, dear, I am here to tell you how lucky we were that we did not.

                                       Because we got home late from our dinner, which was an experience in itself, we could not watch the movie I had planned on viewing.  That film will be screened tonight and written about in the forthcoming week.

                                        So last night, because it was short enough to be on time to watch The Eleven O' Clock News on Channel 2, we watched "Primate."

                                          Now, older viewers will remember the name Ben used for the lethal rat in both 1971's "Willard," and its sequel.  I will not even TALK about the 2003 remake!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                           What "Primate" actually turns out to be is a feature length expansion of the sequence in Disney's "Old Yeller," where Tommy Kirk and Kevin Corcoran had to shoot the beloved pet they once loved, who is now a rabid monster.

                                             Ben is turned into a rabid monster, when he is bitten by a mongoose, in Hawaii, yet, but without the build-up of warmth and love that made so many of us cry at the climax of "Old Yeller."  I was so done with this movie before it ended, girls, that, much as I love animals, I could not wait to see the monkey get beaten over the head.  Or electrocuted. Or anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                Besides, Old Yeller was a real dog.  So was Toto.  Ben here is just some CGI manufactured thing, so who cares?

                                                 He becomes rabid within minutes and goes on a rampage.  I was fascinated for his fascination in wanting to pull people's faces apart by removing the jawline and their mouths!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Perhaps he was overdue for a dental appointment.

                                                  The problem with "Primate" is that it took itself too seriously.  I was hoping for a delicious camp romp that would make me laugh.  Instead, my mouth hung open at the sheer stupidity.

                                                   Troy Kotsur, who played the deaf father in the 2021 A list film "CODA," here is cast as a deaf scientist.  He is barely in the film, and his role is thankless, but when one is a deaf actor, I suppose you have to take what is out there.

                                                     Rumor has it that both Kate Winslet and Meryl Streep turned this one down!  I do not blame them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                      Monkey see, monkey do!  Do NOT watch "Primate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"