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MVP: Most Valuable Primate
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert Vince
Written by	Anne Vince Robert Vince
Produced by	Ian Fodie Michael Strange Robert Vince Anne Vince
Starring	Kevin Zegers Jamie Renée Smith Oliver Muirhead Rick Ducommun
Cinematography	Glen Winter
Edited by	Kelly Herron
Music by	Brian 'Hoot' Gibson Brahm Wenger
Production company	Keystone Family Pictures
Distributed by	Keystone Releasing
Release date	October 20, 2000 (2000-10-20)
Running time	93 minutes
Countries	Canada United States
Language	English
Box office	$1.2 million

MVP: Most Valuable Primate is a 2000 comedy film that sparked the MVP trilogy. The film is about a chimpanzee, Jack, who plays hockey.

Plot

The plot revolves around an ape playing sports. Jack, a three-year-old chimpanzee, is the subject of an experiment involving sign language performed by Dr. Kendall at San Pueblo University in San Diego, California. One day however, Dr. Kendall loses funding for his research. Kendall arranges for Jack to return to his original home in a California nature preserve, but dies before the transaction is completed and Kendall's boss, Dr. Peabody, sells Jack to the University of Tennessee. Meanwhile, the Westover family has just moved to Nelson, British Columbia. Steven, the son, was the leading scorer on his high school hockey team in California and joins the local junior B team, the Nuggets; he is surprised, however, by the violence of the play and the apathy of his teammates to their constant losing. His sister, Tara, who is deaf, is having a hard time making friends at her new school.

Meanwhile, hearing rumors that the University of Tennessee is performing hepatitis tests on primates, a maintenance worker at San Pueblo arranges for Jack to return to the nature preserve as originally planned; however, Jack falls asleep on the train and ends up in Nelson instead. Jack finds shelter in Tara's tree house but ends up surprising Tara when she enters, causing her to faint; when Tara wakes up she learns he can use sign language. She attempts to hide Jack from her parents and Steven but is unsuccessful. Steven soon discovers that Jack has an uncanny ability to play the sport of ice hockey and Jack joins Steven on the Nuggets after the coach convinces the league's owners that a chimpanzee player would bring in a massive increase in ticket sales. Jack instantly brings the Nuggets on-ice success and also helps Tara to become closer to her classmates.

Eventually, the Nuggets become the champions of junior B, qualifying for the Harvest Cup final in Vancouver. During the game, Peabody appears at the arena, hoping to take Jack from the team; the team refuses to give him up, so Peabody makes a plan to take him after the game. Tara is able to figure out Peabody's plan, and alerts Steven and the team; Steven takes Jack away from the arena during the second intermission in order to send him home to the nature preserve, and Tara, being a similar size to Jack, puts on Jack's gear and jersey, ends up scoring the game-winning goal and stops Peabody from taking Jack, who makes his way to the preserve.

Cast

Russell Ferrier as Darren
Lomax Study as Dr. Kendall
Kevin Zegers as Steven Westover
Jamie Renée Smith as Tara Westover
Alexa Fox as Jane
Jane Sowerby as Julie Beston
Ingrid Tesch as Susie Westover
Philip Granger as Mark Westover
Rick Ducommun as Coach Marlow
Bernie, Mack, and Louie as Jack
Oliver Muirhead as Dr. Peabody

Development

The film was originally produced by Keystone with Walt Disney Pictures, but Disney left the project after deeming the film as "strictly for the vid shelf".

Release

The film was released theatrically in the United States and Canada on October 20, 2000 by Keystone Releasing. It was released on VHS and DVD in the United States and Canada on January 23, 2001, by Warner Home Video. Some international rights were sold to Universal Studios Home Video and Buena Vista Home Entertainment.

Reception

The film received negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 20% based on reviews from five critics.

Sequels

The film generated one theater-released sequel and one direct-to-video sequel. In each film, Jack learns to play a different sport. These are MVP 2: Most Vertical Primate (2001) and MXP: Most Xtreme Primate (2004). While MVP 2 gained a theatrical release as with its predecessor, MXP was released straight-to-video.

References

"MVP: Most Valuable Primate". Variety. 2000-10-20. Archived from the original on 2022-11-17.
"MVP: Most Valuable Primate". Variety. 2000-10-20. Archived from the original on 2022-11-17.
"MVP: Most Valuable Primate". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 28 March 2017.
"MVP: Most Valuable Primate". Variety. 2000-10-20. Archived from the original on 2022-11-17.
https://www.warnerbros.com/news/press-releases/%E2%80%9Cmvp-most-valuable-primate%E2%80%9D-vhs-and-dvd-warner-home-video-0
"MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 26 September 2019.

External links

v t e Films directed by Robert Vince
MVP: Most Valuable Primate (2000) MVP 2: Most Vertical Primate (2001) Air Bud: Seventh Inning Fetch (2002) MXP: Most Xtreme Primate (2003) Chestnut: Hero of Central Park (2004) Spymate (2006) Air Buddies (2006) Snow Buddies (2008) Space Buddies (2009) Santa Buddies (2009) The Search for Santa Paws (2010) Spooky Buddies (2011) Treasure Buddies (2012) Santa Paws 2: The Santa Pups (2012) Super Buddies (2013)

Films directed by Robert Vince

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