The fact that that Going Ape!, a movie about three orangutans is a brain child of a writer-director Jeremy Joe Kronsberg most known as a writer for Clint Eastwood’s ape comedies Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980) kind of kills me. These primate exploitation movies are very much relics of the era, and something we will likely never see in the silver screen again, unless they’re animated with CGI.

And even then they would not be represented like this, as comedic reliefs mimicking human behaviour.

I don’t know if I even have to into details with this one as the movie is pretty much what the poster promises. There’s orangutans, crooks and car chases like in any decent early 80s comedy. Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of the movie is it’s featuring Danny DeVito in a quite different kind of role as a (Lithuanian?) animal trainer which earned him nomination for a Razzie award. The silly, unnecessary accent besides DeVito manages to put a lot of heart into the role, making it probably better than what it was on the paper.

80s-o-meter: 73%

Total: 61%