The Chimpanzee and the girl steal the show, but the story is beaten and cliché ... Cute and silly...

Jack, a chimp, has been trained by a college professor, Dr. Kendall (Lomax Study) to do various human tasks. Each week, a small gathering of adults and children come to a seminar to see his progress. But, alas, one night, the prof has a heart attack and passes away. The head of the department wants to sell him to the highest bidder, even if it means Jack will be subjected to experimentation. That cannot happen, so a janitor, Larry, smuggles Jack out of the lab and puts him on a train to California. That's where Jack's family resides. However, Jack oversleeps and ends up in British Columbia! There, a California family has just transplanted themselves as residents. The son, Steven (Kevin Zegers) is a hockey player who joins a young adult team. Of course, they give him grief for thinking a So-Cal guy can compete with Canadian players. Even in a worse situation is Steve's sister Tara (Jamie Renee Smith) who is deaf and has no luck making friends at her new school. It is Tara who finds Jack and takes him to her room. Before long, Jack is skating alongside Steven and gets himself "placed" on the team. Since the chimp can go through other skaters legs and perform other unusual feats, Steven's team starts winning big. But, with the college looking for their once valuable primate, will everyone's dreams be spoiled? This is a cute film with a funny script and a nice cast. It has a bevy of clichés, as to its story, but each one works enjoyably. No, a chimp would never be allowed on a team, but it doesn't matter. Only animal activists will frown at the flick so, unless you are one of those, get this MVP for your own Most Valuable Family.

M.V.P: Most Valuable Primate (2000): Dir: Robert Vince / Cast: Kevin Zegers, Jamie Renee Smith, Ric Docummun, Dave Thomas, Alexa Fox: Everything that has been done before stressing that animals can be smarter than people. That theory is severely tested when they wind up in this junk. Ads specify that this film is from the creators of Air Bud while neglecting the xerox plot of this film as if a different animal makes the difference. Instead of a dog trying to be Michael Jordan, we have a chimpanzee trying to be Wayne Gretzky. Jack is a chimpanzee whose owner has a heart attack so he is sent on his way. Or maybe the owner read the script and had a horrid reaction as to what he sold his poor chimp into. Jack is befriended by a girl who communicates by sign language. The result is a predictable act of lunacy with director Robert Vince trying his best with familiar material. Jamie Renee Smith as the mute girl has more potential than this monkey show. Kevin Zegers repeats his Air Bud role only he doesn't find the chimpanzee as he did the dog. Also with Ric Ducommun and Dave Thomas who will no doubt hope to get past this. Chimpanzees are listed as amongst the most intelligent of animals yet they are subjected to such dimwitted projects as this. Despite its message of friendship the film is an Air Bud rip off with kitty violence that reduces the film to monkey dung. Score: 2 / 10