The One and Only Ivan
Disney+ | Release Date (Streaming): August 21, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
12
Mixed:
12
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperAug 20, 2020
There are times the family-friendly slapstick comedy and heavy messaging about the heartbreak of animals in tight, dark, cold captivity don’t exactly mesh. But the visuals are truly impressive and the story has an uplifting arc, and oh do these actors have fun hamming it up. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzAug 19, 2020
The One and Only Ivan elevates its babbling baboons and erudite elephants to a level of graceful storytelling and emotional catharsis. The film might only be available to stream in the emptiness of your own home, but it has enough big-screen ambition that you can easily imagine it holding an entire theatre’s audience rapt. Read full review
75
IndieWireKate ErblandAug 18, 2020
It builds to a conclusion that, like the best parts of this film, combines movie-magic whimsy with hard-won realism, slipping some very grown-up ideas (and ideals) into a classic talking-animal charmer. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyMaureen Lee LenkerAug 18, 2020
Watching Ivan discover his love of art is intoxicating, too, particularly when his realization that he can use it to communicate results in a truly breathtaking tableau. The film’s genuine bursts of emotion, combined with the wry warmth of the vocal performances and the deftly realistic rendering of the CGI animals, give the project a silverback gorilla-sized heaping of heart. Read full review
73
TheWrapSteve PondAug 19, 2020
It helps that the voice cast is spot-on, that the animals themselves – none real, all CG – are seamlessly rendered and that Cranston underplays a character who could be much broader, funnier and less affecting. Read full review
70
Screen DailyTim GriersonSep 1, 2020
Thanks to Thea Sharrock’s graceful direction, this live-action movie never feels heavy-handed, speaking to its young audience without talking down to them. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshAug 20, 2020
Sharrock’s directing is unshowy, focused on the characters and performance moments that make this film a simple, yet effectively moving story about dreaming of a life beyond the walls, something we can all appreciate at this particular moment. Read full review
70
VarietyOwen GleibermanAug 19, 2020
The story takes no outsize turns, no big surprise twists. Perhaps the only surprise is how touching it is: a tale that will caress you, and your children, in a way that speaks to something true. It reminds you of what it’s like to be moved by a kids’ film that’s driven by more than nonstop movement. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterMichael RechtshaffenAug 18, 2020
Jolie, who also serves as producer along with Brigham Taylor and the late Allison Shearmur, invests her fragile pachyderm with a gentle, world-weary wisdom, while Cranston makes you feel his world crumbling beneath him in a performance that could have easily flirted with cartoon villainy in less accomplished hands. Read full review
65
PolygonPetrana RadulovicAug 27, 2020
Though the plot beats of The One and Only Ivan are predictable, given that it’s a story about sad caged animals, there’s enough genuine emotion threaded through the formulaic story to make the movie enjoyable, surpassing some otherwise cheesy moments. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeMark FeeneyAug 19, 2020
All the animals are computer-generated, not that you’d know it by looking at them. Their interactions with the human characters are seamless — and, it must be said, at times the animal characters come across as less cartoony than the human ones. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJake CoyleAug 18, 2020
The real story of Ivan is more interesting even if it’s probably too dispiriting and shameful for a Disney movie. At the same time there’s some awkwardness in relating such an animal-rights tale with fart jokes and a celebrity voice ensemble. Read full review
60
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 20, 2020
Mostly The One and Only Ivan consists of fairly standard Disney lessons, about the hardships of losing parents (real and surrogate) and how difficult it is to embrace change. Read full review
55
CNNBrian LowryAug 20, 2020
The closing kick of The One and Only Ivan is somewhat stirring -- and certainly works hard at being so -- but it's pretty tepid until then. Read full review
50
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiAug 21, 2020
The director of all this airiness comes as a surprise — Thea Sharrock, the British theater artist known for her Broadway production of the play “Equus,” in which a naked Daniel Radcliffe stabbed the eyes out of a stable full of horses. “Ivan” is about as far from that as you can get. Read full review
50
ObserverOliver JonesAug 21, 2020
It’s also the kind of storyline that gives quite a bit of cover to the film’s lesser attributes—namely its general small-mindedness and squishy moral logic. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireAug 21, 2020
Like a novice juggler struggling to master some complicated tricks, The One and Only Ivan tries to encompass several different stories, themes, and ideas while appealing to adults and very young kids at the same time. It’s a tough feat to pull off — an uneasy mix of lofty notions about freedom and dog fart jokes — which the film only sporadically succeeds in achieving. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 20, 2020
The film is torn between a tough-minded plea for animal rights and edge-free, PG family entertainment. But its advocacy of kindness to man and animal is indisputable. Read full review
50
Screen RantMolly FreemanAug 18, 2020
The One and Only Ivan has a good heart at the center of this mediocre animal tale, which never quite delivers on the requisite Disney magic. Read full review
50
ConsequenceJosh SpiegelAug 18, 2020
The One and Only Ivan always “feels” like a movie without actually being compelling enough to be truly entertaining. Read full review
50
USA TodayBrian TruittAug 18, 2020
It’s cute and heartfelt at times, though the adventure by director Thea Sharrock (“Me Before You”) can’t decide between being a fun-filled romp or an animal-rights drama. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreAug 18, 2020
Rendered toothless, with barely a hint of menace or humor, much less jokes or sight gags, “Ivan” plays as downbeat and dispirited. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithAug 18, 2020
The charitable representation of Bryan Cranston’s character greatly diminishes the emotional resonance of the film’s dramatic turns in the final act. Read full review
40
The GuardianBenjamin LeeAug 18, 2020
Rather than a heartwarming family favourite-in-the-making, The One and Only Ivan is just a vaguely watchable cookie-cutter caper thrown together by people who should know how to make something far sweeter and substantial, a fleeting attraction for undiscerning young kids and a whelming waste for anyone older. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen JohnsonAug 19, 2020
The One and Only Ivan has within it a much more interesting film waiting to break out that really could have been for the whole family, but alas it is trapped within the cement walls of Disney’s cookie-cutter formula. Read full review
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