Overview: It takes a chimp to be a champ!

DVD Verdict: 'MVP: Most Valuable Primate' (2000, Rated PG) - When Jack, a sign language-speaking chimp, is sold to a research lab, he makes a break for freedom and ends up stranded in the frozen northlands.

Befriended by two teens, Jack's talent for ice skating soon turns him into the local hockey team's secret weapon. Now, playoffs are in full swing and the lab officials are closing in!

And Jack has one chance to prove that when it comes to skating away with the affections of an entire town, he doesn't monkey around!

That's right folks, 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 as 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.

'MVP 2: Most Vertical Primate' (2001 - Rated G) - Booted from his hockey team after being wrongly accused of league misconduct, Jack takes to the road.

Along the way, Jack makes friends with a skateboarder Ben and a skate shop owner Ollie. It seems that Jack's hockey skills translate directly into tearing up the half pipe and popping sick grinds!

With his new buddy Ben by his side Jack takes off on a cross-country skateboard competition tour with hilarious results!

If you weren't already aware, the chimps do all their own skateboarding stunts and are pretty good at it too! There are two other films in the series featuring chimps doing extreme sports and they are great in every one.

But the real star here is Louie, who has a true gift for comedy and can act most of the over-paid, wooden, Hollywood heartthrobs off the screen!

And sure, come a certain moment in the movie the Director Robert Vince presents lunacy where a rival team sabotages using a fake injury in order to have chimpanzee removed, but who cares. I mean, would a chimp ever get away with looking like a kid ice skating or riding a skateboard? Of course not, so let it all flow lovingly over you and just have a laugh (I know I did!) These are both Widescreen Presentations (1.85:1) enhanced for 16x9 TVs.

'MVP/MVP 2 - Double Feature' [DVD] is out September 17th, 2019 via Mill Creek Entertainment.