Gigi & Nate

Some say this movie is based on a real young man and his helper monkey. I prefer the term "inspired by" because so much of the story is changed for this movie. The one constant is that the young man was accidentally paralyzed and an organization that trains service animals provided a capuchin helper monkey. In this movie she is named Gigi. But names, family dynamics, locations, and method of paralysis are all fictional, as are most of the interactions portrayed.

But none of that matters in appreciating the movie. It deals authentically with a real subject and the difficulties of a partially incapicated person. Including military veterans, some featured in the movie, who were wounded, many with missing limbs.

Also the last parts of the movie, depicting the protests and the hearings to see if legislation will be advanced to prohibit use of monkeys as service animals. Today the organization, Helping Hands, no longer trains capuchin monkeys mainly due to pressure from animal rights groups, as well as concerns over health and safety. These factors resulted in federal and state governments changing the laws to make it difficult or impossible to have a monkey as a service animal. In 2010, a revision to the Americans with Disabilities Act stripped capuchin monkeys of their status as service animals.

My wife and I enjoyed this movie at home on BluRay from our public library.

I loved the movie. From music to characters to film locations. But that isnt what made me watch the whole movie, as nice as those things are. It was the connection between Gigi and Nate. I love all animals. I always fight for their rights. Speak for them when they dont have a voice to speak for themselves. Yet this movie in no way at all showed abuse nor implied mistreatment of animals.

What it did show was a powerful connection between human beings and animals. In my opinion more times then not we get so much more interacting and having that bond with animals. I've seen countless wild birds have this bond with human beings. Birds that could fly away yet choose time and again to come back day after day to a human. Why can it not be something beautiful to bond and grow and evolve our connections with animals?

Hope is such a powerful thing. So is growth. You wont find one without the other. Animals do chose us all the time. They seek out the needy to form that connection, that bond. To help not harm. This movie was amazing and beautiful. I highly recommend it. Huge back pats to everyone involved. They said it was a box office flop. I felt it was worth 10 stars and more.

Gigi & Nate is an uplifting movie with an encouraging message. This movie will put you through a range of emotions, and may even bring on the "waterworks."

After barely surviving a tragic accident that left him paralyzed, Nate Gibson (Charlie Rowe) has nothing worth living for, until he meets Gigi, a capuchin monkey. The two develop an inseparable bond, but not everyone's a fan of the relationship. Can Gigi and Nate stay together?

This movie is inspired by the organization Helping Hands: Monkey Helpers for the Disabled which helps to match people with disabilities to monkeys who will help them in their day to day life. The special effects are so impressive as I could barely tell when it switched from CGI to real life. Allie (who plays Gigi), the adorable capuchin monkey, makes her acting debut in this movie, and she is trained incredibly well. Too bad for Allie that there aren't Oscars for animals, because she would win one! Kudos to Allie's trainers for making her actions seem so organic and natural! The chemistry with Charlie Rowe (Nate) and Allie feels so real that sometimes I forget I'm watching a fictional movie and not a documentary.

The primary message of Gigi & Nate is to never give up - whether that means on yourself or on something you believe in. This movie has some profanity, alcohol consumption and attempted suicide.

I give Gigi & Nate 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 12 to 18. Gigi and Nate comes out in theaters September 2, 2022. By Katherine S., KIDS FIRST!

I did some research on the net because somewhere it said the movie was inspired by true events . It, was, but of course a lot of stories are as there are so many people in similar circumstances that it is only reasonable to expect to find similarities . The person that it was loosely inspired by was Ned Sullivan who got paralyzed in car accident . Anyway the movie was very inspiring and the best actor was definitely the small Capuchin monkey. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it as it is a nice variation on the violence laden movies we are getting lately. The only thing that I found annoying had nothing to do with the movie itself, but depicting the story from the perspective of an obviously very well off family who had the means to give there son the best care money could buy .

A saw " Gigi and Nate" today during Cinema Day. I knew the basic premise of the film, but didn't do any further research, and I am happy going in naked on this one.

We meet Nate, then 18 years old, cliff diving. He does a fall, walks it off, but days later with family celebrating Independence Day receives major pain and diagnosis that paralyze him for good. We do a time jump, Nate tries to kill himself in the family's koi pond, and dad, played by Jim Belushi, saves his life.

Mom realizes her son needs a companion; she gets a helper monkey. Everyone at first is not really fond or accepting of Gigi, but.as soon as Gigi starts to help out, he is more accepted.

I'm giving this a 10 star, but, and a huge but, I was not a fan of the lead, Nate. The parents and sisters were acted great, but Nate, Charles Rowe, under impressed for me. I was more taken away by Jim Belushi's performance and the young women who played his sister's. In fact, I was watching this wondering why Belushi does not do more of these roles. He can truly act, and , I just felt he is being under used.

I felt every emotion. I cried. I smiled I laughed. I shrieked. Even if the story does not sell it for you, see this for the monkey. The monkey made the sweetest faces and the fact he developed this bond with Nate was charming.

The ending, I am not saying, but was perfect. It came full circle.