Dark Days in Monkey City
Docuseries veers more toward frightening than informative.
Common Sense is a nonprofit organization. Your purchase helps us remain independent and ad-free.
Did we miss something on diversity?
Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.
Suggest an Update
A Lot or a Little?
The parents' guide to what's in this TV show.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that this isn't a warm, fuzzy Animal Planet series. The featured primates aren't nice, happy little monkeys -- they're seriously mean, and the narration's tendency to give them personalities and motivations makes them seem even meaner. They fight constantly, sometimes to the death -- it's all natural behavior, but it can gert pretty intense (sometimes even bloody). Animated graphics also include blood "splatters." Bottom line? Teens and mature tweens should be able to handle this look at the darker side of nature, but it's too intense and scary for little kids.
Community Reviews
There aren't any reviews yet. Be the first to review this title.
What's the Story?
What Animal Planet did for meerkats and lemurs, they're now trying with toque macaque monkeys in the Sri Lankan jungle. Edited together using footage from the Smithsonian Primate Project, DARK DAYS IN MONKEY CITY is basically a soap opera -- stylistically presented as a graphic novel/comic book -- revolving around the relentless power struggles within and among four monkey tribes.
Is It Any Good?
The show's comic-book style is enormously effective in creating a dark, brooding atmosphere, and actor John Rhys-Davies (Gimli from the Lord of the Rings movies) delivers the overwrought, heavily anthropomorphized narration with such gusto that he sounds like William Shatner with a British accent. You get the sense that these monkeys really are mean little beasties -- from their abusive caste system to constant infighting.
But the narration doesn't quite get around to mentioning that when things like this happen in nature, it's because they evolved that way as a survival mechanism. Overall, like many live-action reality series, conflict is emphasized over information -- and there's lots and lots of conflict.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what they think this series is trying to accomplish. Is it trying to educate and inform or shock and entertain? Or both? Does editing the monkey footage together in a way that creates a narrative help viewers understand the animals or make it harder? Why? Families can also discuss using animation as part of a documentary. Does it help tell the story more accurately or obscure what's going on?
TV Details
- Premiere date: February 24, 2009
- Cast: John Rhys-Davies
- Network: Animal Planet
- Genre: Reality TV
- TV rating: TV-14
- Last updated: March 1, 2023
Our Editors Recommend
-
Meerkat Manor
Reality TV walks on the wild side; kids OK.
-
Lemur Kingdom
Ring-tailed reality stars face life in the wild.
-
Orangutan Island
Cute, fuzzy reality stars will captivate families.
Common Sense Media's unbiased ratings are created by expert reviewers and aren't influenced by the product's creators or by any of our funders, affiliates, or partners.
See how we rate