MIGHTY JOE YOUNG
A big-hearted Disney adventure with low-key environmental themes.
Should You Watch It?
Mighty Joe Young is a highly entertaining fantasy thrill ride about a compassionate, 15-foot-tall gorilla with a big heart. The movie offers exciting action, a strong emotional center, and especially good acting. Its environmental message is present but low key, making it a cut above recent Disney wildlife action-adventure films.
The content concerns are real but limited. Violence includes heartbreaking deaths, a threatening gorilla, property damage, and a frightening fire involving children. There are also a few very mild obscenities, along with philosophical ideas about sacred legends, evolution, and environmental causes that parents may want to discuss.
You can enjoy this movie with children seven and up, while helping younger viewers understand its ideas afterward.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESJill Young cares for Joe, a remarkable gorilla whose enormous size and intelligence set him apart from other animals. Zoologist Gregg O’Hara arrives in Africa and believes Joe can be protected by bringing him to a California animal conservancy.
Jill reluctantly agrees, but Joe must adjust to a new world while dangerous people pursue him. The result is an adventure involving friendship, animals, greed, and a final threat that puts everyone in danger.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is an especially entertaining family adventure. The movie works very well as an action-adventure fantasy, with children cheering in the theater and a compassionate central character who gives the story its heart.
The acting is especially good, particularly Charlize Theron as the grown Jill Young. Joe himself is an incredible work of art, and the action builds toward an exciting chase and fiery amusement-park adventure. The film is a cut above recent Disney wildlife action-adventure movies.
The Worldview
The film presents environmental protection as a clear good, especially in its opposition to poachers and its concern for animals. Those moral points are strong, and Joe is portrayed as compassionate, intelligent, and able to understand humans on a moral level.
The movie also gives these ideas religious and political overtones. It speaks of sacred legends and a guardian of the wild, while Joe’s development suggests evolutionary ideas. Its slightly veiled criticism of Germans, South Africans, capitalists, and environmental opponents can become a skewed political message, including an appeal for children to give to environmental causes. These themes remain low key rather than becoming blatant propaganda.
The film’s longing to protect creation can prompt a useful biblical conversation, even though its worldview does not fully rest on Scripture. “The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1).
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
Environmentalist worldview with strong moral points as well as some paganism & evolutionary elements; 8 mild profanities all of which are exclamatory “Oh, God” & “Oh, my God” type semi-appeals to Deity to save the speaker & 3 very mild obscenities; moderate violence which was not glamorized though sometimes heart-breaking such as the death of Mighty Joe Young’s mother & Jill Young’s mother, also some violence to physical property & out of control fire, children threatened by fire, & threatening gorilla, a man’s finger is bitten by gorilla, & man eventually killed by gorilla; some kissing & a rapport between Joe & the girl; some alcohol; some smoking; and, evil rebuked.
Talk About It
Questions for the drive home, the dinner table, or the youth group.
Joe’s compassion and intelligence make him more than a spectacle. What responsibilities do people have toward animals and the world God made?
Genesis 1:26–28 · Psalm 24:1The film portrays poachers and selfish people as enemies of what is good. How should Christians respond when power or money is used to harm others?
Proverbs 31:8–9 · Micah 6:8The story includes sacred legends and evolutionary ideas. How can you recognize what is morally true in a story while comparing its larger beliefs with Scripture?
Acts 17:22–31 · 1 Thessalonians 5:21Joe is protected because someone promises to care for him. What does faithfulness look like when caring for someone vulnerable?
Proverbs 31:8–9 · Matthew 25:40The Final Word
Mighty Joe Young is a big-hearted, exciting adventure with excellent acting and manageable content concerns. Discuss its environmental, pagan, and evolutionary ideas with your children, especially younger viewers. For families with children seven and up, this is WORTH THE TRIP — AGES 7 AND UP.
