Best Monkey Movies
Ranked by how strongly each film carries the visual signature of monkey cinema — measured across 1,395 indexed frames from 14 films, against a 408,752-frame catalogue baseline. Not by box office, and not by vote.
Monkey films over-index on chimpanzee, monkey and fur — the objects that make the genre recognisable before a line is spoken.
- 1
Better Man (2024)
Michael GraceyDP Erik WilsonIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.6See in full on FrameThrower →
Follow Robbie Williams' journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.
- 2
James BobinDP Javier AguirresarobeIMDb 6.1TMDB 6.6See in full on FrameThrower →
Having spent most of her life exploring the jungle with her parents, nothing could prepare Dora for her most dangerous adventure ever: high school. Always the explorer, Dora quickly finds herself leading Boots, Diego, a mysterious jungle inhabitant, and a ragtag group of teens on a live-action adventure to save her parents and solve the impossible mystery behind a lost Inca civilization.
- 3
Aladdin (1992)
John Musker, Ron ClementsIMDb 8.0TMDB 7.7See in full on FrameThrower →
Scott Weingeras Aladdin (voice)
Robin Williamsas Genie / Peddler (voice)
Linda Larkinas Jasmine (voice)
Aladdin is a poor street urchin who spends his time stealing food from the marketplace in the city of Agrabah. His adventures begin when he meets a young girl who happens to be Princess Jasmine, who is forced to be married by her wacky yet estranged father. Aladdin's luck suddenly changes when he retrieves a magical lamp from the Cave of Wonders. What he unwittingly gets is a fun-loving genie who only wishes to have his freedom. Little do they know is that the Sultan's sinister advisor Jafar has his own plans for both Aladdin and the lamp.
- 4
Curious George (2006)
Matthew O'CallaghanIMDb 6.5TMDB 6.5See in full on FrameThrower →
Will Ferrellas Ted (Man with the Yellow Hat) (voice)
Drew Barrymoreas Maggie (voice)
David Crossas Junior (voice)
The man with the yellow hat named Ted Shackleford works at a natural history museum that's fallen on hard times. The museum director's son wants to turn it into a parking lot, but Ted offers to bring back a mysterious idol from Africa that's guaranteed to pull in crowds. Unfortunately, the idol turns out to be three inches tall. But Ted accidentally brings back a lonely yet irrepressible monkey, soon dubbed "George". They set off on a non-stop action, fun-filled journey through the wonders of the big city toward the warmth of true friendship.
- 5
Zookeeper (2011)
Frank CoraciDP Michael BarrettIMDb 5.2TMDB 5.4See in full on FrameThrower →
Kindhearted Griffin Keyes is one of the best-loved caretakers at the Franklin Park Zoo, but he's more comfortable with the animals than with females of his own species as proven by his failed marriage proposal to the self-absorbed Stephanie several years ago. The animals have listened to Griffin pine over her for years and, after she reappears in his life, they decide to help Griffin rekindle the relationship and become the alpha male she wants him to be. They inadvertently reveal their secret ability to talk and, after Griffin's initial shock, teach him the rules of courtship, animal-style. Surprisingly, the animals' advice really works and Griffin is about to get everything he's ever dreamed of--or is he?
- 6
Adam WingardDP Ben SeresinIMDb 6.0TMDB 7.1See in full on FrameThrower →
Following their explosive showdown, Godzilla and Kong must reunite against a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own.
- 7
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
Kathryn BigelowDP Greig FraserIMDb 7.4TMDB 7.0See in full on FrameThrower →
Maya is a CIA operative whose first experience is in the interrogation of prisoners following the Al Qaeda attacks against the U.S. on the 11th September 2001. She is a reluctant participant in extreme duress applied to the detainees, but believes that the truth may only be obtained through such tactics. For several years, she is single-minded in her pursuit of leads to uncover the whereabouts of Al Qaeda's leader, Osama Bin Laden. Finally, in 2011, it appears that her work will pay off, and a U.S. Navy SEAL team is sent to kill or capture Bin Laden. But only Maya is confident Bin Laden is where she says he is.
- 8
Steven SpielbergDP Douglas SlocombeIMDb 7.5TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →
Indiana Jones teams up with a nightclub singer named Wilhelmina "Willie" Scott and a twelve-year-old Chinese boy named Short Round. They end up in a small distressed village in India, where the people believe that evil spirits have taken all their children away after a sacred precious stone was stolen. They also discover the great mysterious terror surrounding a booby-trapped temple known as the Temple of Doom. Thuggee is beginning to attempt to rise once more, believing that with the power of all five Sankara stones they can rule the world. It's all up to Indiana to put an end to the Thuggee campaign, rescue the lost children, win the girl and conquer the Temple of Doom.
- 9
The Monkey (2025)
Osgood PerkinsDP Nico AguilarIMDb 5.9TMDB 6.0See in full on FrameThrower →
When twin brothers find a mysterious wind-up monkey, a series of outrageous deaths tear their family apart. Twenty-five years later, the monkey begins a new killing spree forcing the estranged brothers to confront the cursed toy.
- 10
Gore VerbinskiDP Dariusz WolskiIMDb 7.2TMDB 7.3See in full on FrameThrower →
After losing Jack Sparrow to the locker of Davy Jones, the team of Will Turner, Elizabeth Swan and Captain Barbossa make their final alliances with the pirate world to take on the forces of Lord Cutler Beckett and his crew, including Davy Jones, who he now has control over. It's not going to be easy, as they must rescue Sparrow, convince all the pirate lords to join them and defeats Beckett, whilst each individual pirate has their own route which they wish to follow.
What monkey films are made of
How much more often each element appears in a monkey frame than in an average frame from the catalogue. A ratio, not a share — chimpanzee is not in most frames, it is simply far more common here than anywhere else.
- chimpanzee104.8×
- monkey73.9×
- fur15.9×
- backpack6.2×
- rock2.4×
- teeth2.3×
- eyes2.3×
- foliage1.8×
What breaks the pattern
The Wizard Of Oz (1939) is the least typical film here — it carries the least of what the rest of this list is made of. Which is either a failure of the genre label, or the most interesting film on the page.
Method
Every frame in the FrameThrower catalogue is tagged for shot size, lighting, time of day, camera angle, colour and the objects visible in it. This page aggregates those tags across 1,395 frames from 14 films carrying the monkey label, and compares each figure to the same measurement across the whole catalogue (408,752 frames). Films are ranked by how closely they match the theme’s over-indexed elements, weighted by how distinctive each element is; one film per series. Only films with at least 20 indexed frames and 500 TMDB votes are listed.
Machine-readable: /api/list/monkey
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