Wild Japan: Snow Monkeys

 

Release Date: July 20, 2014

Watch Date: May 12, 2023

"Journey deep into the snow-bound mountains of central Japan and meet Hiro, a spunky young snow monkey whose charming personality sparks an unlikely friendship. Join Hiro and his extended family on a year-long adventure as they brave fierce storms, experience the birth of new life, and face the tragedy of death. It's an intimate, immersive tale of family, friendship, and strife in the heart of the Japanese Alps."

    I don't know what I was expecting from this documentary but Liam Neeson narrating while a bunch of adorable monkey babies lounge in a hot spring was definitely not it. I mean, it turns out I needed that in my life and how I've gone so long without it I'll never know, but I definitely wasn't expecting it.

    Bob said, about halfway through our viewing, this is just like Bambi with monkeys, and I think that's a fairly accurate description. You're not being given a lot of facts, or explanations into why behaviors are occurring. It's a story, with multiple characters, of animals just surviving a year in harsh conditions. It's even broken into the four seasons.

    It's easy to see the influence that early wildlife documentaries like True-Life Adventure had on nature documentaries going forward. People want an adorable animal to connect to, a hero of the story, a name, a struggle. We want a story, not just a recitation of facts. Where we seem to consistently fall short, however, is providing any facts at all. 

    Yes, it's very cool that the monkey's lounge in the hot springs, but do they do that for any reason other than enjoyment? So they live in a society known as a troop, but why are some males allowed to stay and breed, and others are kicked out and left to fend for themselves? What do they eat? How long do they live? Are they endangered? Just give me something!

    Still, it was pretty relaxing, and extremely entertaining. I squealed at the images of little baby monkeys probably more than Bob was strictly happy with, it was loud, and there's only so many times you can point out "Look at the little baby! Did you see that? Look at his cute little fluffy face!!" to something he's already watching before he starts to get slightly annoyed with you. Of course, he's a good sport, but I think he'd almost prefer we watch something I find slightly less adorable. There was one awkward moment where we had to explain to our son that a baby monkey had died, and it wouldn't come back, and sometimes people and animals just get sick, yes even when they're babies, but I respect the fact that they followed that storyline through to the end, and didn't shy away from the fact that yes, it was very sweet of the female monkey to adopt an abandon baby, but sometimes those cute animal stories don't have the happy ending Facebook would have us believe.

    I probably wouldn't choose to watch this documentary again, but I wouldn't turn the television off if I was flipping channels looking for something to watch one night. It's an extremely cute, low investment, documentary, and while you might not learn much, you will at least learn that these animals exist, which is more than you probably did before, and that their babies are very, very cute and fluffy. So, so fluffy.