“I just want happy Katy back, that’s all.”

Synopsis: Katie cannot get out of her depression after losing her mom. She has lost interest in school, her friends, and her favorite sport: gymnastics. But all of that will start to change with her hopes of winning an opportunity to babysit a capuchin monkey named Gibby for her Science teacher, Ms. Martin.

Katie (Shelby Lyon) lost her mother, and at the same time, seems to have lost interest in everything. She stays in the house with earbuds in her ears, and even when her friends talk to her, she blows them off as if she can’t even hear them. Her father (Sean Patrick Flanery) is overly concerned that she is digging a hole that she won’t be able to crawl out of. He just wants happy Katy back, but she is determined to stay in that pity party pit.

She is constantly being tormented by an egotistical bully named Alicia (Ysa Penarejo), who was once her friend but is now her foe. The most popular boy in school, Tommy (Peyton Meyer), asks her to dance with him at the school dance, but she doesn’t seem interested at all.

All things in Katy’s life appear hopeless until her Science teacher, Ms. Martin (Shannon Elizabeth), receives a grant to go study gorillas for the summer and now needs someone to babysit Gibby, her capuchin monkey. To make things interesting, she is assigning them an essay to write about the care of a capuchin to see who writes the best paper. An insistent Tommy checks out the best library book about capuchins to help Katie write the best essay— he can’t enter the contest because his mother won’t allow him to keep any pets. So, as payment for helping Katie with this assignment, if she wins, he wants to help take care of Gibby and also wants Katy to go to the end-of-the-year school dance with him. Upon receiving permission from her father to keep Gibby if she wins, Katy promises she will get back into her old social habits, including gymnastics.

After all of the essays are turned in, Ms. Martin decides to select five of her students who wrote the best essays and is going to let Gibby choose who she is going to stay with for the summer.

Will Katie get Gibby for the summer? Will she get back into social circles at school? Will she win a spot on the gymnastics team? Finally, will she form a relationship with Tommy? You will just have to watch the movie to see.

Gibby was released in 2016. Is 87 min and Not Rated. Can be seen on Amazon Prime Video with a subscription, Apple TV from $3.99, Fandango At Home from $2.99, Google Play Movie from $1.99, Peacock for free. Pluto TV for free, Redbox for free, Roku TV for free, Sling TV for free, Tubi for free, and YouTube TV with a premium subscription.

Director: Phil Gorn
Writer: Greg Lyon
Stars: Crystal the Monkey, Shannon Elizabeth, and Peyton Meyer.

We give Gibby

Although the storyline is about how Katy the underdog fights to get her life back—I’ve always believed that whenever there is a monkey in a script their shenanigans always bring smiles and laughter to the film. And Crystal the Monkey takes shenanigans to a whole new level. This movie shows how love can change your entire perspective on situations in your life and give you the encouragement and courage you need to keep going when it looks as though life has stopped you in your tracks. This is a good family film for movie night with some good life lessons.

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