Alva Review-Courier -

A sweet if sleepy adaptation of Katherine Applegate's 2012 children's book, Disney's "The One and Only Ivan" is a talking-animal film that takes the lives of its characters a lot more seriously than, say, "Beverly Hills Chihuahua."

Directed by Thea Sharrock ("Me Before You") and scripted with characteristic sensitivity by Mike White ("School of Rock," "Enlightened"), the film initially seems like the expected stuff of snarky CGI animals. Ivan (Sam Rockwell) is a 400-pound silverback gorilla who lives in the corner of the Big Top Mall, a shopping center with a struggling circus act on the side....