AllMovie

As the world's foremost authority on chimpanzees, Jane Goodall is the ideal guide in this heartwarming documentary. The remarkable similarity between humans and chimpanzees is apparent from the opening of the film in the lush forest on the shores of Lake Tanganyika. Here the chimpanzees live -- much like humans -- in family units, make tools, and express complex emotions. Love, jealousy, friendship, and war are all presented, and further blur the distinctions between human and animal. In contrast, the film reveals the shocking conditions under which chimps suffer in research labs. Produced for HBO, Chimps is informative and beautiful, while also being quite strong in its conviction that chimpanzees deserve to live freely in their natural habitat.