'The One And Only Ivan' Featurette Promises Plenty Of Famous Voices

The One and Only Ivan is the latest Disney flick that was originally intended for theaters only to end up on Disney+. Based (loosely) on a true story, the star-studded family is about a 400-pound silverback gorilla who sounds exactly like Sam Rockwell, and also has a talent for drawing. Blending live-action and CGI, the film is adapted from the Newbery Medal-winning book by Katherine Applegate. A new One and Only Ivan featurette goes behind-the-scenes of the film, and features a moment where Bryan Cranston enthusiastically proclaims, "A gorilla who draws!" What more do you need?

I'll say this about The One and Only Ivan: it has quite the cast: Sam Rockwell as the voice of Ivan; Angelina Jolie as the voice of Stella; Danny DeVito as the voice of Bob the dog; Helen Mirren as the voice of Snickers the poodle; Brooklynn Prince as the voice of Ruby; Ramon Rodriquez as the mall employee George; Ariana Greenblatt as George's daughter Julia; Chaka Khan as the voice of Henrietta the chicken; Mike White as the voice of Frankie the seal; Ron Funches as the voice of Murphy the rabbit; Phillipa Soo as the voice of Thelma the parrot; and Bryan Cranston as Mack, who owns the suburban shopping mall where Ivan lives.

Why does a gorilla live at a mall? Well, you'll have to watch the movie to find out, I guess. In The One and Only Ivan, "Ivan is a 400-pound silverback gorilla who shares a communal habitat in a suburban shopping mall with Stella the elephant, Bob the dog, and various other animals. He has few memories of the jungle where he was captured, but when a baby elephant named Ruby arrives, it touches something deep within him. Ruby is recently separated from her family in the wild, which causes him to question his life, where he comes from, and where he ultimately wants to be."

The featurette above is pretty fluffy in terms of content. Aside from a fun side-by-side montage featuring the actors and their animal counterparts, this merely exists to remind people to check out the movie, and to hammer home that it's going to be a feel-good film. "It's really nice to be a part of something that you feel has something really good to say," states co-star and producer Angelina Jolie.

The One and Only Ivan arrives on the one and only Disney+ August 21.