| Director | Ron Underwood |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, fantasy film |
| Runtime | 114 min |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $90 million |
| Box office | $50.6 million |
As a child, Jill Young and her primatologist mother, Ruth, study mountain gorillas in the Pangani Mountains in Central Africa. Jill names an infant gorilla "Joe". As Andrei Strasser leads a group of poachers to storm the mountains, Ruth's friend Kweli alerts her to the men as she is putting Jill to bed. Ruth heads into the mountains, and Jill follows. Strasser kills Joe’s mother and shoots Ruth. Joe bites off Strasser's trigger finger and thumb, and Strasser swears revenge. As Ruth dies, she has Jill promise to protect Joe.
Twelve years later, Joe is tall and weighs . Other gorillas will not accept him and he is vulnerable to poachers. Gregg O'Hara, a wildlife refuge director at a Los Angeles animal conservatory, convinces Jill they would be safer to relocate there.
At the conservatory, the refuge staff put Jill in charge of Joe. Strasser now runs a fraudulent animal preserve in Botswana, while secretly selling animal organs on the black market. He is eager for revenge after seeing Joe on a news report. Jill does not recognize Strasser while he attempts to convince her that Joe would be better off in his wildlife refuge in Africa. During a gala, Strasser's henchman Garth uses a poacher's noisemaker to scare Joe into a frenzy. Joe trashes the gala and is imprisoned in a concrete bunker.
Jill discovers that Joe is to be euthanized and accepts Strasser's offer. She and the refuge staff smuggle Joe out in a truck. Gregg has fallen in love with Jill and kisses her goodbye. After Jill leaves, the poacher's noisemaker is found and Gregg realizes Jill and Joe are in danger. He drives after them.
On the way to the airport, Jill notices Strasser's missing fingers and recognizes him. She jumps from the truck onto Hollywood Boulevard. Joe tilts the truck onto its side and flees, chased by helicopters, before arriving at a carnival at the Santa Monica Pier.
Gregg finds Jill and they track Joe to the carnival where he is playfully wreaking havoc. Strasser arrives and attempts to shoot Jill. Garth turns against Strasser and knocks the gun, causing Strasser to shoot a spotlight, which starts a fire that spreads to game stands and the Ferris Wheel. Gregg helps evacuate its riders, but a young boy is stranded at the top. Strasser again attempts to kill Jill but Joe throws Strasser onto a power line. Strasser falls onto a transformer and is electrocuted.
Joe starts to climb the burning Ferris Wheel. Jill convinces the police not to shoot Joe as he is trying to save the child. Joe grabs the boy and jumps as the Ferris Wheel collapses, landing clear of the burning wheel, the boy unhurt. Jill says that they need to raise money to open a reserve for Joe. The boy donates some change, prompting others to contribute.
Joe is returned to the Pangani Mountains where Jill and Gregg open the "Joe Young Reserve". Joe runs off into the jungle.