A young girl adopts a playful monkey, thinking it’s just a cute new friend. But things get wild when she realizes it’s a skilled thief hiding from dangerous people, and now, they’re both in trouble.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

The park is busy all day long, with various entertainers performing at the same time. Amidst all the acts are Azro, a kleptomaniac, and his Capuchin monkey, Fingers. While Azro plays the music, Fingers goes around collecting tips and tipping his hat. People cheer each time the monkey does anything, and some guys from the mafia notice this.

One of them, Charlie, borrows a dollar from Drake, his fellow mobster, and squats to hand it to Fingers. In turn, the monkey approaches him, takes the dollar, and stealthily swipes his gold watch.

Shortly after, Charlie approaches Azro, offering him an opportunity to make 50,000 dollars. Instantly, Azro declares his little show over and follows the mobster to his car.

As they sit down, Fingers enters through the sunroof, and Charlie asks for his gold watch back. Azro simply opens the bottom compartment of his barrel organ and pours out a bunch of jewelry. Sifting through them, he hands Charlie back his watch, and they go on to talk business.

Charlie wants a free demonstration of what Fingers can do, so they drive up to a random house and Fingers takes off with a small satchel. He sneaks underneath the gates, climbs up a tree close to the window, and when Tom, a police lieutenant, leaves his restroom, Fingers jumps into it.

The monkey can’t bear the smell and closes the toilet seat before slipping into one of the rooms. While Tom and his wife, Amy, play with their toddler, Jack, Fingers swipes all their jewelry.

Just then, their daughter, Eva, comes knocking, escorted by Peter, her biological father. Things become tight for Fingers; he tries to hide in Eva’s room, but she absentmindedly screams, making Fingers think he’s been caught. He runs into the hallway, only to see three adults and one toddler.

Jack clocks him, but Fingers hides in a nearby cabinet before anyone else does. Peter heads to Eva’s room at this point, leaving Jack to snoop around the cabinet.

Meanwhile, Eva puts together the shortest presentation in history, all because she wants a rottweiler. In turn, Peter, being a pilot, reminds her that he won’t be around to look after the dog, not to mention Tom, who suffers from an allergy to animal fur. With this, Eva has no argument.

While they’re talking, Fingers slips past Jack and heads out the same way he came in. He enters Charlie’s vehicle and they sift through his haul. The mobsters whisper among themselves about how perfect Fingers would be for the Mahler gig, seeing as the monkey won’t serve time if he’s caught.

It’s time to pay Azro what he’s due, but Drake can’t find the money. It turns out that Fingers swiped it when Drake wasn’t looking, proving his skill once again.

Later on, while Eva is having dinner with her family, she brings up the dog issue again, claiming that allergies can subside with exposure. Her mom clarifies that Eva isn’t responsible enough to take care of a pet, and lists the many ways Eva can’t even take care of herself.

She then has a slight change of heart, claiming that they’ll think about the dog if Eva does more around the house. Eva is so excited to hear this, but before she can react, her mom gets distracted by Jack.

Angry, Eva wishes her little brother would get washed away, and leaves her food uneaten. Moments later, Amy joins her daughter upstairs, and they talk about her behavior.

Anyway, Azro’s family runs off before he gets home that night and he drinks himself to a stupor complaining about it. He begins to rough handle Fingers, blaming the monkey for his wife and son leaving. Scared, Fingers finds a corner to hide.

Meanwhile, Tom and Amy realize that they’ve been robbed. Tom, being an officer, deduces that the criminal is nothing like a professional, but he ends up sneezing before he can finish his sentence. Amy is the most affected, mostly because the thief got her mother’s ring.

Early the next morning, Fingers writes his own version of a letter and leaves it on the counter. He flees Azro’s trailer after this, climbing the gate and running off like the rest of the klepto’s family.

At the same time, Eva manages to pick an outfit for school and follows her mom as they walk down. They walk past a pet shop and Eva stops to say hi to the puppies.

Fingers hitches a ride on a newspaper van, switching vehicles when the van stops, and surprising the newspaper vendor while he’s at it.

At Eva’s school, Jesse, her classmate, brings her dog for show and tell. Eva bad-mouths her so much that the teacher has to intervene, wondering when Eva will come before the class. In truth, she has nothing for show and tell, and won’t even consider bringing Jack no matter how much her best friend Katie insists on it.

Fingers makes it to the park closest to Eva’s school while Azro’s voicemail goes off. It’s Charlie calling with a job offer, and he’s certain that their boss is interested in meeting Azro.

This is practically the first good news Azro has heard for a minute, so he calls for Fingers. No response. Noticing the letter on the counter, Azro takes a look, only to see that it’s just scribbles.

That afternoon, Eva walks through the park on her way home, and everyone seems to have a dog. In the trees above, Fingers follows her. Eventually, he shows himself to her, hanging upside down from a nearby tree. An intrigued Eva drops her bag, and Fingers hugs her leg for the fun of it.

An old couple witnesses this, and they conclude that Fingers is Eva’s pet. She plays along, lying her butt off. At this point, Fingers climbs all the way to her shoulder, peeling off her Dodgers hat and wearing it. When she’s asked what his name is, Eva claims it’s Dodger because he likes the hat.

Dodger jumps onto the body of this elderly lady, swiping the earrings off her ears and moving on to her husband. They then strut away, having no idea.

The next set of ladies that pass really scare the monkey, so he hides beneath a park bench. Worried, Eva runs after him, and lets him know that he belongs to her now.

Hiding Dodger in her bag, Eva makes her way home. She even stops a bulldog from sharing an elevator with them just because Dodger finds the dog scary. She gets upstairs, but the moment she sees Tom talking to other police officers, she tries to leave.

Unfortunately, Tom stops the elevator, forcing her to slip through their midst. Arriving at her room, she frees Dodger from her bag and he takes a quick look around. He spins on the spot, trying to signal something to Eva. She doesn’t figure it out until Dodger pees all over the floor.

After cleaning it up, Tom comes knocking with a phone call from Katie, so she and Dodger quickly hide in the bathroom. Tom comes closer, and to sell that she’s on the toilet, Dodger takes a dump in the sink.

Tom’s allergies begin to act up, and he sneezes so much that he just gives up, telling Katie to call later. In the bathroom, Eva is nothing if not disgusted.

Meanwhile, Azro tracks down his wife and son, but his son, Mark, answers the door. They argue for a moment, until Azro asks if his monkey is with them. After getting a negative response, he just hands Mark some cash for new sneakers and walks away.

Back to Eva, she steals one of Jack’s diapers and puts it on Dodger. Tom’s biological daughter, Tessa, shows up suddenly, dragging Eva to the dinner table. While they’re eating, Katie calls again, and Eva excuses herself to answer the phone.

At the same time, Dodger stashes away the earrings he stole from the old lady, opens the door to Eva’s room, and tracks her down to the study. Noticing him, she tries to shoo him off, only for Tom to catch her in the act. She plays it off, equally surprised that Dodger got away in time.

He didn’t; he just took higher ground to avoid being seen.

Returning to the table, Eva asks to eat in her room and dashes off, plate in hand. The others are certain that something’s off, but Tom thinks she’s ready to accept that she can’t have a pet.

While the others eat, Eva feeds Dodger her chicken. Her mom later tries to get her to come watch her favorite show, but Eva claims to be doing homework, confusing Amy even more.

The next morning, Amy comes straight to Eva’s room after waking up. She enters and sees it perfectly arranged, not to mention seeing Eva already dressed for school. After Eva leaves half an hour earlier than usual, Amy wakes Tom up, lamenting that something must be up.

Tom thinks Eva met a boy, but her mom thinks otherwise.

Anyway, Eva and Dodger stop by the park before school, playing on the slides and having a good time. On her way to school, Dodger sneaks out of her bag and steals a random stranger’s purse. Eva then stops by the pet shop to drop him off, lying to Annie, the owner, that her dad got it as a surprise present for her mom.

She lies some more, and successfully gets Annie to agree to watch Dodger while she’s at school.

Upon Eva’s arrival, she finds that Katie told the entire class that she has a secret. They all crowd her, wanting to know what it is, and when Eva yells at them, they pressure her some more. In turn, Katie chases them off, but Eva no longer trusts her enough to tell her the secret.

For this reason, Katie claims that Eva is no longer her friend.

On the other hand, Azro searches for Dodger all the way to the park, but has the misfortune of asking a non English speaking gardener about his whereabouts.

After school, Eva has Tessa and her brother wait outside the pet shop while she hides Dodger in her backpack. She stops by the library later, searching for books on monkeys. When the librarian asks if it’s for a specific species, Eva just pulls Dodger out, scaring the poor lady witless.

Instantly, she excuses herself, and makes multiple copies of the book so Eva won’t need to come back.

At home, she scrolls through the book, only for Jack to waddle into her room. She’s not scared of him ratting her out, mostly because he can’t talk yet. Eva tests what she read about Capuchin monkeys, leaving Dodger to play in the trees, and forcing him to take a bath using a rubber snake.

All the while, Azro searches for his monkey. The poor dude even makes fliers, but nothing works.

That night, Tom and Amy get back from their date to find that Eva changed the sign on her door to allow only Jack inside her room. It’s such a big deal because they thought she hated the toddler. An emotional Amy goes into Eva’s room, leaving her sneezing husband outside.

The moment Amy touches Eva, the youngster screams herself awake. In turn, Amy tells her that she just had a bad dream. Eva pretends to go back to sleep, but quickly checks on Dodger after her mom leaves.

After school the next day, Eva stops by the pet shop to get Dodger. She mentions spending the weekend at her dad’s place, but before she can ask Annie to watch Dodger during that time, Annie points out that Eva won’t have to hide Dodger over the weekend.

Remembering her lie, Eva heads straight home to think. She just lies on the floor of her room, brainstorming what to do with Dodger over the weekend.

Just then, Tessa comes with a phone call from Peter and Eva decides on the spot to pretend to be sick. She lowers her voice as she answers the phone, making her dad worry in the process. After hearing that she’s sick, he thanks his stars, seeing as he’s going to be stuck in Vancouver over the weekend.

The sound of this cured Eva’s fake ailment and she ends the call. Seconds later, her dad leaves a message filling Amy in on his change of plans. Eva simply waits by the phone, deletes the message, and calls up Katie’s home, wanting to speak with her mom.

At dinner that night, Eva lies that she’ll be spending the weekend with her father, and claims that she can go to his place with Katie’s mom. Her plan works perfectly, and the next day, Katie’s mom stops by to pick her up.

The ride is quiet – too quiet. Katie’s mom isn’t used to such silence so she wants to know what’s going on. Feeling guilty, Eva passes Katie a note, asking if she swears not to say a word. In response, Katie excitedly promises to keep her secret.

They both head to the trunk compartment of the car and Eva shows Dodger to Katie. They immediately start giggling, and this puts Katie’s mom at ease.

They drop Eva off at her father’s soon enough, but she discovers that he chose now of all times to lock his door. Reflexively, Dodger picks the closest paper bag and climbs up the building, searching for a way in. He finds the back window cracked, and slips into the house like he’s always lived there.

When Dodger hears Eva call out to him, he stops ransacking the house and lets her in. In turn, he lets her in. She soon discovers that her dad didn’t leave any food in the fridge, and she didn’t come with any money either.

Eva has the idea to head to the boardwalk to make some cash with Dodger. She sets up her bike with a small compartment for him and they ride out together. Initially, Dodger seems like the most excited monkey ever, but this stops when he catches a glimpse of Azro.

Dodger quickly hides inside Eva’s bag but she stops the bike to bring him out, not knowing why he’s scared. This time, the monkey shields his face with a cushion, and gets off Eva’s bike when they come too close to Azro.

Eva has no idea and just continues to ride her bike. Sadly, all of Dodger’s efforts to hide end in futility. Azro hears him from amidst a small crowd, and struggles through it to get his monkey. Scared, Dodger hisses and makes a run for it, leaving Azro to chase him.

Azro loses him when he hitches a ride atop a toddler’s stroller, but Azro pushes a poor guy off his skateboard and tries to chase Dodger with it. Consequently, Azro also gets pushed off the skateboard, only for a good samaritan to stop and check on him.

Without pity, Azro steals the Samaritan’s bike and rides it like he’s the one being chased. He almost catches Dodger, but the monkey dumps the stroller and runs into the sandy part of the beach.

Azro dumps the bike in pursuit, only for Dodger to slip into a glider and take off with the wind. Easily, Azro bullies the owner for the controls, bringing Dodger back to land.

Luckily, Eva is riding past at this moment, so Dodger climbs up the slides and leaps into his seat. As usual, Azro tries to follow, but Drake and Charlie stop him mid-step. Apparently, they’ve also been searching for Azro, and are now pissed that he’s going to ruin the upcoming gig.

He lies about Dodger being sick, but this only aggravates the situation, so much so that Drake and Charlie bring Azro along.

The moment they drive off, Dodger calms down. Eva, on the other hand, has no idea how to get cash from the folks at the beach. Dodger helps by pulling out his special hat and tipping it at some tourists. They have Eva take their picture with the monkey and hand her a dollar as thanks.

She’s so impressed that she starts a whole thing, and soon, Dodger pulls a crowd. People drop pennies and dollars into Eva’s hat, while Dodger goes around picking pockets. She’s not aware of this though.

As time passes, people in the crowd complain about their missing stuff, and they blame a random person instead of Dodger. The crowd clears out after this, but Eva feels like they made enough money.

In the meantime, Drake and Charlie drive Azro past their next target’s house, pointing out that the owner left behind precious coins and jewels. In addition, there’s an estate sale on Thursday and Charlie would like the monkey to drop in on Wednesday night. Without saying anything else, Azro agrees to the terms.

Eva goes shopping for some food, having no idea that Dodger is swiping stuff and hiding it in her bag. By the time she reaches the register, she innocently pays for what she bought, but a saleswoman there accuses her of shoplifting.

Eva denies it, and gets asked to open her bag. She also refuses to do this, so she’s asked to walk through the electronic article surveillance system if she’s really innocent. The moment she walks through, the alarms go off.

Everyone stares her down with accusing eyes and the manager agrees to let her go if she quietly returns everything she stole. Downcast, Eva returns to the aisle and checks her bag, only to find Dodger munching on a chicken. She also finds several cans of sardines and shamefully returns them.

Getting home, she scolds Dodger for making her look like a thief, and wonders why he did something like that. It gets worse. Dodger goes back to her bag and brings out a wallet. Eva realizes that it belongs to the tourist from the beach, and quickly uphurls her bag.

She’s so disappointed when a bunch of other stolen stuff falls out of it.

That night, while Dodger grooms her hair, Eva figures out that he doesn’t even know stealing is bad. With this in mind, she resolves to help him unlearn this bad habit.

Come daybreak, Eva lines up a bunch of jewelry and watches alongside some toys, and asks Dodger to pick out only the toys. Unfortunately, the moment he grabs a paper bag, he only fills it up with the jewelry and watches.

Next, she tries having him choose between a banana and a dollar bill; the first time, Dodger picks the dollar bill, and the second time, he picks both. All the while, Azro disturbs the good folks in the area, asking if they’ve seen his monkey.

It eventually works as two skateboarding children admit to seeing Eva put a monkey in her bag right outside the supermarket. They then give Azro directions.

At home, Eva surrounds Dodger with everything gold and silver, yelling at him anytime he tries to pick any of them up.

On the other hand, Azro finds the supermarket, and lies to the saleswoman that caught Eva shoplifting that she tried to rip him off too. He even lies that he’d talk to Eva’s father about her stealing if he knew the man’s address. This is all the spiteful lady needs to hear for her to fetch the address for Azro.

Then, a tired Eva calls a cab to take her home, lying that her dad is in the shower. She takes her stuff outside, and enters to ensure everything is just as she met it. Too bad Azro pulls up his truck and trailer home in front.

He rings the doorbell seconds later, but it’s much too fast for Eva to believe it’s the cab she called. Azro then yells hello, and this scares Dodger so much that he hides inside Eva’s shirt. Slowly, she makes her way down the stairs, and screams when she sees Azro’s face.

She tries to deceive him by calling for her dad, but Azro figures out that he’s not home. As he steps into the building, Dodger and Eva run upstairs. Azro calmly follows, making it clear that all he wants to do is talk.

While he’s searching for them, Eva removes the louver blades in the attic from the window and climbs her way out of it. She then crouches and slowly comes to the front porch to grab her bags. Dodger spends his time trying to disengage Azro’s trailer from his truck, and Eva shows up after grabbing her things to help him.

Just then, the cab arrives and the driver blares its horn loud enough to draw Azro’s attention. Quickly, Eva gets into the cab, waving at Azro and pretending that he’s her dad. The cab driver almost refuses to take her, but he changes his mind when she flashes a wad of cash.

Of course, Azro is hot on their trail, but the cab driver, oblivious, stops at a stop sign. In an attempt to hurry him up, Eva gives him all of the cash, and the cabbie hits the accelerator. They take off instantly, and Azro has to speed up. This causes his trailer home to disengage from his truck, and soon, it appears by his side.

This little distraction almost gets Azro in an accident, forcing him to stop and watch as his trailer just rolls into the sunset. Eva can’t stop giggling after seeing this.

Azro gets held up by the cops, and as he gives his statement, his pager goes off. He heads to the nearest payphone to return the call and it turns out the folks at the zoo have information about his monkey.

Eva arrives home tired and lies to Tom that her dad is at a game. Just then, Amy’s earring falls out of her bag and she gets defensive when Tom asks about it.

Meanwhile, Azro meets the old couple Dodger stole from and they mention seeing the monkey at the pet store down the street. Without wasting time, Azro heads down there.

He stakes the place out until Eva drops off Dodger, and enters the store the moment she leaves. At school, Eva opens up to her teacher about lying too much, and her teacher advises her to just tell the truth.

While this is going on, Tom finds out the earring that fell from Eva’s bag was the same one Amy reported stolen. He goes on to call Amy so they can talk about it.

Like she always does, Eva drops by the pet store after school. She doesn’t find Annie at the counter and she can feel that something’s wrong. Eva asks about Annie, and finds out that she went down to the station because some guy stole from her.

Immediately, she runs to the cages, but Dodger isn’t in any of them. Dejected, she pulls her empty bag along, only for Annie’s replacement to slip something into it.

Azro gets his son, Mark, to come along in an attempt to get Dodger to calm down. Anyway, Eva gets home to find her mom and Tom in her room, with Amy weeping like she lost someone. Eva then admits that she’s in a lot of trouble.

Consequently, Tom opens a box filled with everything Dodger stole – a box Eva had no idea existed. She tries to explain the sequence of events, but neither Tom nor her mom believes her; they just think she’s been the one doing the stealing.

As for Dodger, Azro takes him to go see Drake and Charlie’s boss. They ask him for a demonstration before they take him to see their boss, and bring out some jewels. Dodger doesn’t nab them this time, and Azro tries handing the monkey a satchel.

In turn, Dodger smacks it out of Azro’s hand, and repeats this action a couple more times. Perplexed, Azro asks for Charlie’s wallet and hands it to Dodger, only for the monkey to hand it back to Charlie. They begin to worry, but their boss asks to see them at this point.

By the time Charlie comes back out, Azro and Dodger are long gone. With his son in the passenger seat, Azro curses, wondering what Eva did to his monkey.

Back home, everyone surrounds Eva, trying to get her to say the version of the truth they want to hear. To make things worse, Peter arrives and everyone finds out that Eva was alone at his house over the weekend. Once again, she’s accused of stealing, and once again, she blames her monkey.

As soon as Azro slows down by the park, Dodger escapes through the sunroof in his trailer home. A kind lady stops her stroller to tell Azro about it, and her dog chases after the monkey, pulling her kid along.

Coincidentally, Katie is playing basketball nearby and clocks Dodger as he runs across the field.

Back home, Peter, Amy, and Tom deliberate on Eva’s future, having no idea that she’s eavesdropping. While Azron and his son search the park, Katie calls Eva’s house. Tessa picks up, and gets the phone to Eva. Sadly, this time, Katie keeps her promise to keep Dodger a secret.

She does tell Eva that she saw him at the park though. Upon hearing this, Eva leaves a note on her door and sneaks out of the house.

Just as she leaves, Dodger enters Eva’s room through her window, but only Jack, who hasn’t spoken a word, sees him. Tessa tries to stop Jack from entering Eva’s room but she notices the letter attached to the door. Reading it, she finds out that Eva has gone in search of her monkey.

She breaks the news to the others, only for Jack to pull his mom to Eva’s room. Impatient, she tries to dismiss him, but Jack utters his first word – monkeys. Amy’s eyes light up and she calls Tessa, Tom, and Peter to the room, explaining that Jack just said his first word.

To prove her right, Jack says the word monkey again, but Peter thinks he’s talking about the stuffed kind. Then, Jack squats underneath Eva’s bed, forcing Dodger to come out.

Everyone’s faith in Eva is restored by this singular act, and smiles of relief go round the room.

Meanwhile, Eva continues to scour the park in search of Dodger but has to sit after a while. She looks to her left a little too late, making it impossible for her to run before Azro blocks her path.

He begins to harass her, blaming her for stopping Dodger’s stealing habit. Amidst the terrible situation, this brings a smile to Eva’s lips, but Azro quickly erases it by grabbing her hair. Dragging Eva along, he asks her to call Dodger, but she stubbornly refuses.

Then, Tom arrives at the park in a police car, with his colleagues up front, and Peter and Amy in the back. They all file out and begin their search, but Dodger runs off.

He easily tracks down Azro, and ambushes him with a gunshot. The sound of a gun going off is the only thing that informs Tom that Dodger stole his gun.

Meanwhile, Eva pleads with the monkey to be careful. Azro tries to approach Dodger once again, but the monkey fires another bullet at him, forcing him to take cover behind a tree. He’s still hiding when Tom and the others come running, so he takes off from there.

Amy wastes no time embracing her kid, and apologizes for not believing her.

As for Azro, he all but makes it to his truck before coming face-to-face with the mobsters, Drake and Charlie. They’re about to hurt him when Tom shows up, gun in one hand, and his police badge in the other. Azro runs towards Tom immediately, and the mobsters reluctantly make their escape.

Unfortunately, Azro expects kindness from Tom, but Tom doesn’t give it. Instead, he cuffs the criminal and his subordinate searches him. They find a satchel containing all of the jewelry Dodger stole from Amy and Tom can’t wait to give her back her mother’s ring.

Then, Eva asks her mom if she can keep Dodger, only for Mark to show up, his cap faced backwards like Eva always wears it. She can tell that he’s Dodger’s real owner, so they agree to let the monkey choose a master.

In turn, Mark tempts Dodger with a lizard and the monkey chooses him.

It’s at this moment that Tom returns with Amy’s ring. A dejected Eva kind of ruins the moment, explaining what happened and asking to be taken home. She can’t stop crying as they walk down to the car, and her mom takes a moment to comfort her.

At the same time, Dodger struggles his leash with Mark, trying his best to return to Eva. Sadly, Mark is stronger than the monkey. He pulls Dodger to a payphone, and the monkey takes this chance to disengage his leash and run away.

He keeps running until Eva comes into view, and when she sees him, her face lights up. She can’t wait to hold him, so she also runs towards him, and they both meet each other halfway.

Smiling ear to ear, Eva embraces Dodger. It’s such a beautiful moment that Tom, Amy, and Peter can’t stop smiling too.

Later on, Eva decides to participate in her class’s show and tell. She starts by bringing Dodger, and then introduces Jack to her classmates. She admits to loving the toddler and hugs him in front of the class.

Shortly after, she gets Dodger to say hi to everyone, and they gather round to listen to her story.

Eva has always wanted a pet and considered it fate that Dodger came to her in the park. Although the monkey started off as a thieving animal, she rehabilitated and took care of him. Ultimately, all the attempts the universe made to keep them apart failed, and the pet and his owner found each other again.

Believe that you can make your own fate, but never underestimate the power of what’s meant to be.

Monkey Trouble 1994.