‘Dark Days’ is way over the top

March 4, 2009 at 12:00a.m.

By MARY McNAMARA

From Shakespeare to SpongeBob, there is, apparently, nothing John Rhys-Davies can’t or won’t do.

The plummy voiced, English-born Welsh actor is best known here for his roles in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy — he played Gimli and gave voice to Treebeard — and as Indiana Jones’ faithful, portly companion Sallah.

Indeed, Rhys-Davies is such a democratic actor that he appears in the film clip designed to entertain those waiting in line for the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.

So it’s not surprising that he would agree to narrate a show called “Dark Days in Monkey City” for Animal Planet — friends and colleagues Sean Astin and Bill Nighy gathered accolades and cult followings for narrating “Meerkat Manor,” on which “Dark Days” is clearly based.

But now that it’s out — “Dark Days” premiered last week and airs on Tuesdays — we can only hope that Rhys-Davies has learned what most actors of his stature tend to take to extremes — the power of “no.”

Though “Meerkat Manor” was a fascinating look at the social and political systems of its titular creatures, “Dark Days in Monkey City” is just plain silly, much more a lesson in over-the-top film editing than animal behavior.

Although it is based on the work of the Smithsonian Primate Project, the struggles of various tribes of toque macaque monkeys to dominate the most desirable portions of Sri Lanka’s Monkey City has been so tarted up with graphic-novel noir — including unnerving and inexplicable “300”-like blood splatters — that it seems more satire than animal drama.

Certainly there is something inherently dramatic about these creatures, if only that they tend to live in Sri Lanka’s picturesque ruined temples. But anthropomorphism run amok is the order of the day here. With names that include Portia, Lear, Hector, Gemini and Pandora, these poor primates are endowed with all manner of human emotions, tendencies and follies.