The Wrong Kid Was Taken in ‘Animals’ and the Kidnappers Are Still a Mystery

The kidnapping in ‘Animals‘ looks simple at first. Ben Affleck stars as Mark Kimball, a charismatic Los Angeles mayoral candidate whose seemingly perfect family life collapses when his son Denny is abducted and the kidnappers demand a massive ransom within hours. It plays like a classic race against the clock.

Then the movie pulls the rug out. The thriller is streaming now on Netflix, and viewers are already asking who was really taken and who was behind the whole thing. The answers are messier than the trailer suggests, so consider this your spoiler warning.

Who Was Kidnapped in ‘Animals’ Is Not Who the Phone Call Claims

An unknown man phones Abigail and Mark, announces that he has kidnapped Denny, and refuses to return him until he receives $7 million. The couple is ready to do whatever it takes, which is exactly what the film wants the audience to believe for a while.

In a midmovie twist, the abductor turns out to have taken the wrong child. The boy is Hector, the son of Ramon, an undocumented worker who is in a relationship with the Kimballs’ housekeeper Cecilia. Denny was never in danger at all.

The mix up comes down to Halloween. In the confusion of matching costumes, the kidnapper grabbed Hector instead of Denny. Both boys had gone trick or treating together, with Cecilia and Ramon’s son joining the Kimballs’ child.

That leaves Ramon in a brutal position. Actor Luis Gerardo Méndez points out that Ramon has no money, no influence and no way to call the police because he is living in the country illegally.

Who Were the Kidnappers in ‘Animals’ and Why the Film Never Says

The frustrating truth is that the movie keeps the culprits anonymous. Viewers never learn who the kidnappers are or get their full story, and that was reportedly the whole point. Kerry Washington told Netflix Tudum that the film is about the bad guy inside all of us and that “it’s not about the enemy.”

What the story does show is a small, amateur crew. Dayle, the fixer played by Gillian Anderson, suspects there are only two abductors, one dominant and one submissive. The ransom demand itself comes from a malevolent mystery caller.

The river handoff proves her wrong. Two men in enormous rabbit masks collect the money, and a third kidnapper has been hiding in the shadows the entire time.

None of them get a name, a motive or a backstory. For some viewers that is a chilling choice, and for others it feels like an unfinished sketch.

How the ‘Animals’ Kidnapping Twist Reshapes the Ransom Drop

Once the truth comes out, Mark gets a darker set of choices. Dayle offers him three options, which are calling the police, paying the ransom, or arranging a hit on the kidnappers so the couple can keep their money. Mark picks the third.

Money is a problem for him either way. Mark has been quietly draining the family bank account to prop up his struggling campaign, and Dayle takes the deed to the couple’s home as a down payment on her fee.

The trip to the exchange is one of the film’s boldest visual ideas. Affleck built a long aerial sequence that travels from the wealthy Westside through Koreatown, downtown and Skid Row before reaching the Los Angeles River. It turns the city itself into a statement about who gets protected and who gets ignored.

Critics are split on how well the whole machine works. One review called the film a lackluster riff on Akira Kurosawa’s ‘High and Low’ that never finds much of a pulse. Another praised its tight pacing and crisp visuals from cinematographer Robert Elswit.

What the ‘Animals’ Ending Means for Mark, Abigail and Ramon

The finale belongs to the person nobody expected. Rand, Dayle’s henchman, shoots the two masked men, but the third kidnapper then shoots Dayle and her man before an unseen gunman kills him. That gunman is Ramon, who overheard where Mark was headed and followed. Mark takes Dayle’s phone and disposes of her body along with the dead abductors.

What follows is pure political spin. Mark claims that he was the one who shot the abductor, and he is praised for his bravery while receiving only a year of probation and community service. Ramon takes the cash from Dayle and returns to Mexico with Cecilia and Hector.

The payoff for Mark is oddly sweet. He wins the mayoral race thanks to a surge of Latino support, and he even flirts with the idea of a presidential run during an interview with Gayle King. Abigail stands beside him through the false confession, and the two now share a united mask.

Méndez calls the ending bittersweet, since Ramon is the true hero yet would be treated as a criminal if the country knew what he did. So we would love to hear in the comments whether Ramon deserved the spotlight Mark stole, and whether you would have kept the secret to protect your own family.