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Film
Hot off the copy machine
The Jungle Book 2 is a by-the-book replication of the Disney classic full of reminders that the original was much better.
By STEVE PERSALL, Times Film Critic
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 13, 2003
[Disney]
Mowgli, right, introduces new friends Shanti, left, and Ranjan to old pal Baloo.
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The Jungle Book, released in 1967, was the final movie Walt Disney personally supervised before his death in December 1966. A sequel opening Friday suggests how little his successors learned from the master about imagination.
The Jungle Book 2 is essentially a carbon copy of the original, to the point of hiring sound-alike actors to replace classic voices, plus three encores of the Oscar-winning song The Bare Necessities. John Goodman handles it well as Baloo the bear, with his gravelly tones not far from Phil Harris' rasp. But three times in a movie barely lasting an hour minus credits? That's unbearable.
Sorry for the pun, but that's the level of humor provided by six -- count 'em, six -- screenwriters using characters created by Rudyard Kipling to imitate the 1967 script. What would Walt say about hiring six authors for an hour of material cribbed from four writers he paid 36 years ago?
The story picks up a few days after the first film's conclusion, with nature boy Mowgli living in the village where he followed a girl at the end of the first movie. But he misses the jungle where Baloo the bear and Bagheera the panther raised him, even with dangers posed by the tiger Shere Khan. Mowgli returns for romps with Baloo, stuffy nagging from Bagheera and silky menace by Shere Khan.
The Beatlelike vultures are back, and although King Louie is missing, his big-band baboons and other primates make the joint jump again. The Jungle Book 2 doesn't expand upon the original as much as continually remind viewers of its superiority. The movie is a decent diversion for children who love the original and don't complain about repetition.
It isn't surprising that The Jungle Book 2 once was to be another of the studio's straight-to-video efforts. But it makes you wonder how bad Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas must be to avoid a theatrical release. Hiring top-notch voices such as Goodman and Haley Joel Osment (Mowgli) is the only difference. Just the bare necessities to make a few bucks.
The Jungle Book 2
- Grade: C
- Director: Steve Trenbirth
- Cast: Voices of John Goodman, Haley Joel Osment, Tony Jay, Phil Collins, Jim Cummings, Bob Joles
- Screenplay: Carter Crocker, Karl Geurs, David Reynolds, Tom Rogers, Roger S.H. Schulman, Evan Spiliotopoulos, based on characters created by Rudyard Kipling
- Rating: G, mild tension
- Running time: 72 min.
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