The Jungle Book 2 (Review)

"THE JUNGLE BOOK 2" (THE 2003)         

Reviewed by Robbin Clifford

The original "The Jungle Book" was one of the Disney Studios biggest hits and the last Mouse House animation directly supervised by the late great Walt Disney, himself. That was back in 1967 and it has taken all that time to tell us what happens after the man-cub, Mowgli (voice of Haley Joel Osment, Gave up his jungle home and the companionship of his best friend, Baloo (voice of John Goodman ), to live with the rules of the human village in "The Jungle Book 2".

Disney studios seems to be getting into the habit of taking the second tier sequels of its classics that used to go direct to video, like" The Little Mermaid 2 " "Aladdin 2" and "The Lion King 2", and making a run at the big screen before the little screen takes over. With kids flicks such as "Return to Neverland" and "The Jungle Book 2" it's nice to see that the effort being made to infuse these lower budget follow-ups with e same intent and quality, if not the sco pe, of the originals.

 "The Jungle Book 2" is an example of a Disney anima- tion that b on the pay-per-view and video Store elongs helves but gives a good enough show to satisfy the Sat urday matinee kid crowd. While doesn't have the num ber of songs or the original source material(after all a Rudyard Kipling the screenplay by Karl does a better than average job of crearing a lively sequel.

 Mowgli has been living in the safe, boring village since he was adopted by his little buddy Ranjan's(voice of Connor Funk) family and developed a crush on the girl Shanti(voice of Mae Whitman), who got him to come out of the jungle in the first place. But, Mowgli cant forget his old best friend, Baloo(John Goodman), his beloved papa bear, and the laid back bruin, too, yearns to see his little man-cub pal. Even though the wise pan- ther Bagheera(voice of Bob Joles) does his best to keep Baloo away from his friend, including the use of the dedicated pachyderms of Colonel Hathi's(voice of Jim Cummings) Elephant Patrol, it is all for naught.

Baloo may be simple but he certainly knows his own mind and he is able to get around Bagss defense, sneaks into the village to find his best friend, Mowgli, for a grand reunion. But, the noise over Baloos quest reaches the ears of the wicked tiger, Shere Khan(voice of Tony Jay). who Mowgli bested in the original. When Baloo enters the village so does Shere Khan and a big commo- tion ensues with the villagers battling the dreaded t while Shanti and Ranjan set in pursuit of the bear and Mowgli, thinking that their friend is in danger, This begins an adventure that has everyone scarching for Mowgli, friend and foe alike, with thrills, spills, songs and dance that will be one of the children's entertain ment staples on home video.

My only complaint about"The Jungle Book 2 is that it could have used another song or two. The ones that are here, though, are good fun and well staged to toe tap- Ping pleasure. The hipster Jungle Rhythm the repriscd big scale Busby Bare Necessities" and the super-fun. Berkeley esque swing num W-l L-D" are great fun to watch and listen to, for kids and adults both.

Vocal characters are uniformly well caste to give continu- ity to the characters first heard 35 years ago. Haley Joel Osment voices Mowgli with the right note throughout, even when doing a soulful solo rendition of"Jungle Rhythm." John Goodman gives just the right, big-hearted, big-sized feel to the original party animal, Baloo, o nally voiced by Phil Harris. Brit stage thesp Tony Jay gives the same sleek, sinister and malicious note to Shere Khan the tiger that George Sanders gave in the original. Bob Joles also does a fine reprise of Bagheera, first done by Sebastian Cabot. Mae Whitman and Connor Funk do well as Shanti and Ranjan and veteran John Rhys-Davies gives caring dignity to Mowglis adopted father. Cummings also gives a good imitation of Sterling Holloway's slithering vocal performance as the sneaky snake Kaa.

Animation is simple with set backgrounds but the quality of the character animation, the fine vocal performances, lively song-and-dance numbers and nice story make"The Jungle Book 2" a fun thing to see at the theater and worth the wait on home video(but you shouldn't have too long to wait). The kids are going to like it, maybe even love it. I give it a B-.

Source : Look Ahead An English Course 3 (www.Review.com)