Plot
While touring Burundi with local guide Kwame and a trio of porters, San Francisco heiress Ursula Stanhope encounters her spoiled fiancé Lyle van de Groot, who wishes to take her home and has hired two poachers, Max and Thor, to track her down. Kwame tells the group of the "White Ape", a local legend of a superhuman primate that lives on Ape Mountain and rules the jungle. The next day, Ursula refuses to go home until she sees an ape, so Lyle enters the jungle to find them. The two encounter a lion, and Lyle knocks himself unconscious trying to flee. Ursula is saved by the "White Ape", George.
After taking Ursula to his tree house home and caring for her, George introduces her to his three animal friends: Ape, the sapient talking gorilla who raised him; Shep, his pet African forest elephant that acts like a dog; and Tookie, a toco toucan who gives him news involving the jungle's animals. George is smitten with Ursula and attempts to woo her; Ursula soon reciprocates his attraction, and her time spent with George makes her more fond of him.
Lyle, Max, and Thor soon arrive at the treehouse, but Ursula berates Lyle for trying to abandon her during the lion attack. Max and Thor try to shoot Shep for his ivory, and Ape shouts at Shep to run. Everyone is stunned by the sight of the talking ape, and Max and Thor decide to tranquilize and capture him. George runs to stop them, and is accidentally shot by Lyle, who thought the gun was his novelty lighter that he had planned to scare George with. Lyle is imprisoned after being identified as the shooter by the porters. Max and Thor are deported, but resolve to return to the treehouse to capture Ape and make a fortune off of him in Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Ursula takes George to San Francisco to get medical help for his gunshot wound and to show him the human world, which he has not seen since infancy.
While Ursula is at work, George explores San Francisco on his own and uses his vine-swinging skills to rescue a man whose paraglider has become caught on the suspension cables of the Bay Bridge. Ursula admits what happened in Africa to her parents and intends to break off the wedding, but her overbearing mother, Beatrice, objects. At a party intended to celebrate Ursula's engagement, Beatrice takes George aside. She tells him that Ursula's marriage to Lyle must proceed as planned and threatens to harm George if he interferes. In Burundi, Max and Thor tranquilize Ape; before he falls unconscious and is captured, Ape sends Tookie to find George. Tookie flies to San Francisco and informs George of Ape's capture, forcing George to leave Ursula and return to Burundi. While confused by George's unexplained departure, Ursula realizes she loves George and goes to find him, despite her mother's protests.
Max and Thor, having returned to the treehouse after getting turned around by a phony shortcut trail, are confronted by George. He fights and defeats them with help from Ursula and the animals. Lyle then appears, revealed to have escaped prison and become a legally ordained minister able to perform marriage ceremonies. Lyle has George subdued by a group of mercenaries, and forcibly takes Ursula to a boat waiting on the Ape River to perform their marriage rites. However, the ceremony is interrupted by a series of harsh rapids that put them both in danger. George is rescued from the mercenaries with help from Shep and the gorillas, and swings in to reach Ursula and Lyle, but crashes painfully into a massive tree. As the tree falls over the river, George manages to pull Ursula to safety while the rapids lead Lyle into a dark cave. Lyle, thinking Ursula is still in the boat, proclaims their wedding vows, but to his horror, he discovers that he has just married himself to a gorilla, who kisses him.
George and Ursula declare their love for each other and marry, with the people of San Francisco, Africa, and the jungle's animals in attendance. Some time later, the two live in their treehouse and raise a son, George Jr., whom they present to the animals from atop Pride Rock (a parody of another Disney film "The Lion King"). A mid-credits scene shows that Ape has moved to Las Vegas and become a famous singer, with a humiliated Max and Thor forced to be part of his performance.
Production
Screenwriter Dana Olsen originally wrote a spec script titled Gorilla Boy, a parody of Tarzan told from the perspective of a wealthy American woman similar to the character of Jane. Although Olsen initially believed Disney would not be interested—due to the studio having recently acquired the rights to the George of the Jungle animated series—his agent submitted the script, and Disney acquired it. Olsen was subsequently hired to rewrite the existing screenplay. He later stated that the development process at Disney was collaborative and that he appreciated the studio’s script notes. [7]
Animal scenes in the film were created using a combination of live animals, puppetry, and computer-generated imagery. Scenes involving the lion, elephant, and toucan used a mix of real animals and animatronic or CGI elements, including a puppet lion during the fight sequence and CGI to depict Shep the elephant behaving like a dog. Live animals, including an orangutan, chimpanzee, and capuchin monkeys, were also used, with minor computer enhancement for certain sequences. [8]
Four adult African lions were used in filming. Joseph and Kaleb were trained by Charlie Sammut of Monterey Zoo in Salinas, California. [9] Sammut also served as Brendan Fraser's stunt double for a lion attack sequence. Additional lions, Bongo and Caesar, were trained by Michael Hackenberger of Bowmanville Zoo. [10] Animatronic puppetry was employed for scenes requiring specific behavior, such as a lion winking at George from behind a bush. Fraser also interacted with a stuffed lion in certain shots. [8]
The gorilla characters were portrayed by costumed performers from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. [11] [8] Their suits were made from yak hair, and their facial expressions were controlled using remote-operated animatronics. Additional visual effects were provided by Dream Quest Images. [11] [12]
The jungle environment was constructed on a soundstage in Playa del Rey, Los Angeles. The stage measured approximately 750 feet (230 m) in length, 90 feet (27 m) in width, and 71 feet (22 m) in height at its peak. [11]
