The Jungle Book 2

Last updated

The Jungle Book 2
Junglebook2 movieposter.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySteve Trenbirth
Written by
Produced by
  • Mary Thorne
  • Christopher Chase
Starring
Edited by
  • Christopher K. Gee
  • Peter Lonsdale
Music by Joel McNeely
Production
companies
Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
Release date
  • February 14, 2003 (2003-02-14)
Running time
72 minutes [3]
CountriesUnited States
Australia
LanguageEnglish
Budget$20 million [3]
Box office$135.7 million [3]

The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 animated adventure film [4] produced by the Australian office at DisneyToon Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The film was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February 14.

Contents

The film is a sequel to Walt Disney's 1967 film The Jungle Book , and stars Haley Joel Osment as the voice of Mowgli and John Goodman as the voice of Baloo.

The film was originally produced as a direct-to-video film, but was released theatrically first, similar to the Peter Pan sequel Return to Never Land . It is the fourth animated Disney sequel to have a theatrical release rather than going direct-to-video after The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Fantasia 2000 (1999), and Return to Never Land (2002) and the last one until Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018). The film is not based on The Second Jungle Book , but they do have several characters in common.

The film received negative reviews criticizing the animation and plot, but it was a box office success, grossing $135.7 million against a $20 million budget.

Plot

Following the events of the previous film, Mowgli now resides in the "Man-Village" with Shanti, the girl who lured him into the village, having been being adopted by the village leader, who has a wife named Messua and a son named Ranjan. However, wanting to return to the exciting life of the jungle, Mowgli nearly leads the other children in the village into the jungle. Mowgli is punished by the village leader for disobeying him by leaving the village and putting the other children in danger.

Meanwhile in the jungle, Baloo starts to feel lonely and misses Mowgli. He goes to the Man-Village to get Mowgli, but Bagheera alongside Colonel Hathi and his herd tries to keep him away from there. Shere Khan has returned to Baloo and Bagheera's part of the jungle, seeking revenge on Mowgli for defeating him in the first film much to the vultures surprise along with their new member Lucky.

Later that night Baloo gets to the Man-Village and takes Mowgli back into the jungle; unbeknownst to them, Shere Khan had also entered the village looking for Mowgli, only to be attacked by the villagers. In the ensuing chase, Shanti and Ranjan sneak into the jungle to rescue Mowgli, believing that Baloo is a rabid animal who has kidnapped him. Kaa attempts to eat Shanti (after another attempt to eat Mowgli as he was with Baloo) only to be hit with a stick by Ranjan.

Bagheera learns of Mowgli's escape from the village when the humans search the jungle for him (which causes many animals including Hathi and his herd to be scared) and immediately suspects Baloo. Mowgli instructs Baloo to scare off Shanti should she appear, and bemoans about his boring life in the Man-Village. Baloo and Mowgli journey to King Louie's old temple (King Louie is mentioned to have moved out), for a party. When the jungle animals mock Shanti and other aspects of Mowgli's life in the Man-Village, Mowgli angrily leaves. He finds Shanti and Ranjan, but Baloo scares Shanti. When the truth comes out that Mowgli ordered Baloo to scare her, Shanti and Ranjan run away, abandoning Mowgli.

Baloo realizes that Mowgli misses his village life, but when Mowgli tries to make amends with his human friends, they are cornered by Shere Khan. The tiger chases Mowgli and Shanti to an abandoned temple built above a lake of lava. Baloo instructs Bagheera to protect Ranjan while he goes to save Mowgli and Shanti. After confusing Shere Khan by banging several different gongs, Shanti's presence is revealed to Shere Khan. Baloo tackles Shere Khan to the ground, allowing Mowgli and Shanti enough time to escape, but the tiger chases them to a statue across a pit of lava. Shere Khan is trapped within the statue's mouth, and it plummets onto a large stone in the lava below.

With Shere Khan finally thwarted, Baloo decides to let Mowgli return to the Man-Village with Shanti and Ranjan, and Bagheera proudly compliments Baloo for making a wise decision. Upon returning to the Man-Village, Mowgli reconciles with the village leader, who apologizes to Mowgli for failing to understand that the jungle was part of his identity. Mowgli embraces his new life in the Man-Village, and the children return daily to visit Baloo and Bagheera in the jungle.

Voice cast

As four decades past since the release of the first film, a new cast came in to play the characters. This film was the last film that Tony Jay voiced Shere Khan after playing the character following George Sanders' death. As King Louie does not appear in the film due to legal issues with Louis Prima's estate, Jim Cummings does not voice the character but voices Kaa, and Colonel Hathi in the film.

Additional voices are provided by an uncredited J. Grant Albrecht, Jeff Bennett, Brian Cummings, Baron Davis, Jess Harnell, and Devika Parikh.

Songs

Songs from the first film were composed by Terry Gilkyson and Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman with new songs by Lorraine Feather, Paul Grabowsky, and Joel McNeely. Marty Stuart reportedly submitted songs for the film during production. [7]

  1. "I Wan'na Be like You" – Smash Mouth
  2. "Jungle Rhythm" – Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan
  3. "The Bare Necessities" – Baloo
  4. "Colonel Hathi's March"
  5. "The Bare Necessities" – Baloo, Mowgli
  6. "W-I-L-D" – Baloo
  7. "Jungle Rhythm (Reprise)" – Mowgli
  8. "The Bear Necessities (Reprise)" – Baloo, Mowgli, Shanti
  9. "Right Where I Belong" – Windy Wagner

Production

In the 1990s, screenwriting duo Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir submitted a Jungle Book 2 screenplay in which Baloo ventured to save his romantic interest from a poacher. Disney ultimately went in a different direction for the sequel. [8]

John Goodman recorded his voice work in New Orleans while Haley Joel Osment recorded his in California. Due to a legal dispute, the character of King Louie from the original Jungle Book could not be included in this film. However, he makes a non-physical appearance as a shadow puppet in the beginning of the film and is briefly mentioned in the middle of the film. The decision was made to keep Shere Khan in shadow during the beginning of the film to "reflect his 'wounded pride'".

The film was originally intended to be released straight-to-video but in February 2002, Disney announced that the film, as well as Piglet's Big Movie would be released theatrically. [9] The film was given a theatrical release in all territories except in Japan. [10]

Reception

Critical reception

The Jungle Book 2 received generally negative reviews from critics. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an approval rating of 19% based on 91 reviews, with an average rating of 4.4/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "This inferior rehash of The Jungle Book should have gone straight to video". [11] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 38 out of 100 based on 24 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". [12] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale. [13]

Box office

The film was released on February 14, 2003 and opened at #4 in its 4-day opening weekend with $14,109,797. [14] At the end of its run, the film grossed $47,901,582 in the United States and $87,802,017 in foreign countries totaling $135,703,599 worldwide. It could be considered a box office success, based on its $20 million budget. [3]

Home media

The Jungle Book 2 was released on both VHS and DVD on June 10, 2003. The bonus features included the behind-the-scenes, some music videos, "W-I-L-D", "I Wan'na Be like You" and "Jungle Rhythm", and deleted scenes. It was rereleased on June 17, 2008 as a "Special Edition" DVD with additional bonus features. [15] [16] In the United States, the 2008 DVD release sold 126,593 units and grossed $1.83 million in two weeks. [17] The film was first released on Blu-ray on March 18, 2014; a Blu-ray release was also included as part of the Disney Legacy Animated Film Collection on November 14, 2023. [18] [19] As of 2024, an unlimited DVD/Blu-ray release of this film has yet to be announced.

Cancelled sequel and TV series

In 2003, a third installment to The Jungle Book was planned. It would have been about Baloo and Shere Khan being captured and sold off to a Russian circus, and Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan, and Bagheera deciding to save them both. Over the course of the film, Shere Khan regrets his hatred against humanity after the events of the previous two films because of his capture, and eventually reforms after Mowgli and his friends rescued them. The project was never materialized and has yet to be reinstated due to Tony Jay's death in 2006. [20] [21] Before the movie was released a TV series taking place after the movie was pitched by John Fountain and was called Mowgli and Baloo's Jungle Jams which was to be shown in the style of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes but it was never accepted. [22]

Notes

  1. ↑ Animation outsourced to Walt Disney Animation Australia. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mowgli</span> Fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling

Mowgli is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Mowgli stories featured among Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book stories. He is a feral boy from the Pench area in Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, who originally appeared in Kipling's short story "In the Rukh" and then became the most prominent character in the collections The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book (1894–1895), which also featured stories about other characters.

<i>The Second Jungle Book</i> 1895 childrens book by Rudyard Kipling

The Second Jungle Book is a sequel to The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. First published in 1895, it features five stories about Mowgli and three unrelated stories, all but one set in India, most of which Kipling wrote while living in Vermont. All of the stories were previously published in magazines in 1894–5, often under different titles. The 1994 film The Jungle Book used it as a source.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baloo</span> Fictional sloth bear

Baloo is a main fictional character featured in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book from 1894 and The Second Jungle Book from 1895. Baloo, a sloth bear, is the strict teacher of the cubs of the Seeonee wolf pack. His most challenging pupil is the "man-cub" Mowgli. Baloo and Bagheera, the panther, save Mowgli from Shere Khan, the tiger, and endeavour to teach Mowgli the Law of the Jungle in many of The Jungle Book stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bagheera</span> Fictional panther from Kiplings Jungle Book

Bagheera is a fictional character in Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book. He is a black panther who serves as friend, protector and mentor to the "man-cub" Mowgli. The word bagheera is Hindi for panther or leopard, although the root word bagh means any form of panthera and is nowadays mostly used to refer to the Royal Bengal tiger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaa</span> Fictional animal character

Kaa is a fictional character from The Jungle Book stories written by Rudyard Kipling. He is a giant snake who is 30 ft (9.1 m) long.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shere Khan</span> Fictional tiger in "The Jungle Book"

Shere Khan is a fictional Bengal tiger in Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and its adaptations, in which he is often portrayed as the main antagonist, itself an exaggeration of his role in the original stories, which he only appears in a third of. The name roughly translates as tiger ruler, with shere being the Persian word for 'tiger'), and khan being used as a title of distinction among the Turco-Mongol peoples, usually meaning chief or ruler. According to The Kipling Society, the name "show[s] that he is the chief among tigers". Shere Khan is named after Afghan Emperor Sher Shah Suri.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (1967 film) 1967 animated Disney film

The Jungle Book is a 1967 American animated musical adventure film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by Buena Vista Distribution. Based very loosely on the "Mowgli" stories from Rudyard Kipling's 1894 book of the same name, it is the final animated feature film to be produced by Walt Disney, who died during its production. It was directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Ken Anderson, and Vance Gerry. Featuring the voices of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, and Sterling Holloway, the film's plot follows Mowgli, a feral child raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, as his friends, Bagheera the panther and Baloo the bear, try to convince him to leave the jungle before the ruthless tiger Shere Khan arrives.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (1994 film) 1994 film by Stephen Sommers

Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, also known as The Jungle Book, is a 1994 American adventure film co-written and directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Edward S. Feldman and Raju Patel, from a story by Ronald Yanover and Mark Geldman. Distributed by Buena Vista Pictures, it is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney's 1967 animated film The Jungle Book, and of the Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) by Rudyard Kipling. Unlike its counterparts, the animal characters in this film do not talk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bandar-log</span> Fictional term from The Jungle Book

Bandar-log is a term used in Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book (1894) to describe the monkeys of the Seeonee jungle.

<i>Jungle Cubs</i> American animated television series

Jungle Cubs is an American animated series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation for ABC in 1996, serving as the prequel to the 1967 film The Jungle Book as it's set in the youth of the animal characters years before the events of the film. The show was a hit, running for two seasons on ABC from 1996 to 1998 before its syndication in re-runs on the Disney Channel. The show was broadcast on Toon Disney, but was taken off the schedule in 2001. Re-runs aired on Disney Junior in the US from 2012 to 2013. The show also aired in the United Kingdom on Disney Cinemagic and in Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hathi</span> Jungle Book character

Hathi is a fictional character created by Rudyard Kipling for the Mowgli stories collected in The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895). Hathi is an elephant that lives in the Seeoni jungle. Kipling named him after hāthī (हाथी), the Hindi word for "elephant".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Red Dog (Kipling short story)</span> 1895 short story by Rudyard Kipling

"Red Dog" is a Mowgli story by Rudyard Kipling.

<i>Adventures of Mowgli</i> 1967 Soviet film

Adventures of Mowgli is an animated feature-length story originally released as five animated shorts of about 20 minutes each between 1967 and 1971 in the Soviet Union. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. They were directed by Roman Davydov and made by Soyuzmultfilm studio. In 1973, the five films were combined into a single 96-minute feature film. The Russian DVD release of the restored footage, distributed by "Krupnyy Plan" and "Lizard", separates the animation into the original five parts.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (1989 TV series) Italian-Japanese anime television series

The Jungle Book is a Japanese anime adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's original collection of stories, The Jungle Book. It aired in 1989, and consists of a total of 52 episodes.

<i>The Jungle Book: Mowglis Story</i> 1998 film by Nick Marck

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story is a 1998 American adventure film directed by Nick Marck, produced by Mark H. Orvitz, and written by José Rivera and Jim Herzfeld. It is the third film adaptation by The Walt Disney Company of the Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book (1894) by Rudyard Kipling. It stars Brandon Baker, and features the voice work of Brian Doyle-Murray, Eartha Kitt, Clancy Brown, Peri Gilpin, and Sherman Howard.

<i>The Jungle Book Groove Party</i> 2000 video game

The Jungle Book Groove Party is a music rhythm video game developed and published by Ubi Soft for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2. Featuring similar gameplay to the Dance Dance Revolution series, the game features characters and songs from Disney's film The Jungle Book (1967). The game was packaged with a dance pad.

<i>The Jungle Book</i> (2010 TV series) 3D CGI animated television series

The Jungle Book is a 3D CGI animated television series co-produced by DQ Entertainment International, MoonScoop, Ellipsanime Productions, ZDF, ZDF Enterprises, TF1 and Les Cartooneurs Associés. It is based on the Rudyard Kipling book of the same name.

<i>Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle</i> 2018 film directed by Andy Serkis

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a 2018 adventure drama film directed by Andy Serkis with a screenplay by Callie Kloves, based on stories collected in All the Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys, and Freida Pinto, along with voice and motion-capture performances from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, and Serkis. In the film, an orphaned human boy who was raised by wolves, sets out on a journey to find a human village while evading Shere Khan.

The Jungle Book is a Disney media franchise that commenced in 1967 with the theatrical release of the 1967 feature film. It is based on Rudyard Kipling's works of the same name. The franchise includes a 2003 sequel to the animated film and three live-action films produced by Walt Disney Pictures.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Jungle Book 2 (2003)". Archived from the original on March 1, 2021.
  2. ↑ "Made-for kidvids become global goldmines for Disney's coffers". September 2002. Archived from the original on 2024-02-18. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The Jungle Book 2 (2003)". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2012-12-12. Retrieved 2008-12-05.
  4. ↑ "The Jungle Book 2 (2003)". AFI Catalog of Feature Films . Archived from the original on June 2, 2021. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Walter (November 19, 1999). "Quick takes". Knoxville News Sentinel . Knoxville, Tennessee. p. 79. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  6. ↑ Phil Collins (2016). Not Dead Yet. London, England: Century Books. p.  269. ISBN   978-1-780-89513-0.
  7. ↑ Risling, Lori (March 3, 2000). "Nashville Notes". The Morning Star . Vernon, British Columbia, Canada. p. 20. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
  8. ↑ Armstrong, Josh (2012-03-05). "Bob Hilgenberg and Rob Muir on the Rise and Fall of Disney's Circle 7 Animation". Animated Views. Archived from the original on 2012-03-07. Retrieved 2013-04-24.
  9. ↑ Hettrick, Scott (2002-02-19). "Disney bets on Piglet's prospects". Variety. Archived from the original on 2023-10-25. Retrieved 2024-02-22.
  10. ↑ "Made-for kidvids become global goldmines for Disney's coffers". September 2002. Archived from the original on 2024-05-06. Retrieved 2024-02-18.
  11. ↑ "The Jungle Book 2 (2003)". Rotten Tomatoes . Fandango. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Jungle Book 2 Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive. Archived from the original on June 1, 2018. Retrieved May 21, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Find CinemaScore" (Type "Jungle Book 2, The" in the search box). CinemaScore . Retrieved April 7, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Weekend Box Office Results for February 14-17, 2003". Box Office Mojo . Internet Movie Database (which is owned by Amazon.com). February 18, 2003. Archived from the original on December 15, 2015. Retrieved August 19, 2013.
  15. ↑ "The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition". Amazon. June 17, 2008. Archived from the original on May 6, 2024. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  16. ↑ Cedeno, Kelvin. "The Jungle Book 2: Special Edition DVD Review". UltimateDisney.com. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 24, 2015.
  17. ↑ "The Jungle Book 2 (2003) - Video Sales". The Numbers . Archived from the original on August 28, 2018. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
  18. ↑ Dela Paz, Maggie (2023-09-11). "Disney Legacy Animated Film Blu-ray Release Date Set for 100-Movie Collection". Comingsoon.net. Archived from the original on 2023-09-12. Retrieved 2023-09-11.
  19. ↑ "The Jungle Book 2 [Blu-ray]". Amazon. 18 March 2014. Archived from the original on 5 December 2023. Retrieved August 14, 2015.
  20. ↑ "Daytime Emmy nominated Tony Jay Loses Fight to Recover". Archived from the original on 7 September 2006. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  21. ↑ Rouner, Jeff. "Tony Jay: Playlist for the Ultimate Voice-Over Villain". Houston Press. Retrieved November 9, 2024.
  22. ↑ https://screenrant.com/canceled-jungle-book-3-facts. Archived 2020-12-12 at the Wayback Machine
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.