The Jungle Book 2 (2003)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Steve Trenbirth

Writers:

Carter Crocker (additional written material)
Karl Geurs (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 February 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Animation | Family | Musical

Tagline:

Baloo is Back Only In Theatres This February

Plot:

Mowgli, missing the jungle and his old friends, runs away from the man village unaware of the danger he's in by going back to the wild.

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Village | Tiger | Vulture | Lost

Awards:

1 win & 9 nominations

Cast

John Goodman	...	Baloo (voice)
Haley Joel Osment	...	Mowgli (voice)
Mae Whitman	...	Shanti (voice)
Connor Funk	...	Ranjan (voice)
Bob Joles	...	Bagheera (voice)
Tony Jay	...	Shere Khan (voice)
John Rhys-Davies	...	Ranjan's father (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Kaa / Colonel Hathi / M.C. Monkey (voice)
Phil Collins	...	Lucky (voice)
Jeff Bennett	...	Additional voices (voice)
Veena Bidasha	...	Additional voices (voice)
Brian Cummings	...	Additional voices (voice)
Baron Davis	...	Additional voices (voice)
Bobby Edner	...	Additional voices (voice)
Jess Harnell	...	Additional voices (voice)

Runtime:

72 min

Country:

USA | Australia

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Malaysia:U | USA:G (certificate #39466) | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:o.Al. (bw) | Netherlands:AL | New Zealand:G | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Singapore:G | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | Switzerland:0 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:6 (canton of the Grisons) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | UK:U | Brazil:Livre

Company:

DisneyToon Studios

Trivia:

Originally planned as a direct-to-video release.

Goofs:

Continuity: Before the "Jungle Rhythm" song, Shanti picks up an empty basket and puts three mangoes in it. In the next shot with the basket, it is full of mangoes, with no time to pick that many.

Quotes:

Lucky: Not everyone can be born with such great looks.

Movie Connections:

References The Little Mermaid (1989)

Soundtrack:

Jungle Rhythm

Some good moments; otherwise a thinly-plotted and rather lame sequel!

The original is one of my favourites, with the great songs, originality, memorable characters and its good nature. Other than the existence of the characters, this sequel fails everywhere else, so is definitely inferior in comparison. I can't believe some people thought the original was racist, I personally think someone's ethnicity should not be an issue when talking about voice work. Another problem with the sequel was that the characters, who were funny and memorable in the original, were not very likable at all, not even Baloo. Though Phil Collins makes a brief appearance as a vulture. The biggest flaw, was the plot. It seemed non-existent, and if there was one, it was very uninteresting.The pace was very limp, although the film is quite short.(some sequels like King of Thieves, Enchanted Christmas and Simbas's Pride were surprisingly good despite their short durations) The voice talents try their best, but with a very bad script, and they sounded too similar to the original voices. Haley Joel Osment does his best, but his Mowgli had no personality, likewise with John Goodman as Baloo. Bagheera, Kaa and Ranjan provide some laughs, halfway through, after a very slow beginning. One of the original's highlights was George Sanders' Shere Kahn. Whilst suave and charismatic, Sanders brought a sense of menace to the character. That said, I was deeply disappointed in Tony Jay as Shere Kahn, though it isn't his fault at all; the material they gave him was very bad indeed. He was amazing as the character in Talespin, why did the script writers decide to ruin him, by making him rather empty as a villain? Jay is a truly talented voice actor, like Tim Curry, evident in Beauty and the Beast, Talespin and Hunchback of Notre Dame, but through no fault of his, Shere Kahn was nowhere near as menacing as he was in the original. The songs from the original were legendary, here they were eminently forgettable, and slowed the film down quite considerably. Though on a positive note, some of the animation was average, and there was at least some attempt at humour. I don't think it is as bad as Cinderella 2, but nevertheless it is very thinly-plotted. 4/10 Bethany Cox.