Steve LeVine
Member
Hi all
I am going to see Jungle Book 2 with my nieces today but I thought you might be interested in this review which appeared in the Detroit Free Press
Inferior 'Jungle Book' sequel is barely there
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
Published: Friday, February 14, 2003
You can take the boy out of the jungle, but you can't . . . Oh, you know the rest, which is much the feeling you get from watching Disney's "Jungle Book 2," the latest in a line of straight-to-video sequels released on the big screen.
Mowgli, slightly older than we left him in the 1967 original, lives in a human village after being raised by wolves, apes and bears in the jungle. He looks longingly across the river, remembering the friends he left behind.
Bear buddy Baloo is also experiencing withdrawal. So when the two reunite, they celebrate with a rendition of "Bare Necessities," one of a handful of songs reprised from the first film.
Even the original tunes by Joel McNeely sound like retreads from Disney's past. The highlight of the original, Louis Prima's swinging "Wanna Be Like You," has been relegated to the closing credits and is now performed by Smash Mouth.
Haley Joel Osment (Mowgli), John Goodman (Baloo) and Phil Collins (a wisecracking vulture) inject a spirit missing in the lackluster animation, created by Disney's television wing for one-fifth the cost of a studio-animated feature.
But, ultimately, "Jungle Book 2" only confirms Disney's stinginess. Usually, with a movie only 65 minutes long, the studio will dust off an old cartoon short to pad its running time. Not here, which means you leave the theater feeling gypped as Disney performs its own rendition of "Bare Necessities" -- charging full admission for a slapdash sequel that hardly qualifies as a feature.
I am going to see Jungle Book 2 with my nieces today but I thought you might be interested in this review which appeared in the Detroit Free Press
Inferior 'Jungle Book' sequel is barely there
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
Published: Friday, February 14, 2003
You can take the boy out of the jungle, but you can't . . . Oh, you know the rest, which is much the feeling you get from watching Disney's "Jungle Book 2," the latest in a line of straight-to-video sequels released on the big screen.
Mowgli, slightly older than we left him in the 1967 original, lives in a human village after being raised by wolves, apes and bears in the jungle. He looks longingly across the river, remembering the friends he left behind.
Bear buddy Baloo is also experiencing withdrawal. So when the two reunite, they celebrate with a rendition of "Bare Necessities," one of a handful of songs reprised from the first film.
Even the original tunes by Joel McNeely sound like retreads from Disney's past. The highlight of the original, Louis Prima's swinging "Wanna Be Like You," has been relegated to the closing credits and is now performed by Smash Mouth.
Haley Joel Osment (Mowgli), John Goodman (Baloo) and Phil Collins (a wisecracking vulture) inject a spirit missing in the lackluster animation, created by Disney's television wing for one-fifth the cost of a studio-animated feature.
But, ultimately, "Jungle Book 2" only confirms Disney's stinginess. Usually, with a movie only 65 minutes long, the studio will dust off an old cartoon short to pad its running time. Not here, which means you leave the theater feeling gypped as Disney performs its own rendition of "Bare Necessities" -- charging full admission for a slapdash sequel that hardly qualifies as a feature.
