MovieChat Forums > The Jungle Book 2 (2003) Discussion > What destroyed it?

What destroyed it?

posted 17 years ago by professor_dorr
6 replies | jump to latest

Yikes. I rented this movie recently, not expecting much, but trying to keep an open mind. The Jungle Book was and is probably one of my favourite movies. But yikes, yikes, yikes. I understand that a lot of effort and amazing vocal work went into the film, but even that could'nt save it. A lot of people feel the same.

For you, what destroyed it, and what redeemed it slightly?

Destroyed -

1. Terrible script (the worst part of the entire movie)

2. Weak story

3. Colour scheme (It sounds anal, but I wasn't a fan of them trying so hard to retouch the character colours, just because now we have more doesn't mean go crazy.)

4. The accessability. What was great about the first was it had a smart enough script to transend age barriers, whereas this one felt like it was babbling to a bunch of teeny tiny ones.

Redeemed -

1. The wonderful vocal work by some of the actors, notably Jim Cummings, a wonderful Kaa and Hathi.

"You're crazy!""Now, now, Louis, you musn't say things like that because I told you..."

[–] bruno-mailly 17 years ago

Hmmm, let's see some details...

The speech: Way too pedant (in french dubbing at least).

Childrens: Supposed to be young and innocent, but more like mini-adults.

Mowgli: Isn't he supposed to be rather clumsy, shy and learning everything about humans ? No, he is a leader !

Ranjan: A mindless brat who is going to learn a lesson, right ? Well no, more like fearless superman saving the day.

Kaa: That one is supposed to sneak, manipulate, hypnotize, seize, suffocate and then "swallow". Instead he tries at first to jump on and gobble right away, like he was a shark or something.

Shere Khan: well introduced as a threat feared, menacing, working his way, moving closer... and then not up to it: takes no initiative, wastes time talking, can't smell a trail, runs foolishly from gong to gong, does not use his strenght. Can't even kill lucky...

Lucky: the 4 vultures are already parodic and comical, did they need to add a pure foolish jester ?

Shanti meets Baloo timeline:
00s Baloo attacks
10s Shanti punches his nose
16s Shanti menaces him
23s Ok, let's talk
36s So, he is your accomplice !
A bit fast if you ask me.
Later: "I think we are on the same side". Not really creative or bright.

Lava: Why not asteroid and tsunami while we are at it ?

[–] lesmislover 17 years ago

The original integrity of the characters was not kept. The script was terrible. Nothing new and exciting was shown. It looked more like fan fiction than a feature film.

"To LOVE another person is to see the FACE OF GOD!"
-Les Misérables

[–] TheWalkingLost 16 years ago

runs foolishly from gong to gong

He's evil, yes, but he's still a car and would still be confused easily with all of the loud sounds around him. That was accurate.

You gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?

[–] mrdouglas_1999 15 years ago

Destroyed: The fact that any animal and human (like Shanti and Baloo) can apparently speak to and understand each other, which is ridiculous and destroying one of the finer points of original movie, Mowgli growing up among animals in the jungle and thus being able to speak to them, rather like Tarzan.

Redeemed it for me: The great voice work of Tony Jay (R.I.P) as Shere-Khan.

[–] uruseiranma 15 years ago

mrdouglas- I'm glad to see you saw that as well as I did.

In the first film, Mowgli never speaks to Shanti. And even his actions seem animalistic. Such as when he scampers from the water back into hiding. At that point, he had never heard the language of humans. We are meant to assume animals have their own vocalization, and cannot speak to humans and understand them.

It's kind of like the split-second scene in 'Pocahontas' where she listens to the wind telling her to 'listen to her heart,' and can suddenly understand John Smith.

Well played, Clerks -Leonardo Leonardo, Clerks Animated Series

[–] dalbrech 8 years ago

Don't forget it was one of the Disney DTV animated sequels that, after Toy Story 2 proved that a animated Sequel in theaters could be a huge hit, got a threatrical release but without spending any money to improve the quality of the animatation.
Typical Eisner move. Thank heavens it stopped after Darth Eisner left.
I'll Teach You To Laugh At Something's That's Funny
Homer Simpson