The Jungle Book 2

The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 American animated movie produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The theatrical version of this film was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February 14, 2003. This film is the sequel to Walt Disney's 1967 animated movie 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 the direct-to-video movie, but was released theatrically first, similar to the Peter Pan sequel, Return to Never Land. It is the third Disney sequel to have the theatrical release rather than going direct-to-video after The Rescuers Down Under in 1990 and Return to Neverland in 2002. This film is the continuation of The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling and is not based on The Second Jungle Book. However, they do have several characters in common. When released, it was criticised mainly for the quality of its animation and the similarity of its plotline to the original movie. Disney released VHS and DVD versions on June 10, 2003.
== Plot ==
Following the events of the previous film, Mowgli is living in the Man Village with the girl who lured him in, Shanti, 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 longs to return to the fun, and after nearly leading the other children of the village into the jungle, is punished by his adopted father for trying to lead them into danger. Meanwhile, in the jungle, Shere Khan has returned to Baloo and Bagheera's part of the jungle to exact revenge on Mowgli. Baloo sneaks into the Man Village and gets Mowgli to come with him to live in the jungle; however, unbeknownst to them, Shere Khan also infiltrated the village, only to be chased off by the village people. In the ensuing chaos of the tiger's attack, Shanti and Ranjan go into the jungle to retrieve Mowgli, believing that Baloo is a hostile animal and kidnapped the boy.
Bagheera hears of Mowgli's departure from the village when the humans search the jungle for him, and immediately suspects Baloo. Mowgli instructs Baloo to scare off Shanti should she appear, and bemoans the boring life he had in the Man Village. Baloo and Mowgli journey to King Louie's old temple (King Louie is mentioned to have abandoned it), however when the animals of the jungle mock Shanti and other aspects of Mowgli's life in the Man Village, the boy leaves, offended. He runs into Shanti and Ranjan, but Baloo scares Shanti as Mowgli wanted him to. When the truth comes out that Mowgli ordered Baloo to scare her, Shanti and Ranjan run away and leave Mowgli.
Baloo recognizes that Mowgli misses his old life, but when Mowgli tries to make amends with his human friends, they are attacked by Shere Khan. The tiger chases Mowgli and Shanti to a temple built above a lake of lava, and Baloo leaves Ranjan with Bagheera while he goes to protect Mowgli. After confusing Shere Khan by banging several different gongs, Shanti's presence is revealed to Shere Khan. Baloo fights Shere Khan just as Mowgli is about to give himself up to save Shanti, but the tiger chases the two children to a statue across a pit of lava. Shere Khan is trapped within the statue's mouth, and it plummets onto a large stone that resides in the lava below. With his nemesis defeated, 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.
== Production ==
* In the '90s, 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.
* It was first rumoured that the sequel, entitled Mowgli II: Return to the Jungle, would follow the adventures of one of Mowgli's daughters, Mary, who wants to live in the forest-but his dad forbids him, since he's afraid Shere Khan might return... When she runs away in the jungle, she meets Baloo who tries to understand why she escaped and offers to take her home-only making her run away even further. Kaa, Shere Khan, King Louie, the vultures, Colonel Hathi, and Bagheera are all expected to return in this sequel, which will also introduce Mowgli's wife. 13-year old Haley Joel Osment is listed as the voice of adult Mowgli, which of course didn't make much sense.
*John Goodman recorded his voice work in New Orleans while Haley Joel Osment recorded his in California.
*Haley Joel Osment explained in March 2002 that he found acting with just his voice much more difficult than his usual roles: "you have to get the character across using just your voice, you can't use your body or mannerisms that you would normally."
*About 220 animators and other staff from Walt Disney Animation Australia worked on this project during 3 years.
*The Jungle Book 2 was originally due for the video market but Disney executives were so impressed they decided to give it a cinema release the next year. "It shows the talent base here--a lot of it we've had to develop ourselves. They're really world class," commented the general manager of Walt Disney Animation Australia, Phil Oakes.
*This was Tony Jay's last reprising role before his death in 2006.
*Shere Khan's line, "Don't insult my intelligence. It makes me irritable," is similar to a line said by Michael Corleone in The Godfather.
*This was the first film released under the Disneytoon Studios label after Disney MovieToons/Disney Video Premieres was split from Walt Disney Television Animation (now Disney Television Animation) to be owned by Walt Disney Animation Studios which was then known as Walt Disney Feature Animation in January 2003 though those names would not be changed till June of that year.
*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'".
*Shanti had a solo to sing about her fear of the jungle and how she must find the strength to conquer her fear, but the scene was deleted on account of Disney producers deciding that the song would take too much attention from Mowgli and the story plot.
*Shanti was originally meant to be much more feisty and confident. However, the producers felt she would work better as a foil to Mowgli and as a result rewrote her personality to be more conformist, rational and agrizoophobic, allowing her to experience character growth that would culminate in her finding her courage and conquering her fear of the jungle, becoming more confident in the end.
*Outside the USA, the DVD releases in the UK & Australia are THX Certified.
== Characters ==
=== Returning from the first film ===
*Mowgli, voiced by Haley Joel Osment
*Baloo, voiced by John Goodman
*Bagheera, voiced by Bob Joles
*Shanti, voiced by Mae Whitman
*Shere Khan, voiced by Tony Jay
*Kaa, voiced by Jim Cummings
*Colonel Hathi, voiced by Jim Cummings
*Hathi. Jr, voiced by Jimmy Bennett
*Buzzie, Flaps, Dizzie, & Ziggy, voiced by Jim Cummings, Jeff Bennett, and Jess Harnell
*Flunkey, voiced by Jim Cummings
=== New in this film ===
*Lucky, voiced by Phil Collins
*Ranjan, voiced by Connor Funk
*Ranjan's Father, voiced by John Rhys-Davies
*Messua, voiced by Veena Bidasha
*Shanti's Mother, voiced by Devika Parikh
=== Loop Group ===
* W.K. Stratton
* Kimberly Brooks (uncredited)
* David Cowgill
* Aareale Davis
* Jay Dogra
* Moosie Drier
* Jackie Gonneau
* Nicholas Guest
* Bridget Hoffman
* Mark Myers
* Jonathan Osser
* Melissa Osser
* Kane Ritchotte
* Dina Sherman
* Aaron Spann
* Melanie Spore
* Doug Stone
* Shaheen Vaaz
* Wajid
== Animals featured ==
*Human (Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan, Ranjan's Father, Messua, Shanti's Mother & Other Villagers)
*Sloth Bear (Baloo)
*Black Panther (Bagheera)
*Bengal Tiger (Shere Khan)
*Indian Python (Kaa)
*Asian Elephant (Colonel Hathi, Hathi Jr. & Elephant Patrol; Some seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Indian Vulture (Buzzie, Flaps, Dizzie, Ziggy & Lucky)
*Baboon (Flunkey)
*Indian Rhinoceros (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Parakeet (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Hippopotamus (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Indian Mongoose (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Ocelot (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Water rat (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Insect (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Earthworm (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Crane (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Cuckoo (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Kookaburra (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Gazelle (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Langur (The Bandar-log)
*Owl (Seen by Shanti in the jungle)
*Vampire Bat (Seen attacking Shanti)
*Macaque (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Meerkat (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
*Warthog (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
== Hidden appearances ==
* During one of attempts at the classic musical number The Bear Necessities from the first film, two prickly pears land on and stick to Kaa's head, making him look like Mickey Mouse. This is an example of a Hidden Mickey.
*During W-I-L-D, Timon and Pumbaa can briefly be seen dancing until Baloo bounces them off with his backside.
*Haley Joel Osment and Mae Whitman would later co-star again in Kingdom Hearts II, voicing Sora and Yuffie, respectively.
== Soundtrack ==
The band Smash Mouth recorded a cover of the Sherman Brothers song, "I Wanna Be Like You" (originally from the 1967 musical film), which is featured on this film's soundtrack.
== Reaction==
===Critical reception ===
Based on 86 reviews, the film a "rotten" approval rating of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes, with an average score of 4.4/10. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 38%, based on 24 reviews.
=== Box office ===
The film grossed $47,901,582 in the United States and $87,802,017 in foreign countries adding to $135,703,599 worldwide.
==Gallery==
THE JUNGLE BOOK 2.jpg
== References ==
== External links ==
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Category:2003 films
Category:2003 animated films
Category:2000s adventure films
Category:American films
Category:American animated films
Category:DisneyToon Studios animated films
Category:Films featuring anthropomorphic characters
Category:2003
Category:1967
Category:Films without opening credits
Category:Films with multiple vocal credit songs
Category:Disney's The Jungle Book
Category:Sequels
Category:2000s films
Category:2000s animated films
Category:Directorial debut films
Category:Films starring John Goodman
Category:Films starring Jim Cummings
Category:Films starring Tony Jay
Category:Films starring Haley Joel Osment
Category:Rated G
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