The Jungle Book 2

Infobox Film
name = The Jungle Book 2


caption = Official Movie Poster
director = Steve Trenbirth
producer = Christopher Chase
Mary Thorne
writer = Karl Geurs
starring = John Goodman
Haley Joel Osment
Mae Whitman
Connor Funk
Bob Joles
Tony Jay
John Rhys-Davies
Jim Cummings
Phil Collins
music = Lorraine Feather
Terry Gilkyson
Paul Grabowsky
Patrick Griffin
Joel McNeely
Richard M. Sherman
Robert B. Sherman
cinematography =
editing = Christopher K. Gee
Peter Lonsdale
distributor = Buena Vista Pictures
Icon Film Distribution/Igor Entertainment/Beacon Pictures (Australia)
released = February 14, 2003
runtime = 72 minutes
country = United States
language = English
budget =
preceded_by = "The Jungle Book" (1967)
followed_by =
website = http://disneyvideos.disney.go.com/moviefinder/products/2274103.html
amg_id =
imdb_id = 0283426

"The Jungle Book 2" is a 2003 animated feature film produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Distribution. The theatrical version of the movie was released in France on February 5, 2003, and released in the United States on February 14, 2003. 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 is not based on "The Second Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1895. However, they do have several characters in common. Disney released the VHS and DVD versions on June 10, 2003. On June 17, 2008 a Special Edition DVD was released.

Plot

Mowgli (Haley Joel Osment) is in the Man Village, living with his adoptive parents and new little brother, Ranjan (Connor Funk). He makes friends with Shanti (Mae Whitman), the girl who lured Mowgli into the Man Village. After Mowgli gets in trouble, he blames Shanti and won't talk to her, then Mowgli starts to miss the jungle.

After an escape from a stampede of elephants, Baloo (John Goodman) sneaks into the Man Village - unnoticed by the villagers - to visit Mowgli. Also, Mowgli's old arch enemy, Shere Khan (Tony Jay), returns for his revenge. Meanwhile, Shanti tries to apologize to Mowgli, but she sees Baloo with Mowgli, and shrieks for help. Shere Khan sneaks into the village and everyone thinks he's the wild animal. After Baloo and Mowgli escape into the jungle. Shanti, believing her friend was kidnapped, follows them.

Also, Mowgli's other enemy, the hungry snake Kaa (Jim Cummings), spots him and Baloo talking, and attempts to eat Mowgli. But, fortunately, he fails.

Later, Kaa spots Shanti alone, and tries to eat her. He manages to subdue her with his hypnotic stare, until Ranjan comes forward and pulls Shanti away in time, releasing her from Kaa's trance. Ranjan starts beating Kaa with a stick, and Kaa ends up accidently swallowing a large rock. The weight of the rock makes his coils fall on top of him. While Ranjan keeps hitting Kaa, Shanti grabs him to get away from the snake. Ranjan soon scares Kaa from behind, and causes Kaa to fall off a nearby cliff and into a coconut tree, and Shanti and Ranjan soon leave.

Mowgli seems to enjoy the jungle as he used to and tells Baloo about his life in the Man Village and Shanti. Soon, Mowgli's old panther guardian, Bagheera (Bob Joles), figures out that Mowgli had escaped the Man Village with Baloo, and he tries to find him.

Shanti and Ranjan are still looking for Mowgli, then get lost in the jungle. They soon find Mowgli hanging from the vines, because Mowgli was hiding from them and accidentally tripped. Baloo finds them and scares Shanti. Shanti figures out that Mowgli got Baloo to scare her, and she gets angry at him, and then Mowgli gets angry at Baloo for scaring Shanti.

Mowgli runs away. He finds an ancient temple and enters it. Shere Khan finds Mowgli at the temple and chases him. Mowgli soon runs into a crater and he and Shanti jump across and land on a tiger head statue. Shere Khan jumps onto the tiger head which starts to crack. Shere Khan falls and lands on a rock and the tiger head lands down trapping him inside. Mowgli and Shanti fall too but are saved by Baloo. Meanwhile, Lucky, a member of the vultures, comes down and begins to tease Shere Khan.

They soon return to the Man Village and are greeted by their families but Mowgli, Shanti and Ranjan return to the jungle to stay with their new jungle family.

Production

*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 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'".cite web |url=http://www.digitalmediafx.com/Features/junglebook2.html |title=A Look at The Jungle Book 2 |accessdate=2008-09-11 |last=Tracy |first=Joe |coauthors= |date= |work= |publisher=Digital Media FX ]

Hidden Appearances

*During the reprise of "The Bare Necessities", three prickly pears stick to Kaa's nose and head, making him look like Mickey Mouse.
*During W-I-L-D, Timon and Pumbaa can briefly be seen dancing until Baloo bounces them off with his backside.
*When Hathi and Bagheera are on the wooden log and fall into the water, Flounder from "The Little Mermaid" can be spotted for a brief moment.

oundtrack

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.

Box Office

The film has made $135,703,599 worldwide.

References

External links

*bcdb|args=film=25089&cartoon=The%20Jungle%20Book%202|title=The Jungle Book 2
*imdb title|id=0283426|title=The Jungle Book 2
*rotten-tomatoes|id=jungle_book_2|title=The Jungle Book 2