The film starts with Mowgly bringing us up to
speed with a quick shadow puppet retelling of the '67
classic. This and its matching woven cloth credits
are innovative and interesting. But aside for a few
exceptional moments, "innovative and interesting" are
words that unfortunately do not describe the bulk of
the film.
I loved "Lion King,"
"Beauty and the
Beast," and even enjoyed "Treasure Planet,"
but "JB2" is so devoid of anything new and/or clever
that the "creators" resort to abusing an early homage
to "Bare Necessities." They reprise the once
wonderful tune three times and even end the film on
it!
Formula, routine dialogue, "No, No, No, let me
explain." The pleasing color scheme and tranquil
waving water are the only consistent plusses. Kudos
to the snake-hypnotizer scene and to Phil Collins as
Lucky, the belly-laughing vulture that can't stop
himself from mocking Shere Khan. His Beatles tribute
buddies are also fun, but in total we're talking
about 3 minutes of screentime here.
You can take the boy out of the Jungle Book, but
if you're not careful, you can take the Jungle Book
out of the boy. Maybe it'll work as a rental for the
kids? But there's plenty more talking here than
action.
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