Hey folks, Harry here... here we stand at the fork in the road of Disney's future... A road that splits into two directions. Innovation, creativity and long life exists in the right lane.... Redundant idiocy, bland dunderheaded stories and failure in the left hand. The sign posts for the left hand lane are posters for movies like JUNGLE BOOK 2 and LADY & THE TRAMP 2... While the Right Hand lane has posters for TREASURE PLANET and many dying projects at Disney due to a stifling of creative nerve and freedom. Well, in Australia they had a test screening of JUNGLE BOOK 2... shockingly the poster told the story for the film. Just a bland shadow of the original. Here's our Monkey Boy with the story...

Hey Harry,

Greetings from oz. Through very odd circumstances I was recently able to see work in progress of Jungle Book II. Not sure if this interests you or not, but I know the original was one of my favourite of the old school Disney classics, so I thought I'd pass along my thoughts. I'll start with the good and slowly dissolve to the bad.

The version I saw was still rough - I'd say about half finished animation, half temp. The sound track was either finished or a VERY good temp mix, as technically it sounded flawless. I'll say this right off - if the finished whole lives up to the parts I saw, this will be a beautiful movie. Glorious 2D animation, and they really got it right. Shere Khan (who, at least in my mind, is really the heart and soul the original) moves with the same smooth menace. All the characters are carried over well in terms of their rendering, and the jungle backgrounds that were in place are lovely. Kudos to an animation staff that obviously did their homework.

The new voices are very good. Haley Joel Osment was terrific as Mowgli - very natural. John Goodman was a little distracting as Baloo... I found myself recognizing his voice a little too distinctly, and was taken out of it. But his performance is good. The rest of the cast all turn in solid performances.

The songs are tremendously forgettable. Only one stuck in my head - a bouncy number called "That Jungle Rhythm", and it didn't stick there in a good way. Bloody dull, milktoast stuff. Actually, I take that back - there was one great number in it. A redux of "Bear Necessities". That was, uh, nice.

Now, my main complaint. I've seen it remarked on this site that the main reason 2D animation is behind 3D is the lack of quality in the stories. This movie will do nothing to help that trend. All these technical achievements are hung on a script which is about on par with a 3rd rate episode of Rescue Rangers. IMDB lists Karl Guers as the writer, but I'm hesitant to blame him... this has the dull monotonous drone of a script which was written by committee. I'd warn about spoilers, but there isn't really much to spoil. Mowgli has been living in the man village for awhile, and is friends with the water jug girl from the end of the 1st movie (who, of course, is the same sort of sassy Disney Girl they've been cookie-cutting since Little Mermaid). He gets bored, escapes to the jungle, is hunted by and escapes from Shere Khan, and goes back to the man village at then end. It's all too neat, too bland, too familiar. Nothing happens that didn't happen in a more entertaining way in the 1st movie.

In fact, it feels very much as if their one and only motivation in making this was to cannibalize an existing property in the safest way possible. Its origin was obviously not "Hey, I've got a great idea for a 2nd Jungle Book Movie!" but "Hey, I've got a great idea! Let's make a 2nd Jungle Book Movie!"

Having loved the 1st movie, it was overall a very depressing experience watching this one. It seems very short sighted of Disney. Sure, this will serve its purpose, and parents will buy the DVD because it's the Jungle Book and nothing's particularly wrong with it. But will anyone give a tinker's cuss about it 20 years from now?

Anyway Harry, nothing earth shattering, but those are my thoughts. Use them as you will, and thanks for the great site.

If you use, this, call me Monkey Boy :)