(The Disneycember logo is shown, before showing clips from the 1994 live-action adaptation of The Jungle Book. Clips from the animated Jungle Book and the 2016 live-action remake of The Jungle Book are shown as well)
Doug (vo): So as I've gone on and on about on this channel, I love Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book. So everyone thinks that if an adaptation comes around that isn't very faithful to the book, I'm not going to like it, and that's not true. I really like Disney's animated Jungle Book. Okay, it doesn't follow it that closely, but it's very charming, I love the characters. I sure didn't like the live-action remake, because I felt like it was trying to combine the Disney animated one, that was really light and fluffy and kind of fun, with the book that isn't that light and fluffy and not really that much fun, and they just didn't gel together. But I guess it does a good job replacing 1994's Jungle Book, because, man, it's difficult to find a hard copy of this. Like, I just got the DVD version, and that's all there is; there's no Blu-ray of it. I guess 'cause we have that "superior" version, this one is not needed. And, I will say, for a film called “Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book”, that is a complete lie. This is probably the furthest removed from the original book out of all the adaptations I've seen. They just take the names of the characters, and the fact that it takes place in a jungle, and that's it. This Jungle Book has as much to do with Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book as the Brendan Fraser Mummy has to do with the Boris Karloff Mummy…which totally makes sense. It’s the guy who directed the Brendan Fraser Mummy who directed this. But in the same way Adam West's Batman is so far removed from the source material and kind of doing its own campy thing, it becomes entertaining, this one's actually the same thing. I'm not going to lie, I have a lot of fun with this movie.
Story[]
Doug (vo): Mowgli is a little boy who gets lost in the jungle and is raised by wolves, and goes from a man-cub to a…man-man, played by Jason Scott Lee. And you know where it's going to go from here, right? It's a big debate about whether or not he stays in the jungle or goes to the man kingdom, and the whole film is about that while encountering all these weird animal creatures and, uh...yeah, no. In the first 10, 15 minutes, he goes to the Man Village, and he's actually around man most of the time. Actually, the film's kind of a treasure hunt. That's right, he befriends these people, led by...Lena Headey? Really? (An image of Cersei Lannister from Game of Thrones is shown) Cersei was the love interest? Okay. In fact, honestly, this cast is really amazing. You got Sam Neill, John Cleese, Cary Elwes playing a character I think who's like the Black Christmas remake if he intentionally knew he was supposed to be funny. He wants to find this ancient kingdom of treasure and believes that Mowgli knows how to get there, which he does. So he takes all of Mowgli's friends hostage and forces him to show where this kingdom of treasure is, and...yeah, that-that's just like the book, right?
Review[]
Doug (vo): I don't care, this is fun. This is stupid, this is fun, it's really, really campy, but has kind of a good edge to it. Anyone who's seen this movie knows the death scenes are really intense.
(The quicksand scene is shown, along with other various clips)
Doug (vo): Particularly, this quicksand moment. I know so many people who barely remember this movie, but, man, they remember the quicksand moment. I saw this movie twice in theaters 'cause I had friends that wanted to go see it, and both times I saw it, when this scene was over, there was just this dead quiet in the theater, followed by somebody going, "Whew!" It's a surprisingly harsh moment. But scenes like that kind of help it out. Unlike the Brendan Fraser Mummy, which I don't hate, but I didn't really get into 'cause I felt like it was trying a little too hard to be funny, this one tries to take itself seriously, and in doing so, it becomes funny both intentionally and unintentionally. I think this film wanted to be one of those 1940s adventure films that really only represented the source material in name only. But again, if you do it well and in a fun way, I don't have a problem with that.
(The main character, Mowgli, is shown in several clips)
Doug (vo): Jason Scott Lee is another one of those actors I wish I would see him more leading roles, like, yeah, he has a name if you say it, like, a lot of people know who he is. But I think this movie is proof that he is a good leading man, and I think he should have that role more often. He has to perform a lot of this movie without saying much dialogue, he has to do it all through his face. And he really nails it, not just through the face, but through the physical motion. I really believe this guy grew up in the jungle.
(Footage focusing on the animals is shown)
Doug (vo): My only gripe with the film is that I wish the animals had more personality. Like, you see Baloo and Bagheera and Shere Khan, but they don't really leave that big an impact. Aside from King Louie, who…you know, he just kind of does the King Louie thing: they put a crown on him and have him do silly faces, but it works okay…none of the animals are really that memorable, and, you know, not only for it being The Jungle Book, but Disney's Jungle Book. Come on, we remember Kaa, we remember Shere Khan, we remember all these characters. It is a shame they don't do better by them. But then again, it is 1994. I don't know how much they could really do with it at that point, especially for a story that's just doing something completely different and focusing more on the people. And the people in this movie all look like they're having a good time, both going a little over the top, but not too much.
Final thought[]
Doug (vo): It's not so silly that you can't believe it's trying to take itself seriously. And the more it tries to take itself seriously, that's, in a strange way, what kind of makes it funnier and more entertaining. Like I said, this isn't exactly the easiest film to find...I'm not even sure it's on Disney+...but I'd rather watch a version of the story completely give in to the campy-ness than…try to combine two things that, in my opinion, don't go together. I doubt it's for everyone, there's probably a reason there's not that many versions of it out there...again, I guess there's not that big a demand for it...but I remember when it came out, people liked it fine, and I think it’s what a lot of people would see it as today: fine. It's an adventure that's stupid, dumb, and not the least bit faithful, but in my opinion, it is a lot of fun.
(A scene showing Mowgli jumping from a cliff and down a waterfall is shown)