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The Jungle Book 2
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Anthony Arrigo (16th April 2014). |
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The Film
 There was a long period of time when classic Disney animated films were treated as sacrosanct and left uncorrupted by the diminishing returns nearly every sequel since the dawn of modern cinema has received. Their home video division was perfectly content pumping out one classic after another. There’s no point in making inferior sequels if you’ve got audiences eating up every original idea your creative team can spit out. Somewhere around the turn of the century, however, the temptation for easy-to-sell sequels to some of their most beloved films became too unbearable. The Mouse House started pumping out some truly wretched dreck wrapped in the guise of a property fans old & young already admired. Things kicked off with "Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World" (1998) and died down around 2007 with the release of “Cinderella III: A Twist in Time”, which, surprisingly, is a real thing and not a joke. Most of these features were relegated to the direct-to-video market, with only a couple slipping out and getting the full theatrical release treatment. Considering how bad “The Jungle Book 2” (2003) is you’ve gotta wonder how the quality is on most (all?) of those other titles. This is a movie that has DTV written all over it. It follows what is unarguably the worst path any sequel can take – regurgitating the original film with little variation. It serves no purpose other than to give kids another thing to point out in video stores. Wait, do those even exist anymore? Point being, nobody decided to take advantage of an opportunity to go in a new, creative direction here. The slug line must have literally been “same movie as before with a couple new characters”. As a result, you’ve got something that will mildly entertain kids and more than likely annoy their parents who grew up enjoying the first film. After a shadow puppet recap of the first film’s events, we meet up with Mowgli (Haley Joel Osment) who now lives in the man-village we last left him entering. He lives here with his adopted family, including Shanti (Mae Whitman), his girlfriend, and their baby brother, Ranjan (Connor Funk). Mowgli likes his life in the village, but he yearns to go back into the jungle. Shere Khan (Tony Jay) appears again, looking to exact revenge on the “man-cub” who burned him last time they met. Meanwhile, Baloo (John Goodman, of course) shows up in the man-village because he misses his friend. Mowgli gets excited and they start playing around while Shere Khan sneaks into the village. Shanti sees Baloo tossing Mowgli around and screams for help just as Shere Khan was about to attack, causing all of them to flee the village when a mob forms. Baloo and Mowgli travel down to King Louie’s old temple, where a big party of animals is gathered. All this time, Shanti and Ranjan have been scouring the jungle looking for Mowgli. Everyone eventually meets up right around the time Shere Khan is ready to make his move. Baloo leaves Ranjan with Bagheera (Bob Joles) while he, Mowgli and Shanti all go to an old temple perched atop a lava flow. The three of them have to work together and find a way to vanquish the old tiger before he eats all of them - which happens! Just kidding, that would never happen. If the story of Mowgli and Baloo partying around the jungle while Shere Khan tracks and stalks then sound remotely similar, that’s because it was more or less the plot of the first film. According to reports, Disney had received a script for a proposed sequel that would have seen Baloo trying to rescue his own love interest from poachers. They passed. Instead, sometime later, this was made. Truthfully, the other idea sounds far more interesting. The major new character here is Shanti, who is Mowgli’s… love interest. Aren’t these kids, like, ten? There are some seriously adult moments between the two other them that no ten year old kid would ever comprehend, let alone actually do. There’s some kind of weird dynamic going on here, with the parents practically out of the picture after the beginning and the two kids running around with an even younger kid. They’re like some insanely young family unit. It’s hard to capture the magic that came before; everyone gets that. “The Jungle Book” (1967) was really the last animated picture to be fully supervised by Walt Disney himself. His stamp of approval was a huge part of why those early animated films are timeless classics. The man had exacting standards and, luckily, he had the immeasurable talents of the Nine Old Men to aid his wishes. These guys set the template for animation. The bar they set with it has yet to be surpassed, and it likely never will. Nobody could do better, which is why retreading familiar ground was a foolish choice for this sequel’s direction. It wouldn’t be a Disney picture without songs. A couple of the old classic tunes are reprised here with some new arrangements. Of course, we get to hear Mowgli and Baloo launch into a rendition of “The Bare Necessities” not long after they’re reunited. The film also severely dated itself by including a version of “I Wan’na Be Like You” performed by Smash Mouth, who, according to Wikipedia, are still a thing. Who knew? All of the new songs are done in a style similar to the originals, so they succeed in that respect, though one in particular is just flat out annoying. “W-I-L-D”. It’s supposed to be the show-stopper of the picture, but the only thing it stops is any possible goodwill the film had earned up to that point. Look, to be fair this isn’t a film made for kids but slyly replete with adult lingo and jokes. And it doesn’t have half the style or heart or dangerous elements that made “The Jungle Book” a veritable classic. This is a movie for kids, plain and simple. Nobody was trying to do anything risky with it. Nobody was trying to do anything original with it. Nobody was trying to do anything but make a homogenized, wafer-thin imitation of what preceded it. There’s not a whole lot wrong with that; just the stinging disappointment that nothing more innovative was tried. Disney has everyone already eating out of their animated hands, so they could’ve done anything, really. This is simply an innocuous effort that will help your kids waste 72 minutes. Not you, though. Oh no. You’re going to feel every one of those 72 minutes. Trust me.
Video
Framed at 1.66:1, “The Jungle Book 2” sports a 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded image that is quite stunning. The animation style seems “simpler” and less detailed than their classic catalog; those titles look more filmic. Still, it’s hard to ignore the incredibly lush color palette, outstanding color reproduction and inky black levels. Line work is sharp and defined, though at times it did appear a little thick. The backgrounds are very similar to those used in the first film, looking like cool, vintage jungle paintings. There’s really nothing to nitpick here. Disney typically provides first-rate pictures for their Blu-ray releases and this is no exception.
Audio
The English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound track (48kHz/24-bit) is a bit of a letdown, though. Although there is excellent separation between the effects and dialogue, with some great panning amongst the speakers, it all feels very confined. The sounds barely escape to the rears, which are only used sparingly to fill out some of the bigger scenes. You never quite feel like you’re in the jungle. The songs don’t fare much better, disappointingly, with a noticeable lack in punch or range. The LFE creaks to life for a few of the film’s more bombastic moments, which are far and few between. It plays more like a glorified 2.0 track, to be honest. There should be a greater depth to the soundfield, something more immersive than just a slapdash DTV, no frills track. This was theatrical, after all. The disc also has both French and Spanish lossy Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound track, as well as an English Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo track. Subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired, French, and Spanish.
Extras
The bonus features of this Blu-ray appear to have been culled entirely from previous DVD features, with nothing but the additional bonus trailers included in hi-def. What is here, however, does have value. There are some featurettes, deleted scenes, and music videos. DISC ONE: BLU-RAY “Backstage Disney” (480p) included the following: - “Synopsis of the Original Movie The Jungle Book” is a featurette that runs for 2 minutes and 59 seconds, clips from the film are shown while a narrator brings viewers up to speed on the events that have progressed. - “The Legacy of The Jungle Book” is a featurette that runs for 14 minutes and 11 seconds, this was the last film Walt oversaw and the makers of this sequel want to do his good work proud. This is really more of a behind the scenes on this sequel than anything, with talk of how the animation was done, interviews with the voice actors, recording session footage, and more. Two deleted scenes (480p) are available, both with an introduction executives by Sharon Morrill & Matt Walker: - “I Got You Beat” runs for 5 minutes and 41 seconds, this song was supposedly cut because it made Shanti appear too feisty. But, really, it was probably because it’s terrible. - “Braver” runs for 3 minutes and 43 seconds, this is another cut song from Shanti. Man, somebody must really hate Shanti. “Music & More” contains the option to Sing Along with the Movie feature - just like it says, activate this feature and captions for the songs will appear. There are also music videos for two songs: - “W-I-L-D” runs for 1 minute and 2 seconds. - “Jungle Rhythm” runs for 1 minute and 2 seconds. The disc also includes some bonus trailers (1080p) for: - “Sleeping Beauty” runs for 1 minute and 18 seconds. - “Muppets Most Wanted” runs for 1 minute and 19 seconds. - “Frozen” runs for 1 minute and 49 seconds. DISC TWO: DVD This is a DVD copy of the feature film. The package also includes an insert with instructions to obtain a digital copy of the film.
Packaging
The two-disc set comes housed in a Blu-ray keep case with each disc housed opposite the other on a hub. A slip-cover is included.
Overall
“The Jungle Book 2” is good fodder for kids and, really, nothing more. It fails to capture the essence of the first film, preferring to ape it instead and become nothing more than a pale cash grab. It sure does look pretty, though.
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