The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 American animated musical fantasy adventure film produced by the Disneytoon Studios in Sydney, Australia as well as Walt Disney Animation Studios in Paris, France and was released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista Pictures Distribution. The theatrical version of the film 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 was originally produced as a direct-to-video film but was released theatrically first, similar to the Peter Pan sequel, Return to Never Land. It is the third Disney sequel to have a theatrical release rather than going direct-to-video after The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, Fantasia 2000 in 1999 and Return to Never Land in 2002. 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. When released, it was criticized mainly for its cut-rate animation and a lazily similar plotline to the original film.
Disney released the VHS and DVD versions on June 10, 2003. On June 17, 2008 a Special Edition DVD was released.
Plot[]
Taking place some short time after the first film, Mowgli is in the Man Village, living with his adoptive parents and new little brother, Ranjan. He has become sweethearts with Shanti, the girl who lured Mowgli into the Man Village. Among them is Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, his five year old daughter Katherine "Kitty" Brydon and Dr. Julius Plumford. Mowgli and Kitty are extremely close friends and often give signs of a young romance. Kitty gives Mowgli a bracelet which once belonged to her mother. One day Mowgli tries to take the Village Children into the Jungle but Shanti realizes this and yells stop. Mowgli and Ranjan's father arrives and orders the kids back into the village and scowls at Mowgli telling him the jungle is a dangerous place and shows Mowgli a scar on his left arm. He also punishes Mowgli by sending him to his room without dinner. After Mowgli gets in trouble, he blames Shanti and won't talk to her, then Mowgli starts to miss the jungle.
Meanwhile, Mowgli's best friend, Baloo, a free-spirited bear was starting to miss Mowgli, so he decided to pick him up. But Mowgli's old panther guardian, Bagheera, however, forbids him. Passing through Bagheera and a herd of elephants, Baloo sneaks into the Man Village - unnoticed by the villagers - to visit Mowgli and get him back. Also, Mowgli's old arch enemy, Shere Khan, a vicious tiger, returns for his revenge, and his army, The Wargs, a vicious wolves. Meanwhile, Shanti tries to apologize to Mowgli, but she sees Baloo with Mowgli and shrieks for help. Shere Khan and the Wargs sneaks into the village and everyone thinks he's the wild animal. Shere Khan attacks the village, killing Nathoo and two of Brydon's men. After Baloo and Mowgli escape into the jungle, Shanti, believing her boyfriend was kidnapped, follows them. Then, Kaa, a python, spots Mowgli and Baloo talking, and attempts to eat Mowgli. But, fortunately, he fails.
Kitty and her father have returned to India. She again encounters Mowgli, but they do not recognize one another. Kitty is in a relationship with William Boone, a loyal yet arrogant soldier. Mowgli enters the Man Village in search of Kitty. Kitty recognizes Mowgli when she sees he is wearing the bracelet she gave him when they were children. Boone and his men place Mowgli in prison. Kitty and Dr. Plumford decide that they must help Mowgli learn the ways of man again. Kitty and Mowgli find themselves falling in love but Brydon does not approve of this because he believes Mowgli is unacceptable for Kitty for being raised by animals, despite being relieved that Mowgli is alive.
Later, Kaa spots Shanti alone and tries to eat her. He manages to subdue her with his hypnotic stare, which causes her hands to hang loosely at her sides, and to not be able to look away, 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 accidentally 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.
Boone, meanwhile, has discovered a dagger which Mowgli was in possession of. He learns that this treasure comes from Monkey City and he decides that he must force Mowgli to show he and his men the way to the city. Boone asks Kitty to marry him, to which she accepts. Mowgli leaves the village as he believes he does not belong there. Kitty calls off her engagement to Boone after his cruel treatment to Mowgli and Brydon decides to send her back to England.
The next day, Boone teams up with Sgt. Harley, Lt. Wilkins, Buldeo, and Tabaqui in order to capture Mowgli so they can get to the treasure. Soon, Bagheera figures out that Mowgli had capture by Boone's men when Baloo are in the jungle, calling for Mowgli, and he tries to find him. The men then call bandits to ambush Kitty and her father. One of the bandits shoots Brydon in the leg, but Bagheera and the wolf pack intervene and kill most of the bandits. Boone and his men threaten to kill Kitty and her father if Mowgli does not lead them to the treasure. Mowgli agrees to take them.
The next morning, Harley sinks in quicksand after trying to catch Mowgli after he escapes with Baloo's aid. The rest of the group apart from Brydon, who is left to die by Boone, set off on the trail. Mowgli leads Brydon back to the village on an elephant and promises to bring Kitty back. As the expedition continues, Shanti and Ranjan are still looking for Mowgli, then get lost in the jungle. They soon find Mowgli sadly sitting in a tree and when he sees Shanti, Tabaqui engages in a fight-to-the-death with Mowgli (in which Mowgli wins) he falls into some vines and gets tangled. Baloo finds them and scares Shanti, but gets caught in the vines and punched in the nose by Shanti's fist. Shanti learns that Mowgli told Baloo to scare her, and she gets angry at him and runs away with Ranjan. Mowgli gets angry at Baloo for scaring Shanti and goes after them. He finds them and wants to explain, but Shanti points to Shere Khan and the Wargs, who is behind him. The children run and Mowgli tells Shanti and Ranjan to stay put in a bush. Shanti goes to help Mowgli and tells Ranjan to stay, and Wilkins is mauled by Shere Khan. Ranjan (after snagging his loincloth on a branch and getting sling-shotted backward while trying to follow Shanti) encounters Baloo. He tries to run away, but Baloo picks up Ranjan by the loincloth and tells him to calm down and asks him where Mowgli is. Ranjan shouts "Shere Khan!" and Baloo takes Ranjan on his shoulders while running after Mowgli. Mowgli finds an ancient dinosaur temple and hides. As the remaining group reaches the dinosaur temple, Buldeo chases Mowgli and tries to shoot him but inadvertently sets off a booby trap, burying himself alive. Baloo and Ranjan run into Bagheera, whom Baloo leaves Ranjan with when they all arrive at the dinosaur temple and all dinosaurs are both dead, which Shanti has arrived at as well. She and Baloo encounter each other and soon learn that they are on the same side and split up. Only Mowgli, Kitty and Boone reach the treasure room. Mowgli defeats Boone in a fierce sword fight and he and Kitty escape. Boone starts gathering treasure when Kaa (summoned by King Louie) suddenly appears and scares Boone into falling into the moat. Boone is weighed to the bottom by a treasure-filled backpack, and after seeing the skeletons of Kaa's past victims, he is ambushed and killed by Kaa. Outside the dinosaur temple, Mowgli and Kitty are confronted by Shere Khan. Baloo begins banging on a gong, soon being joined by Shanti and Mowgli each in their hiding places and confuse Shere Khan and the Wargs. Shanti's gong falls down and Shere Khan and his army threatens her. Mowgli comes out of his hiding place The Wargs and Shere Khan runs to kill him. Mowgli begins to run and Baloo attack the Wargs and pushes Shere Khan away. Mowgli and Shanti run up a staircase, soon being followed by Shere Khan and the two Wargs after Baloo tries to stop him again and soon run into a crater and jump across and land on a t-rex head statue. Shere Khan and the two Wargs jumps both onto the t-rex head which starts to fall. Shere Khan and the two Wargs falls and lands on a rock and the t-rex headlands down trapping him inside. Mowgli and Shanti fall too but are saved by Baloo. Meanwhile, Lucky, a new member of the vultures, comes down and begins to tease Shere Khan and the two Wargs. After returning to safety, Mowgli, Kitty, Shanti, and Ranjan say goodbye to Baloo and Bagheera and reunite with their families where Mowgli's father apologizes to him for not understanding that the jungle is part of who he is and they return to the village. Not long after returning to the village, Mowgli, Kitty, Shanti, and Ranjan secretly return to the jungle to spend some time with their new jungle family, unaware that Mowgli and Ranjan's parents know where they're going.
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 makes a non-physical appearance as a shadow puppet in the beginning of the film and 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'".
Characters[]
- Baloo, voiced by John Goodman
- Mowgli, voiced by Haley Joel Osment
- Shanti, voiced by Mae Whitman
- Captain William Boone, voiced by Kevin Spacey
- Shere Khan, voiced by Tony Jay
- Bagheera, voiced by Bob Joles
- Katherine "Kitty" Brydon, voiced by Halle Berry
- Kaa, voiced by Jim Cummings
- Colonel Hathi, voiced by Jim Cummings
- Winifred, voiced by María Cecilia Botero
- Hathi, Jr., voiced by Jimmy Bennett
- King Louie, voiced by Ray Charles
- Vultures, voiced by Jeff Bennett, Brian Cummings, Baron Davis and Jess Harnell
- Flunkey (listed in credits as "M.C. Monkey"), voiced by Jim Cummings
- Lucky, voiced by Phil Collins
- Rocky, voiced by Frank Welker
- Ranjan, voiced by Connor Funk
- Ranjan's Father, voiced by John Rhys-Davies
- Messua, voiced by Veena Bidasha
- Buldeo, voiced by John Lithgow
- Sergeant Claibourne, voiced by Alec Baldwin
- Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, voiced by Frank Welker
- Dr. Julius Plumford, voiced by John Cleese
- Lt. John Wilkins, voiced by Blake Griffin
- Tabaqui, voiced by Donald Sutherland
- Sergeant Harley, voiced by Newell Alexander
- Nathoo, voiced by Fred Tatasciore
- Narrator, voiced by Sam Neill
Additional Voices[]
- Bobby Edner - Villager Kid
- Blake Griffin - Wargs
- Devika Parikh - Woman
- Fred Tatasciore - Wargs
- Frank Welker - Wargs
Loop Group[]
- W.K. Stratton
- David Cowgill
- Aareale Davis
- Jay Dogra
- Moosie Drier
- Jackie Gonneau
- Blake Griffin
- Nicholas Guest
- Bridget Hoffman
- Mark Myers
- Jonathan Osser
- Melissa Osser
- Kane Ritchotte
- Dina Sherman
- Aaron Spann
- Melanie Spore
- Doug Stone
- Shaheen Vaaz
- Wajid
Animals featured[]
- Human (Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan, Captain William Boone, Katherine "Kitty" Brydon, Ranjan's Father, Messua, Buldeo, Sergeant Claibourne, Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, Dr. Julius Plumford, Lt. John Wilkins, Tabaqui, Sergeant Harley, Nathoo, & Other Villagers)
- Sloth Bear (Baloo)
- Black Panther (Bagheera)
- Tiger (Shere Khan)
- Indian Python (Kaa)
- Asian Elephant (Colonel Hathi, Winifred, Hathi Jr., & Elephant Patrol; Some seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Indian Vulture (Buzzie, Flaps, Dizzy, Ziggy, & Lucky)
- Wolf/Hyena (Wargs; Shere Khan's army)
- Capuchin (Flunkey)
- Indian Rhinoceros (Rocky, Some seen in King Louie's fomer palace)
- Parakeet (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Hippopotamus (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Indian Mongoose (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Ocelot (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Water-rat (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Insect (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Earthworm (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Crane (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Black Sifaka Lemur (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Cuckoo (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Kookaburra (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Gazelle (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Langur (The Bandar-log)
- Owl (Seen by Shanti in the jungle)
- Vampire Bat (Seen attacking Shanti)
- Macaque (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Warthog (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
- Dinosuar (all both death)
Hidden appearances[]
- During one of the attempts at the classic musical number The Bear Necessities from the first film, two prickly pears land on and stick to Kaa's head, making him look like Mickey Mouse. This is an example of a Hidden Mickey.
- During W-I-L-D, Pumbaa can briefly be seen dancing until Baloo bounces him off with his backside.
- Haley Joel Osment and Mae Whitman would later co-star again in Kingdom Hearts II, voicing Sora and Yuffie, respectively.
Soundtrack[]
- "Jungle Rhythm," a new song composed by Lorraine Feather and Paul Grabowsky for the film, appears in two incarnations: firstly by Mowgli (Haley Joel Osment), Shanti (Mae Whitman), Ranjan (Connor Funk), and the village children chorus (Colin Davis, Jon Robert Hall, D.J. Harper, Karen Harper, Luana Jackman, Meagan Moore, Bobbi Page, and Ayana Williams). A Mowgli solo version appears later on in the film.
- Like the first film, "The Bare Necessities" is performed on three separate occasions in The Jungle Book 2. First as a solo by Baloo, second as a duet between Baloo and Mowgli, and finally as a trio with Baloo, Mowgli, and Shanti.
- "Colonel Hathi's March" also returns for this film, this time performed by Bob Joyce, Rick Logan, Guy Maeda, and Jerry Whitman.
- "W-I-L-D," another new song composed for the film by Lorraine Feather and Paul Grabowsky, is performed by Baloo (John Goodman), King Louie (Ray Charles) and a chorus of various jungle animals (Enoch Azmuth, Cindy Bourquin, Bill Cantos, Randy Crenshaw, Kevin Dorsey, Lorraine Feather, Karen Harper, Angie Jareé, Rick Logan, Melissa Mackey, and Bobbi Page). It was included in the DVD and Blu-ray releases of the film.
- The band Smash Mouth recorded a cover of the Sherman Brothers song, "I Wan'na Be Like You" (originally from the 1967 musical film), which is featured on this film's soundtrack during the end credits.
- "Right Where I Belong" performed by Windy Wagner, and composed by Lorraine Feather and Joel McNeely, plays during the end credits.
Home media[]
The film is released on June 10, 2003, on both DVD and VHS. The DVD special features included music videos, "W-I-L-D" and "I Wan'na Be Like You", deleted scenes, and the behind-the-scenes. In 2008, the film was re-released on "Special Edition" DVD. It included a new music video, "Jungle Rhythm".
The film is released on Blu-ray on March 18, 2014, as a part of Disney Movies Anywhere program.
Trivia[]
- Kaa is the second character to originally be played by Sterling Holloway and then taken over by Jim Cummings, the first being Winnie-the-Pooh.
- Rocky is deleted character to originally be played by Frank Fontaine though he was cut from the final film, but now been taken over by Frank Welker, the first being Fred Jones.
- Hippopotamuses, Thomson's gazelle, Kookaburra, Sifaka lemurs, and ocelots were seen during the W-I-L-D song; this is a slight error because these animals are not native to India.
- It is one of the previews to the 2002 DVD release of The Santa Clause. The other previews are The Santa Clause 2, Lilo & Stitch, Beauty and the Beast: The Enchanted Christmas, The Country Bears, and Inspector Gadget 2.
- This was Tony Jay's last reprising role before his death in 2006.
- This was Ray Charles' last role before his death in 2004
- Shere Khan's line, "Don't insult my intelligence. It makes me irritable," is similar to a line said by Michael Corleone in The Godfather.
- This was Disney's first animated film outside of Pixar to be broadcast on STARZ.
- It is the fifth Disney sequel to get a theatrical release, following The Rescuers Down Under, Toy Story 2, Fantasia 2000, and Return to Neverland Other than Toy Story 3, Cars 2, Monsters University, Finding Dory, Cars 3, Ralph Breaks the Internet and Frozen II. every other Disney sequel has had a direct to VHS/DVD release.
Video game[]
- Main article: The Jungle Book 2 (video game)
Gallery[]
v - e - d  | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
da:Junglebogen 2
es:El Libro de la Selva 2
it:Il libro della giungla 2
nl:Jungle Boek 2
pl:Księga dżungli 2
pt-br:Mogli - O Menino Lobo 2
ro:Cartea junglei 2
ru:Книга джунглей 2