| Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Stephen Sommers |
| Produced by | Raju Patel Edward S. Feldman Executive Producers: Sharad Patel Mark Damon Rajendra Kumar Associate Producer Yash Johar |
| Screenplay by | Stephen Sommers Ronald Yanover Mark Geldman |
| Story by | Ronald Yanover Mark Geldman |
| Based on | The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling |
| Starring | Jason Scott Lee Cary Elwes Lena Headey with Sam Neill and John Cleese Jason Flemyng Stefan Kalipha Ron Donachie Anirudh Agarwal Faran Tahir Sean Naegeli |
| Music by | Basil Poledouris |
| Cinematography | Juan Ruiz Anchia Peter Robertson |
| Editing by | Bob Ducsay |
| Distributed by | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 1994[1] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $30,000,000[2] |
| Box office | $43,229,904 (USA)[1] |
Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 Disney film based on the Mowgli stories in The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, and is a live-action remake of the 1967 film The Jungle Book.[3] The film stars Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli and Cary Elwes as his main adversary. It was directed by Stephen Sommers. The original music score was composed by Basil Poledouris.
Contents |
During the Victorian period, Mowgli is the five-year-old son of Nathoo, a wilderness guide, with whom he accompanies on a tour in the jungles of their native India during the British Empire and has Grey Brother as a pet wolf cub. Mowgli becomes close friends with a British girl named Katherine Anne "Kitty" Brydon, whose father, Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, commissioned the journey. When Shere Khan goes on a rampage in the camp and kills Mowgli's father and one of Colonel Brydon's soldiers, the boy and the wolf are lost in the confusion and are left to fend for themselves. Bagheera finds and leads them to the wolf pack. Mowgli is befriended by the animals of the jungle including Baloo the bear cub, and they develop an unspoken bond as the boy learns to survive. Twenty years later, the Bandar-log steal the bracelet Kitty gave Mowgli. He follows them to the ruins of an overgrown and lost city, deep in the jungle, where he meets King Louie the orangutan, who he follows in to a chamber full of vast treasure. Louie wants to add the bracelet to the treasure but agrees to give it back if Mowgli fights the great serpent Kaa and wins. Mowgli manages to defeat Kaa with a jeweled dagger he found in the temple. Kaa flees, but he is not killed. Louie returns Mowgli the bracelet, proclaiming him a hero.
A little later, Mowgli once again encounters Kitty, who has returned to India with her father and her arrogant and deceitful suitor, Captain William Boone. Kitty and Mowgli recognize each other, and while his powers of speech are rusty, Kitty reintroduces Mowgli to civilization with the help of Dr. Julius Plumford and Mowgli introduces Kitty to his friends in the jungle. However, after spending most of his life in the jungle, Mowgli does not feel at home among the rude and snobbish aristocrats who are friends with Kitty's family. He falls in love with Kitty, but he concedes to his rival for her affections, believing that he does not belong in her world.
Meanwhile, Boone and his men find the jewelled dagger Mowgli used against Kaa, and they hatch a plan to get Mowgli to lead them to the treasure in Monkey City. After Mowgli refuses, they attempt to capture him but fail thanks to Baloo's intervention. Baloo is shot in the process, and Mowgli rushes back to Kitty's home to find Dr. Plumford; however, the butler informs him that Kitty and Plumford are going back to England. Mowgli finds Kitty and the others just as Boone's men, led by Buldeo and Tabaqui (two of Boone's porters), ambush and attack them. Geoffrey is shot and wounded, and abducted along with Kitty. Mowgli saves Plumford and asks him to return the favour by helping Baloo. Mowgli catches up with Boone's men (which now includes two subordinates of his, Lt. Wilkins and Sgt. Harley) and agrees to escort them to Monkey City in exchange for Kitty and Geoffrey's safety.
The next morning, while the troupe is still searching for the treasure, Harley catches Mowgli escaping and gives chase, but falls into a pond of quicksand and drowns despite Wilkins' pitiful attempt to rescue him. Later, Mowgli saves the wounded Geoffrey and has an elephant take him back to the village and to safety.
As the expedition continues, Tabaqui violently confronts Mowgli atop a cliff with the intent of killing him, but Mowgli kicks him, knocking Tabaqui off his balance and causing him to plummet from the cliff edge. Boone orders his men to kill Mowgli, but Mowgli leaps off the cliff and lands safely in the nearby water.
As the group reach Monkey City, Wilkins encounters Shere Khan, who subsequently chases him down. As Kitty, Boone and Buldeo enter the ancient ruins, followed by Mowgli, Buldeo pursues Mowgli into a crypt to kill him, but accidentally sets off a booby trap that buries him alive.
In the end, only Mowgli, Kitty and Boone reach the treasure alive. Boone, no longer needing Mowgli, attempts to kill him, but the two fight and Boone loses. Mowgli and Kitty flee the temple, as Boone starts to pocket all the gold he can find. Kaa suddenly appears and scares Boone into falling into the water below them. While Boone is underwater, he notices a few skeletons of people whom Kaa had possibly killed in the past. Boone joins them when he is bitten and killed by Kaa.
Shere Khan confronts Mowgli and Kitty as they exit. Khan still does not trust Mowgli, and the two stare at each other a long time before Khan is stared down and leaves in submission - the fulfillment of a dream Mowgli had in the beginning of the story, where he, already a 'half-tiger' in spirit, would stare Shere Khan eye to eye and become a 'whole tiger', Khan recognising in Mowgli another creature of the jungle. Mowgli and Kitty reunite with their friends and family, including Geoffrey and Baloo, both cured by Plumford. Kitty and Mowgli are now together. They share a passionate kiss by a waterfall.
Kaa is portrayed by both a computer-generated and a real anaconda. Other trained animals were monkeys, elephants, camel, horses, zebu, and wolves.[5]
Filming took place in India (Bombay and Jodhpur) and parts of the southern United States (South Carolina and Tennessee).[6]
The film received a 95% fresh at Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 votes.
Critic Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun Times chided the film for not staying true to Kipling's work, although his name remains in the title. He said the film "has so little connection to Rudyard Kipling or his classic book that the title is beyond explanation."[7]
| “ | The sweet innocence of Kipling's fables about a boy who learns to live among the animals is replaced here by an "Indiana Jones" clone, an action thriller that Kipling would have viewed with astonishment.[7] | ” |
He goes on to say that it is a good film, but does not fit its target audience; some "scenes are unsuitable for small children, and the 'PG' rating is laughable."[7]
Rita Kempley from The Washington Post was more favorable with the film, stating that "the narrative shifts from romance to adventure the way Cheetah used to hop from foot to foot, but Sommers nevertheless delivers a bully family picture."[8]
Nominated for Excellence in Media's 1994 Golden Angel Award for best motion picture.[6]
The movie was adaptated into a 1996 game, which includes clips from the film, while providing an original story and new characters.
The game follows the player in his/her quest to save the jungle. Soldiers have stolen King Louie's crown and the player must recover it to prevent the jungle from losing its magic. The player is aided by an Scotsman named Ilgwom ("Mowgli" spelled backwards) and his chimpanzee, Lahtee, while also guided by a spirit made from Mowgli's memories.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||