George of the Jungle (film)
Encyclopedia
George of the Jungle is a 1997 live-action, family-oriented, romantic-adventure-comedy film based on the characters from the original cartoon of the same name
George of the Jungle
George of the Jungle was an American animated series produced by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, who created The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. The character George was inspired by the legend of Tarzan. It ran for 17 episodes on Saturday mornings from September 9 to December 30, 1967, on the American TV...

. The film was produced by Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures
Walt Disney Pictures is an American film studio owned by The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney Pictures and Television, a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Studios and the main production company for live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, based at the Walt Disney...

 with Mandeville Films
Mandeville Films
Mandeville Films is an American independent film production company.Founded in 1994 by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, it re-formed as Mandeville Films and Television in 2002 after a short hiatus.-History:...

 and originally released to movie theatres on July 16, 1997. It stars Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...

 as the eponymous main character, a primitive man who was raised by animals in an African jungle; Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann is an American actress best known for her roles in comedic films, many of which are collaborations with her husband, Judd Apatow.-Early life:...

 as his wealthy American love interest; and Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...

 as her treacherous fiancé.

A direct-to-video
Direct-to-video
Direct-to-video is a term used to describe a film that has been released to the public on home video formats without being released in film theaters or broadcast on television...

 sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...

, George of the Jungle 2
George of the Jungle 2
George of the Jungle 2 is the 2003 direct-to-video sequel of the 1997 Disney film George of the Jungle. It was directed by David Grossman, written by Jordan Moffet, and stars Thomas Haden Church, Julie Benz, Christina Pickles, Michael Clarke Duncan, John Cleese, and introducing Christopher...

, was released on DVD in 2003, however all but four of the original actors did not return for the sequel.

Plot

The film begins with an animated introduction showing a plane crash in which George, then an infant, is lost in a jungle in "the Heart of Africa
Central Africa
Central Africa is a core region of the African continent which includes Burundi, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Rwanda....

" (more specifically, a region called "Bukuvu"). Over 25 years later, George (Brendan Fraser
Brendan Fraser
Brendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...

) is a Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...

-like man, the "King of the Jungle". His friends include a sophisticated talking gorilla named Ape (voiced by John Cleese
John Cleese
John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

), along with a toucan
Toucan
Toucans are members of the family Ramphastidae of near passerine birds from the Neotropics. The family is most closely related to the American barbets. They are brightly marked and have large, often colorful bills. The family includes five genera and about forty different species...

 named Tookie, a small capuchin monkey (played by Crystal
Crystal the Monkey
Crystal is a female capuchin monkey and animal actor. She portrayed the irritating monkey Dexter in the 2006 film Night at the Museum and the 2009 sequel Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian...

), and an African elephant named Shep, whom he calls his "dog" (all voiced by Frank Welker
Frank Welker
Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...

).

The live action begins as heiress Ursula Stanhope (Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann is an American actress best known for her roles in comedic films, many of which are collaborations with her husband, Judd Apatow.-Early life:...

) explores the jungle near George's home with the help of her guide, Mr. Kwame (Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree
Richard Roundtree is an American actor and former fashion model. He is best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film Shaft and in its two sequels, Shaft's Big Score and Shaft in Africa .-Personal life:Born in New Rochelle, New York, Richard Roundtree graduated from...

) and some native porters. She has traveled to Africa alone, but she is joined by her wealthy fiancé, Lyle Van De Groot (Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church
Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...

), who has found her with the help of Max and Thor, (Greg Cruttwell
Greg Cruttwell
Greg Cruttwell is an English actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He is the son of actress Geraldine McEwan and Hugh Cruttwell, former principal of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....

 and Abraham Benrubi
Abraham Benrubi
Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi is an American character actor known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running U.S...

) two poachers who are posing as trackers. That evening, Mr. Kwame recounts the legend of the White Ape, said to be a huge, super-strong primate who rules the surrounding jungle.

The next day, Lyle almost causes the death of one of the porters, and he abandons Ursula when he and she are attacked by a lion
Lion
The lion is one of the four big cats in the genus Panthera, and a member of the family Felidae. With some males exceeding 250 kg in weight, it is the second-largest living cat after the tiger...

. George saves Ursula and takes her to his treehouse
Treehouse
A treehouse, tree house, or treefort is a habitable structure built in trees. "Treehouse" may also refer to:*Tree House, Crawley, a listed 14th-century building in Crawley, West Sussex, United Kingdom; originally the manor house....

 home (albeit unconscious), and Lyle returns to the camp, claiming to have been attacked by the White Ape. While the exploration party searches for Ursula, George entertains her and teaches her to swing on vines. He also falls in love with her, so Ape advises him to woo her by making faces and beating his chest, as gorillas do. This fails to impress Ursula, but George wins her over with his charm, and they enjoy an evening of dancing around a campfire.

On the third day, the explorers discover George's treehouse, and Lyle shoots George as George tries to prevent the poachers from shooting Ape with a tranquilizer gun. While Lyle is jailed for the shooting, Ursula flies George to her home in San Francisco for medical treatment and buys clothes for him, and George explores the city and saves a paraglider's life. With George's help, Ursula finds the courage to tell her parents that she no longer wants to marry Lyle, but her mother (Holland Taylor
Holland Taylor
Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

), who is intent on marrying her to a man of wealth and prestige, threatens George to give Ursula up or she would "remove his reason for wearing a loincloth
Castration
Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which a male loses the functions of the testicles or a female loses the functions of the ovaries.-Humans:...

".

Meanwhile, the poachers capture Ape, knowing that he can speak. Ape manages to send Tookie to San Francisco to ask George for help. When Tookie finds George, George returns to Africa, and, after realizing she loves George, Ursula follows. George finds the poachers at the treehouse, with Ape in a cage, and he defeats them after an extended battle, with help from Ursula and his animal family. However, Lyle appears, having escaped from prison and joined a cult, and kidnaps Ursula with help from several mercenaries
Mercenary
A mercenary, is a person who takes part in an armed conflict based on the promise of material compensation rather than having a direct interest in, or a legal obligation to, the conflict itself. A non-conscript professional member of a regular army is not considered to be a mercenary although he...

. Having been made a minister by his cult, Lyle intends to marry himself to Ursula immediately. After escaping the mercenaries with help from his gorilla friends, George chases Lyle and Ursula as they float into some river rapids on a raft, then saves Ursula while Lyle enters a dark tunnel. After performing his wedding ceremony and exiting the tunnel, Lyle discovers that he has just married a gorilla.

After admitting their love for each other, George and Ursula are married in a jungle ceremony, and they eventually have a son, whom George holds at the top of a rock outcropping in a scene derived from The Lion King
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

. The film ends in Las Vegas
Las Vegas, Nevada
Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

, where Ape performs a song-and-dance act using the poachers as stage props.

Cast

  • Brendan Fraser
    Brendan Fraser
    Brendan James Fraser is a Canadian-American film and stage actor. Fraser portrayed Rick O'Connell in the three-part Mummy film series , and is known for his comedic and fantasy film leading roles in major Hollywood films, including Encino Man , George of the Jungle , Dudley Do-Right , Monkeybone ,...

     as George, a strapping young man who was raised in the jungle and frequently crashes into trees while swinging on vines.
  • Leslie Mann
    Leslie Mann
    Leslie Mann is an American actress best known for her roles in comedic films, many of which are collaborations with her husband, Judd Apatow.-Early life:...

     as Ursula Stanhope, a wealthy heiress
  • Thomas Haden Church
    Thomas Haden Church
    Thomas Haden Church is an American actor. After co-starring in the 1990s sitcom Wings, Church became well known for his film roles, including his Academy Award-nominated performance in Sideways and his role as the Sandman in Spider-Man 3.-Early life:Church, the fourth of six children, was born...

     as Lyle van de Groot, Ursula's wealthy, despicable fiancé
  • John Cleese
    John Cleese
    John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

     as Voice of Ape, a well-educated talking Gorilla
    Gorilla
    Gorillas are the largest extant species of primates. They are ground-dwelling, predominantly herbivorous apes that inhabit the forests of central Africa. Gorillas are divided into two species and either four or five subspecies...

  • Richard Roundtree
    Richard Roundtree
    Richard Roundtree is an American actor and former fashion model. He is best known for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film Shaft and in its two sequels, Shaft's Big Score and Shaft in Africa .-Personal life:Born in New Rochelle, New York, Richard Roundtree graduated from...

     as Mr. Kwame, Ursula's jungle guide
  • Greg Cruttwell
    Greg Cruttwell
    Greg Cruttwell is an English actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He is the son of actress Geraldine McEwan and Hugh Cruttwell, former principal of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art....

     as Max, a poacher
  • Abraham Benrubi
    Abraham Benrubi
    Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi is an American character actor known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running U.S...

     as Thor, a poacher
  • John Bennett Perry
    John Bennett Perry
    John Bennett Perry is an American actor and former model. He is the father of actor Matthew Perry.-Life and career:Perry was born in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the son of Maria Schaefer and Alton L. Perry. He married twice...

     as Arthur Stanhope, Ursula's father
  • Holland Taylor
    Holland Taylor
    Holland Virginia Taylor is an American actress of film, stage and television. Her notable television roles include Ruth Dunbar in Bosom Buddies, senator's wife Margaret Powers on Norman Lear's The Powers That Be, Judge Roberta Kittleson in The Practice and Evelyn Harper in Two and a Half...

     as Beatrice Stanhope, Ursula's mother
  • Keith Scott
    Keith Scott (Australia)
    Keith Scott is a voice-over and voice actor from Australia. He provided the voice for Bullwinkle J...

     as Narrator
  • Frank Welker
    Frank Welker
    Franklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...

     as Voice of Little Monkey, Shep, Tooki Tooki Bird, and Gorilla sound effects
  • Kelly Miller as Betsy, Ursula's friend
  • Abdoulaye N'Gom as Kip, Ursula's friend
  • Michael Chinyamurindi as N'Dugo, Ursula's friend

Animals

In the opening animated sequence, various animals swing on vines with young George, his "dog" Shep fetches a crocodile instead of a log, and a wildebeest falls in love with a bushman
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...

 wearing a wildebeest mask.

In the live action film, a whole host of animals are seen. George fights with a lion, accidentally swings on a snake instead of a vine, rides an elephant, talks to a bird, and lives with various monkeys and apes.

The lion, elephant, and bird scenes were all filmed with a mix of real animals, puppetry (especially for the lion fight), and CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

 (to show the elephant acting like a dog). The scenes with the orangutan
Orangutan
Orangutans are the only exclusively Asian genus of extant great ape. The largest living arboreal animals, they have proportionally longer arms than the other, more terrestrial, great apes. They are among the most intelligent primates and use a variety of sophisticated tools, also making sleeping...

, a chimpanzee
Chimpanzee
Chimpanzee, sometimes colloquially chimp, is the common name for the two extant species of ape in the genus Pan. The Congo River forms the boundary between the native habitat of the two species:...

, and the capuchin monkey
Capuchin monkey
The capuchins are New World monkeys of the genus Cebus. The range of capuchin monkeys includes Central America and South America as far south as northern Argentina...

s were filmed with live animals, but some computer work was used in a scene wherein the little monkey imitates George. The large Apes who live with George were all costumed actors or animatronic
Audio-Animatronics
Audio-Animatronics is the registered trademark for a form of robotics created by Walt Disney Imagineering for shows and attractions at Disney theme parks, and subsequently expanded on and used by other companies. The robots move and make noise, generally in speech or song...

 figures with the gorilla suits provided by Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Jim Henson's Creature Shop
Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets, and Frank Oz.It was originally created as a result of the observation that the team that had been put together for The Dark Crystal was extremely hard to recreate for Labyrinth, since the...

. In the "Pride Rock
The Lion King
The Lion King is a 1994 American animated film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 32nd feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series...

" scene, when George presents his son to the animals, CGI work is again used.

Soundtrack

Track #2, the Johnny Clegg song "Dela", also features the first few bars of the original George of the Jungle theme song.
  1. "George of the Jungle" (Sheldon Allman
    Sheldon Allman
    Sheldon Allman was a Jewish American-born Canadian raised actor, singer, and songwriter.He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the RCAF...

    , Stanley Worth) - 2:53 - Presidents of the United States of America
    The Presidents of the United States of America (band)
    The Presidents of the United States of America, commonly referred to as Pot USA or "PUSA" or The Presidents, are a twice Grammy-nominated American alternative rock band. The band formed in Seattle, USA, in 1993. The three-piece group currently comprises vocalist and "basitarist" Chris Ballew,...

  2. "Dela (I Know Why the Dog Howls at the Moon)" (Johnny Clegg) - 4:16 - Johnny Clegg & Savuka
    Savuka
    Savuka was a band formed in 1986 by English-born South African Johnny Clegg after the disbanding of his first band, Juluka. Both of his bands were inter-racial in the racially segregated Apartheid South Africa...

  3. "Wipe Out" (Jim Fuller, Berryhill
    Bob Berryhill
    Bob Berryhill is a founding member of The Surfaris and co-writer, recording artist of "Wipe Out" and other Surfaris' hits. In 1960, when Bob was 13 he took a trip to the Hawaiian Islands and learned to surf and play ukulele. On returning to California, he began working seriously on guitar and two...

    , Patrick Connolly
    Pat Connolly
    Pat Connolly was the bass guitarist for the Californian surf group The Surfaris from 1962-1965. They had a #2 U.S./#5 UK hit with Wipe Out. He left the band in 1965, for personal reasons.-References:*...

    , Ron Wilson
    Ron Wilson (drummer)
    Ron Wilson was an American musician and recording artist, best known as an original member and drummer of The Surfaris, an early surf rock group of the 1960s...

    ) - 2:39 - The Surfaris
    The Surfaris
    The Surfaris were an American surf rock band formed in Glendora, California in 1962. They are best known for two songs that hit the charts in the Los Angeles, California area, and nationally by May 1963: "Surfer Joe" on the A-side and "Wipe Out" on the B-side of a 45 RPM single.-Career:The original...

  4. "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" (Traditional) - 0:57 - Roger Freeland, Jon Joyce, Steve Lively, Gary Stockdale
    Gary Stockdale
    Gary Stockdale is an American musical composer and a two-time Daytime Emmy winner. He has composed music for television shows such as Sabrina, the Teenage Witch; They Came from Outer Space; To Tell the Truth; Comedy Central’s Last Laugh; Cowboy U; Hayley Wagner, Star!; A Home for the Holidays , and...

  5. "My Way
    My Way (song)
    "My Way" is a song popularized by Frank Sinatra. Its lyrics were written by Paul Anka and set to music based on the French song "Comme d'habitude" composed in 1967 by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, with lyrics by Claude François and Gilles Thibault. Anka's English lyrics are unrelated to the...

    " (Paul Anka
    Paul Anka
    Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...

    , Jacques Revaux
    Jacques Revaux
    Jacques Revaux is a French songwriter most famous for his 1968 collaboration with singer Claude François on the song "Comme d'habitude" that singer-songwriter Paul Anka reworked into the English language as "My Way". He co-founded Trema Records with Regis Talar...

    , Claude François
    Claude François
    Claude François was a French pop singer, songwriter and dancer. He wrote "Comme d'habitude," the original version of "My Way."-Early life:...

    , Gilles Thibault) - 1:11 - John Cleese
    John Cleese
    John Marwood Cleese is an English actor, comedian, writer, and film producer. He achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and performer on The Frost Report...

  6. "Aba Daba Honeymoon
    Aba Daba Honeymoon
    Aba Daba Honeymoon is a popular song that was written and published by Arthur Fields and Walter Donovan in 1914. Known through its chorus, "Aba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the chimpie to the monk; Baba daba daba daba daba daba dab, Said the monkey to the chimp," the first recording of Aba...

    " (Walter Donovan, Arthur Fields
    Arthur Fields
    Arthur Fields was a United States singer and songwriter.He was born Abraham Finkelstein in Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, but grew up mainly in Utica, New York. He became a professional singer as a youngster...

    ) - 1:55 - Karen Harper
    Karen Harper
    Karen Harper is an historical fiction and contemporary fiction author. She is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author.-Writing career:...

  7. "George of the Jungle
    Dare to Be Stupid
    Dare to Be Stupid is the third studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released in 1985. The album was one of many produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer...

    " (Allman
    Sheldon Allman
    Sheldon Allman was a Jewish American-born Canadian raised actor, singer, and songwriter.He began his singing career with the Royal National Guard during his World War II service with the RCAF...

    , Worth) - 1:03 - "Weird Al" Yankovic
    "Weird Al" Yankovic
    Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

  8. "Go Ape
    Go Ape
    Go Ape Ltd. is an outdoor pursuits company which runs 26 high wire adventure courses in forests in England, Scotland and Wales consisting of rope ladders, zip-lines, rope bridges, trapezes and swings...

     [The Dance Mix]" (Michael Becker) - 3:25 - Michael Becker
  9. "Jungle Band" (Michael Becker) - 3:18 - Carl Graves
  10. "George to the Rescue" - 1:11
  11. "Rumble in the Jungle" - 3:15
  12. "The Little Monkey" - 2:23
  13. "George of the Jungle [Main Title Movie Mix]" (Marc Shaiman
    Marc Shaiman
    Marc Shaiman is an American composer, lyricist, arranger, and performer for films, television, and theatre. He is perhaps best known for writing the music and co-writing the lyrics for the Broadway musical version of the cult John Waters film Hairspray, for which Shaiman won Tony and Grammy...

    ) - 2:20

Reception

The film received mixed reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...

 gave the film a score of 54% from 50 critics with an average rating of 5.3/10. Roger Ebert awarded the movie three out of four stars praising the film as "good-natured" and complimenting the cast's comedic performances.

Box office

The movie debuted at No.2 at the box office behind Men in Black
Men in Black (film)
Men in Black is a 1997 science fiction comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, starring Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith and Vincent D'Onofrio. The film was based on the Men in Black comic book series by Lowell Cunningham, originally published by Marvel Comics. The film featured the creature effects...

, becoming a box office success.
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