JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 1997 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ** 1/2
Let's play make a movie! You are a movie mogul. Your company has entrusted you with zillions of dollars to spend on films. Big budget is your middle name. You are paid the big bucks because you can make movies that will sell popcorn like there's no tomorrow.
All of the producers are pitching their hot projects to you. Everyone assures you that theirs will be the runaway hit that can make your career in Hollywood. Although your life could not look rosier, you do have this one fear. Your recurring nightmare involves taking too much risk and blowing it all with some HEAVEN'S GATE style turkey.
You need some insurance. One of the proposals in front of you has remake stamped right on the cover. Couldn't go wrong with that choice. You tell your underlings to get cracking on it. The movie to be remade is a 1994 French film called UN INDIEN DANS LA VILLE and released in the US with a dubbed version called LITTLE INDIAN, BIG CITY. Your film will be called JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE.
After production begins, you finally getting around to asking how well LITTLE INDIAN, BIG CITY was received. You find out that it made the worse 10 of the year list of many of the major critics and one of the biggest critics called LITTLE INDIAN, BIG CITY one of the worse films ever made. You break out the antacid tablets and rediscover religion. You worry every minute until the curtains go up.
Well, you lucked out. Not a great show but a nice if unremarkable kids' movie. You'll probably end up in the black, and your position is still secure. Next time, however, you'll do better upfront research.
Disney's JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE is a live action film featuring popular actor Tim Allen. Allen was the comedic foundation of Disney's successful 1994 film THE SANTA CLAUSE. Both pictures were directed by John Pasquin. Allen's not nearly as funny this time, but it's not his fault. Most of his lines are lame, thanks to the script by Bruce A. Evans, Ray Gideon and Charlie Peters. His lines are targeted toward the adults in the audience with mostly ineffective jokes involving such things as the brand of a shaver. All of the writer's creative energy seems to have been focused on developing the part of the boy.
In the story, Michael Cromwell (Tim Allen) and Richard (Martin Short) are traders in the commodities pit. One day, Michael leaves his jungle to go to the Amazon rain forest. He goes on a simple mission to get his wife, Dr. Patricia Cromwell (JoBeth Williams), to sign their divorce papers. Simple, but essential, since he is scheduled to be married in 30 days to a vivacious, but slightly airheaded, fashion designer named Charlotte (Lolita Davidovich).
Wearing his suit and expensive shoes, and taking along his laptop, he looks stranger than the natives in the jungle. Charlotte introduces him to his son Mimi Siku (Sam Huntington) whom he never knew he had -- she left Michael 13 years ago. (The film relishes symmetry. Later Michael's costume will look proper, but Mimi Siku's will seem totally out of place in Michael's jungle.)
Since the focus of the film is the wild boy, the effectiveness of the picture hangs on the casting of this role. Huntington tries hard and shows promise as an actor, but is miscast in several ways. For a boy who has roughed it in the wilderness all of his life, I would not expect such a delicate looking boy. He lives in the searing sun of a river encampment and spends his days hunting in his canoe, but his skin shows little tan and is smooth as silk. He looks like a musical prodigy who has never been outdoors nor ever been bruised from a fall. The press kit, on CD-ROM no less, says his only movie before this one was in a small part in BOYS that was left on the cutting room floor. Even though I think he was all wrong for the part, I ended up liking him anyway.
Since the film is called JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE, the action soon switches back to New York where Michael takes Mimi Siku to get the fire from the Statue of Liberty for his village chief. The Amazon part is cliche-ridden and predictable, but the New York locale, where most of the action occurs, provides a richer and more interesting terrain for comedy. Tony Pierce-Robert's cinematography, however, is shown off best in the sweeping rain forest vistas. The music by Michael Convertino comes alive with the rhythm of jungle drums and flutes during the Amazon section.
Once back in The Big Apple subplots appear around every turn: the Russian Mafia, a losing position in coffee futures, a Fashion Channel documentary, a teenage love story, a spider with an attitude, and the list goes on. Some of the jokes are quite funny with the best involving a dart from a blowgun that accidentally anesthetizes the cat.
Lolita Davidovich, much better known for her dramatic roles, gives the best small performance in the film. Dressed to kill in one revealing gown after another, she plays her role with great panache. Other actresses might have given it the tired old brainless routine, but Davidovich imbues her character with a subtle but detectable intelligence. She also makes her character look alluring rather than cheap.
The physical humor dominates as in, for example, the running joke about Mimi Siku urinating in all the wrong places. Michael coaches him too about when to raise and lower the toilet lid. "Females in the tribe start war with this," he warns his son.
Some of the shortest lines have the most punch. When Mimi Siku first sees Charlotte's cat, he misinterprets why she has it. "Cat fat. We eat?" he asks.
When the film attempts serious themes, it quickly loses the audience. Most effective are the attempts at humor. Some, like the coffee futures part, will go over the kids' heads and bore the grown-ups. Others such as the Russian Mafia are little more than tedious plot devices to move the story along. Still, on balance, a mildly funny film. With the dearth of kids' movies, it's good to see one even if it's only mildly funny.
JUNGLE 2 JUNGLE runs 1:51. It is rated PG for a couple of scenes of threatened violence. (The film at the press screening had a G rating so perhaps it was re-rated. The press kit says PG as does the advertising.) The film would be fine for kids of all ages. Most Saturday morning cartoons are scarier than this film. My son Jeffrey, almost 8, found the film "very hilarious." He liked the character of the boy, especially when he was climbing big places. I thought it was an imminently forgettable film, but one funny enough for me to give it a thumbs up and ** 1/2.
**** = A must see film. *** = Excellent show. Look for it. ** = Average movie. Kind of enjoyable. * = Poor show. Don't waste your money. 0 = Totally and painfully unbearable picture.
REVIEW WRITTEN ON: March 4, 1997
Opinions expressed are mine and not meant to reflect my employer's.
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