The Jungle Book 2

The Jungle Book 2 is a 2003 animated film produced by the DisneyToons studio in Sydney, Australia and released by Walt Disney Pictures and Buena Vista 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 and Return to Neverland 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 criticised mainly for its cut-rate animation and a lazy, samey 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
Mowgli is in the Man Village, living with his adoptive parents and new little brother, Ranjan. He has become friends with Shanti, the girl who lured Mowgli into the Man Village. After Mowgli gets in trouble, he blames Shanti and won't talk to her, then Mowgli starts to miss the jungle. After an escape from a stampede of elephants, Baloo sneaks into the Man Village - unnoticed by the villagers - to visit Mowgli. Also, Mowgli's old arch enemy, Shere Khan, returns for his revenge. Meanwhile, Shanti tries to apologize to Mowgli, but she sees Baloo with Mowgli, and shrieks for help. Shere Khan sneaks into the village and everyone thinks he's the wild animal. After Baloo and Mowgli escape into the jungle, Shanti, believing her friend was kidnapped, follows them. Kaa spots Mowgli and Baloo talking, and attempts to eat him. But, fortunately, he fails. 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. Soon, Mowgli's old panther guardian, Bagheera, figures out that Mowgli had escaped the Man Village with Baloo, and he tries to find him. 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, he falls into some vines and gets tangled. Baloo finds them and scares Shanti. Shanti thinks 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, 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 Ranjan encounters Baloo when he tries to follow Shanti. He tries to run away, but Baloo tells him to calm down and asks him where Mowgli is. Ranjan shouts "Shere Khan!" and they run after Mowgli. Mowgli finds an ancient temple and hides. Baloo and Ranjan run into Bagheera, whom Baloo leaves Ranjan with when they arrive at the temple, 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. Baloo begins banging on a gong, soon being joined by Shanti and Mowgli each in their hiding places and confuse Shere Khan. Shanti's gong falls down and Shere Khan threatens her. Mowgli comes out of his hiding place and Shere Khan runs towards him. Mowgli begins to run and Baloo pushes Shere Khan away. Mowgli and Shanti run up a staircase, soon being followed by Shere Khan after Baloo tries to stop him again and soon run into a crater and jump across and land on a tiger head statue. Shere Khan jumps onto the tiger head which starts to fall. Shere Khan falls and lands on a rock and the tiger head lands 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. They soon return to their families and go back to the village. Not long after returning to the village, Mowgli, Shanti and Ranjan secretly return to the jungle 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 The 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'".

Returning from the first film

 * Mowgli, voiced by Haley Joel Osment
 * Baloo, voiced by John Goodman
 * Bagheera, voiced by Bob Joles
 * Shanti, voiced by Mae Whitman
 * Shere Khan, voiced by Tony Jay
 * Kaa, voiced by Jim Cummings
 * Colonel Hathi, voiced by Jim Cummings
 * Hathi, Jr., voice unknown
 * Buzzie, Flaps, Dizzie, & Ziggy, voiced by Jim Cummings, Jeff Bennett, Baron Davis and Jess Harnell
 * Flunkey, voiced by Jim Cummings

New in this film
''
 * Lucky, voiced by Phil Collins
 * Ranjan, voiced by Connor Funk
 * Ranjan's Father, voiced by John Rhys-Davies
 * Messua, voice unknown

Animals Featured

 * Human (Mowgli, Shanti, Ranjan, Ranjan's Father, Messua, Nathoo & Other Villagers)
 * Sloth Bear (Baloo)
 * Black Panther (Bagheera)
 * Tiger (Shere Khan)
 * Indian Python (Kaa)
 * Asian Elephant (Colonel Hathi, Hathi Jr. & Elephant Patrol; Some seen in King Louie's former palace)
 * Indian Vulture (Buzzie, Flaps, Dizzie, Ziggy & Lucky)
 * Baboon (Flunkey)
 * Indian Rhinoceros (Seen in King Louie's former 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)
 * 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)
 * Meerkat (Seen in King Louie's former palace)
 * Warthog (Seen in King Louie's former palace)

Hidden Appearances

 * During one of 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, Timon and Pumbaa can briefly be seen dancing until Baloo bounces them 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
The band Smash Mouth recorded a cover of the Sherman Brothers song, "I Wanna Be Like You" (originally from the 1967 musical film), which is featured on this film's soundtrack.

Trivia
The Meerkat and The Warthog are like Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King.
 * This is the second Disney sequel to take place right after the ending of the first film since The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, which took place right after the ending of the original.
 * 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.

Criticial reception
Many people thought that The Jungle Book 2 was a rehash of the original 1967 classic and should have gone direct-to-video as it was originally intended. On Rotten Tomatoes, the general consensus is "This inferior rehash of The Jungle Book should have gone straight to video." Based on 86 reviews, the film a "rotten" approval rating of 19%, with an average score of 4.4/10. . Among Rotten Tomatoes' "Top Critics" division, which consists of popular and notable critics from the top newspapers, websites, television, and radio programs, the film holds an overall approval rating of 17% based on 35 reviews with an average score of 4.1/10. Another review aggregator, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, the film received an average score of 38%, based on 24 reviews.

Box office
The film grossed $47,901,582 in the United States and $87,802,017 in foreign countries adding to $135,703,599 worldwide.