George of the Jungle is a 1997 live-action film released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was inspired by the 1960s animated series of the same name by the Jay Ward Studios, and starred Brendan Fraser in the title role. A sequel George of the Jungle 2 was released on VHS and DVD in 2003.
Synopsis[]
Based off the famous cartoon show, the heroic George of the Jungle falls in love with city lady Ursula Stanhope and must save his friend Ape from the fiendish Lyle Van de Groot.
Plot[]
The movie begins with an animated showing George baby from San Francisco who survived an airplane crash in Africa Isolated from his human parents he grew up in the jungle raised by apes and was friendly with many jungle creatures, including an gorilla named Ape who George considered a brother, and a dog-like elephant named Shep. his big peanut-loving tookie. 25 years later George grew up to become King of the Jungle living in a treehouse a talking highly smart gorilla. George now lives on friendly terms with most animals. He is quite clumsy a tendency manifests in his crashing into trees and his less than secure footing but takes all accidents in stride. Ursula Stanhope is a beautiful, American heiress, reluctantly engaged to marry Lyle Van de Groot, who seems his fiancee's wealth than to her.
On an expedition to Central Africa, joined by Lyle and two men named Max and Thor. Ursula is rescued from a lion attack by a man named "George". While saving Ursula, George accidentally knocks her unconscious on a tree branch and takes her back to his jungle treehouse. Ursula is delighted by George and they become friends and She is introduced to George's pet elephant named Shep. George starts to fall in love with her and asks Ape for advice in courting her. Ape's advice is only variably dependable, but George's attempts do meet with some success and Lyle and the rest of the expedition search for Ursula, and it is revealed that the men Lyle employed are poachers and Lyle finds George's tree house and attempts to persuade Ursula to come with him.
She calls George over, and Lyle tries to frighten him off utilizing a pistol-shaped cigarette lighter. It turns out that a porter had switched the lighter with a real pistol, and Lyle shoots George with it by accident. George survives but Lyle is sent to jail and Max and Thor try to capture Ape, whom they have overheard speaking in English. They are apprehended and sent to Bujumbura prison, but are released on a technicality. Ursula is taking George get him the finest medical treatment available".
In San Francisco, George is introduced to the civilization of humans He proceeds to make a tremendous impression on his new understanding. One noteworthy incident is his heroic rescue of a stranded parasailer. Ursula's parents throw an engagement party for her. Ursula's mother Beatrice realizes that George's admiration for Ursula end any opportunity of her daughter to tie the knot with Lyle. Mrs. Stanhope then speaks to George about the unsuitability of any relationship he has with Ursula, and risks George to leave Ursula alone. Discouraged, George returns to Ursula's flat. There he finds his bird Tookie Tookie who flew all the way from Africa to tell George that Max and Thor had stolen Ape to take him to Vegas to make a wealth. Immediately George set off for Africa leaving without even telling Ursula goodbye. Soon after Ursula recognizes that she reciprocates George's admiration and much to her mother's distress decides to follow him to Africa.
George returns to Africa to save Ape who has been intentionally misleading his captors into following trails. George finds Ape and tries to save him but he is out numbered. Ape's insistence to fighting fair in order to rescue the ape, George fights dirty, even making Max & Thor pulling them up over his head. However: such as Thor holding him Max give a twisted nipple and smell his armpit. Max holding George in a Full Nelson position so Thor torture George by tickling him in his armpits, As George suffers from the tickling, ribs, sides, and belly and he fearlessly endures the pain until Ursula arrives on the scene at the end of the fight and moments before Lyle and some henchmen appear as well.
It is revealed that Lyle fled from prison and became an ordained minister so that he had the administration to marry Ursula and himself against her will. Lyle's henchmen tie George up and Lyle runs away with Ursula. He takes her to a raft on Ape River and proceeds with a marriage ceremony. Meanwhile, George, Ape, and other animals defeat Lyle's henchmen and George saves Ursula before Lyle can complete the marriage. After admitting they love each other, George and Ursula are married in a lavish jungle celebration on the following full moon and finally have a son.
In the mid-credits scene, Ape travels to Las Vegas where he becomes a performer, and the final scenes show him using Max and Thor as stage props in his program In the post credits scene, Ape's line "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you, the King of the Jungle!" followed by George doing his Tarzan yell and crashing into a tree while swinging with the vines, are heard played over both the Mandeville Films and the Walt Disney Pictures closing logos.
Cast[]
- Brendan Fraser as George of the Jungle, raised by Ape, he is considered King of the Jungle. He is somewhat clueless, but is fairly heroic. He has a tendency to crash into trees when swinging on vines.
- Leslie Mann as Ursula Stanhope, a wealthy heiress who travels on an expedition to Africa. After being saved by George, she falls in love with him, and brings him back to America.
- Thomas Haden Church as Lyle Van de Groot, he is engaged to Ursula, but cares more for her cash than for her.
- John Cleese as Ape, a knowledgeable talking gorilla who raised George from an infant.
- Richard Roundtree as Mr. Kwame, Ursula's jungle guide.
- Greg Cruttwell as Max, a poacher who attempts to "ape-nap" Ape, and is the smarter one of the pair. He holds George so Thor can tickle him.
- Abraham Benrubi as Thor, one of the secondary antagonists and Max's partner who helps in the attempted poaching of Ape, and is the more dimwitted one of the pair. He tickle tortures George as a punishment for giving him a wedgie.
- Holland Taylor as Beatrice Stanhope, Ursula's social-climbing mother. She wants Ursula and Lyle to marry. She looks down on George, to the point that she convinces George to return to the jungle.
- John Bennett Perry as Arthur Stanhope, Ursula's father.
- Kelly Miller as Betsy, Ursula's friend.
- Frank Welker as the voices of Little Monkey, Shep, Tookie Tookie Bird, and gorilla sound effects.
- Keith Scott as the voice of The Narrator, he interacts with the characters at times, including an argument with the poachers.
Production[]
A deleted scene from the film.
The initial screenplay for the film was titled Gorilla Boy. Screenwriter Dana Olsen avoided giving the script to Disney, because he knew they had the film rights to Jay Ward's George of the Jungle cartoon and felt that they did not want another Tarzan spoof. To his surprise, Disney did not have a script yet and they purchased the spec script from him as soon as they heard the similarities.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided several animatronic animals, including Ape, the Tookie Tookie Bird, a lion, snakes, and assorted gorillas.
The film was shot in three different locations. The majority of the jungle scenes were filmed inside an empty airport hangar in Playa Vista, California over the course of two months.[1] There, the set was filled with nearly 5,000 plants to create an authenticity. George's treehouse was constructed from steel and plaster. The floors were built upon a thick layer of steel and concrete to prevent the elephant from falling through. Some trees were made with built-in imprints of George's body to create the illusion of him leaving one following a crash. All wide angle shots of the jungle were filmed in the Hawaiian islands. The scenes in San Francisco were filmed there over a two-week period.
Both Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann has to go through various preparations to film the movie. Fraser went through extensive workout sessions to appear muscular and bulky. He and Leslie both had acrobatic lessons to be able to swing on the vines, which were rigged to safety cables in case of an issue. Stuntman Joey Preston was brought in for the Bay Bridge scene.
About a half-dozen animal trainers and wranglers were present during the jungle scenes to help give directions to the animals.
There were several scenes filmed, but cut from the final product. One cut scene featured George having to save Ursula from a pit of quicksand. Another involved George running amuck in the Neiman Marcus, swinging around the store and running off with Beatrice's dog, Coco. The engagement party scene was also feature Lyle returning, completely bald and with an eyepatch. Following this scene was one featuring George and Ursula having a personal talk outside a large fountain.
The premiere was held at the San Diego Wild National Park, where Disney built a large, outdoor theater.[1]
Reception[]
Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 56% from 52 critics with an average rating of 5.3/10. The consensus states: "George of the Jungle is faithful to its source material — which, unfortunately, makes it a less-than-compelling feature film". Roger Ebert awarded the movie three out of four stars, praising the film as "good-natured" and complimenting the cast's comedic performances.[2]
Box office[]
The movie debuted at No. 2 at the box office behind Men in Black, and eventually went on to become a box office success, grossing $174.4 million worldwide.[3]
Sequel[]
The movie was followed by a direct-to-video sequel George of the Jungle 2, which picks up five years after the original. Most of the major characters are re-cast using different actors, although both Thomas Haden Church and John Cleese reprise their roles from the original.
Trivia[]
- This is the first Disney film to be based on a cartoon/TV show, that was non-Disney before.
- Pride Rock from The Lion King is shown at the ending of the film.
- The song "Boombastic" by Jamaican reggae artist Shaggy, can be heard when George looks at Ursula smiling.
- The film, as well as the cartoon it is based on, makes several references to Tarzan. Ironically, the film came out two years before Disney would release their own version of Tarzan.
- A couple of major characters from the cartoon that fail to make an appearance in the movie include District Commissioner Alistair, George's boss of sorts who would send him on various missions; "Tiger" Titherage and "Weevil" Plumtree, a pair of poachers who Max and Thor might be based on; and Doctor Chicago, a mad scientist whose persona and name are parodies of Doctor Zhivago.
- When Ursula "very quickly" tells her parents of her jungle exploits, she is actually saying "So anyway I went to the jungle, [inaudible] and I wanted to get away before I got married, and Lyle showed up and nobody got along with Lyle, he was a big pain in the a--, and anyway, so he, he went off into the jungle by himself, and I, you know, I had to follow him. And a jungle man comes swinging through on a vine, just swinging through, and, and he, and then we, hit something, and I don't know what happened. The next thing I know I wake up [inaudible] - And then Lyle shot him!"[4]
- When televised on Disney Channel and ABC's "Wonderful World of Disney", Arthur's swearing of the "A" word was replaced with "butt".
- The original George of the Jungle cartoon was made by Jay Ward Productions, this live action movie was released by Disney, and Jay Ward's flagship property, Rocky and Bullwinkle, had VHS releases from Disney's Buena Vista Home Video label.
- After this cinematic production, Tai the Elephant and Joseph the Lion would perform as the circus animals in Meet the Deedles.
- This is the first Disney film to be released on VHS with have a url address on the back of a cardboard case, which is www.disneyvideos.com.
- This is also the the first Disney film to be released on DVD besides being the first Disney film to be released on both VHS and DVD on the same release date.
- A number of animals that appear in this film and its sequel are not indigenous to Africa; capuchins, macaws and toucans (native to Latin America), Indian elephants, water buffalo, orangutans, rhesus monkeys and tigers (native to India and Southeast Asia), eclectus parrots and cockatoos (native to Australia, New Guinea and Indonesia).
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 George Of The Jungle (News Release Video)
- ↑ "George Of The Jungle", Chicago Sun-Times.
- ↑ "George Of The Jungle' Debut Can't Swing Past 'Men In Black", Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved on 12 November 2010.
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_V2GK6rebA.
External links[]
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