The Giant Squirrel is a character who was featured in the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book.
Background[]
The giant squirrel is an unnamed Indian giant squirrel who observes Mowgli attempting to retrieve honey for Baloo, alongside a pygmy hog and a pangolin. He is shown to curiously watch Mowgli who attempts to retrieve honey, much to Mowgli feeling uncomfortable of bees stinging him which Mowgli successfully brings down the honey for Baloo after a few more attempts. He is also shown to be supportive in helping Mowgli obtain the honey for Baloo with help from other animals after Mowgli's first attempt.
Appearances[]
The Jungle Book (2016)[]
The giant squirrel is first seen staring at Mowgli who is unable to drop some honey for Baloo with a stick, due to being stung by one of the bees which he, a pygmy hog, and Mr. Pangolin observe Mowgli dropping the honey for Baloo while the giant squirrel replies "Oh, boy, looks like you got another one." After he tried so hard to bring down the honey, Mowgli was able to bring down the honey for Baloo which the honey falls on Fred to which Mr. Pangolin and the giant squirrel try to look for Fred who was covered by honey which Baloo finds him and licks the honey off his back while the squirrel and Mr. Pangolin enjoy the honey that was dropped. The squirrel then hands Mowgli a piece of honeycomb to cure the bee stings Mowgli obtained when he was trying to obtain honey for Baloo.
The next day, the giant squirrel, Fred, Mr. Pangolin, and other animals work together with Mowgli to deliver the honey for Baloo for the first mark where Fred is seen with combs of honey inside a contraption made of branches, followed by the second mark during throughout "The Bare Necessities" sequence which the plan to get honey for Baloo was successful. Later at the end of the film, Fred is seen during the end of the film with many other surviving animals after Shere Khan fell to his death with the Red Flower being extinguished where he, Fred, and Mr. Pangolin stare at Mowgli riding on Hathi, Jr. where Mowgli is praised for being a hero to all the animals of the jungle.
Video game appearances[]
The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Run[]
Whenever the player ends their gameplay in colliding with an obstacle in the discontinued mobile game, archived footage from the film of the giant squirrel saying "Oh, boy, looks like you got another one" was featured as one of the clips that play as a reaction of Mowgli getting into contact with an obstacle.
Trivia[]
- This squirrel was created exclusively for the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book and does not appear in the original 1967 film nor does he appear in Rudyard Kipling's original books.
- The squirrel's voice actor, Sam Raimi, also directed the first three Spider-Man films, which also starred the Marvel character of the same name. Coincidentally, Jon Favreau, who directed the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book, also directed various Marvel Cinematic Universe films.
- One of the squirrel's lines, "It's nature's ointment, I put it everywhere", was improvised by one of the puppeteers which the Jungle Book production team gave it to Sam Raimi to say the line.[1]
References[]
- ↑ Jungle Book Audio Commentary (Blu-ray, 2016)
