Mowgli, missing the jungle and his old friends, runs away from the man village unaware of the danger he's in by going back to the wild.
Director: Steve Trenbirth
Stars: John Goodman, Haley Joel Osment, Tony Jay.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283426/
Watched online, good print.
6 songs in the Soundtracks; 3 from the original '67 film, 3 with Words and Music by Lorraine Feather and Paul Grabowsky.
My affection for the first film is likely what makes me enjoy this one. Most reviewers react the opposite, calling this a poor sequel. I was drawn in immediately, and although it's not as good, it's still engaging. I liked the first song a lot, and it's one of the new ones (Jungle Rhythm).
None of the original cast were used here (36 years later), but a lot of them do excellent impersonations of the originals. Compare:
Baloo: Phil Harris :: John Goodman
Bagheera (panther): Sebastian Cabot :: Bob Joles
Shere Khan (tiger): George Sanders :: Tony Jay
Kaa (snake): Sterling Holloway :: Jim Cummings
Goodman is recognizable as himself, but he looks like Baloo/Phil Harris, so that's almost ok. It's hard for me to remember that the panther is a good guy; this actor didn't imitate SC strongly. But the village man who adopted Mowgli is voiced by John Rhys-Davies, who reminded me of Sebastian Cabot, so maybe a different voice for the panther was intentional. Tony Jay was great as GS, and Jim Cummings was good as SH.
Rated 5.4 (13,405)
Disney, dir. Trenbirth; 7
