George of the Jungle 2 (2003)

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General		Extras
Category	Comedy	Main Menu Audio & Animation Featurette-Behind The Scenes-Behind The Trees Game-Vine-Surfing Deleted Scenes-With optional commentary Outtakes-Jungle Bungles
Rating
Year Of Production	2003
Running Time	83:25
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (70:47)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Aspect Ratio Then Menu
Region Coding	2,4,5	Directed By	David Grossman
Studio Distributor	Disney Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Thomas Haden Church Julie Benz Christina Pickles Kelly Miller Michael Clarke Duncan John Cleese Christopher Showerman
Case	Amaray-Transparent-Secure Clip
RPI	?	Music	J.A.C. Redford

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s) Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English Swedish Norwegian Danish Finnish Portuguese Russian Polish Arabic Portuguese Titling	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	Yes
		Action In or After Credits	Yes, Some Pixar-style "bloopers" of much lower standard

    Originally a cartoon series running from 1967-1970, George of the Jungle was made into a live action movie in 1997, and starred a pre-Mummy Brendan Fraser in the lead role. Six years later Disney decided to make another in their growing list of straight-to-video sequels.

    This time round, the clumsy yet loveable George is played by the less expensive Chris Showerman, and Ursula (now his wife) is played by Julie Benz. There are, however, some reprisals of roles from the original film.

    The film begins with some trouble in paradise, as things aren't working out quite as smoothly as hoped for the loving couple and their young son. George is having trouble juggling his job as King of the jungle with his role of Father and husband, and seems to end up neglecting both his family and his subjects. Add to this the fact that his mentor, Ape (voiced by John Cleese), is busy gambling in Las Vegas, his mother-in-law is in cahoots with Ursula's old fiancé, Lyle (Thomas Haden Church), in an attempt to steal George's family from him (amongst other things), and Mean Lion (voiced by Michael Clarke Duncan) wants to be King of the jungle. So as you can see, George has a few problems to deal with.

    The movie starts off in the Jungle, travels to Las Vegas and San Francisco, and finally returns to the jungle (somewhere in our own Queensland actually, since this was shot on location over here), as George attempts to bumble his way through to a solution, all the while causing destruction and self-inflicted pain.

    First off I have to admit that I actually found some of the original movie to be quite humorous. Sure the humour is juvenile, obvious, and cartoon-like, but I found the characters likeable enough to actually get me chuckling occasionally. I wasn't expecting anything much from this sequel, but I have to say that by no means is it any worse than the original. The new George captures the essence of Fraser's original performance quite well, and the return of some of the original actors (notably John Cleese, Thomas Haden Church and the narrator) help to keep a feeling of continuity.

    This is live action cartoon stuff, with a narrator doing a voice-over throughout much of the film, actors addressing the audience, and direct references to the fact that this is actually a movie they're taking part in, as well as the myriad cartoon sound effects. There are also parodies galore, with Charlie's Angels, Tarzan, and The Lion King getting a look-in. It's not exactly high-brow material, so if that's what you're looking for then don't waste any more time reading this review.

    The lower budget in this instalment is at times obvious, most notably with the very sub-par CGI work on the animals (such as George's pet elephant, Shep), but then this isn't Academy Award material, and is mainly required to entertain the kids for almost an hour and a half. The best indication I can give as to its success in this task is to say that if your kids liked the first one, then they'll like this one. If that's the case, then this could well be worth a rental these summer holidays

Video

    This is a very nice transfer indeed, especially considering this isn't a big theatrical blockbuster. Buena Vista haven't seen that as an excuse for a lazy transfer though, and this is a joy to watch.

    This transfer is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, and since this is a direct-to-video release, I can only assume that this was the intended aspect ratio for the movie.

    The transfer is crisp and sharp, and exhibits solid blacks in the dark scenes (mainly in Las Vegas). Shadow detail is acceptable.

    Colour is great, with a mixture of bright outdoor colours in the genuine "jungle" scenes, and the lights of Las Vegas with its associated flashy clothing and decor. There is no sign of bleeding or chroma noise, and even the brightest of red dresses is solid with well-defined edges.

    I struggled to find any film-to-video or film artefacts. There are also no compression problems, which you wouldn't expect with such a short film being on a Dual Layered DVD.

    There are 10 subtitle streams present, and I sampled the English stream. The dialogue is mostly spot-on, with only the occasional missing word, and the font/position of the subtitles is pleasing to the eye.

    This is an RSDL disc, with the layer change at 70:47. It's fairly obvious, but is not disruptive at all, since it's during a gap in dialogue.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    This audio transfer does its job with no problems. It's not exactly a track that takes full advantage of the 5.1 format, but there's nothing to complain about either.

    There are three tracks on this disc; English Dolby Digital 5.1, encoded at 448 kbps, Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1 (384 kbps), and Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 (384 kbps). I listened to the English track only.

    Dialogue is clear at all times, and the only problems with sync occur when the animals talk, due to the nature of their mouths either being CGI or animatronic. The only annoyance I found with the dialogue was that the narrator's voice is recorded at a distinctly higher volume than the actors'. Therefore if you have it set to a good volume for him, then the rest of the dialogue is a little quiet, but if you bump it up the narrator's voice is very overbearing.

    The music is childish and lively, which suits the mood very appropriately. There is admittedly a little too many repetitions of the famous George of the Jungle theme, but I'm sure the kids won't complain.

    The surrounds are used sparingly. They mainly come to life for the sounds of the jungle, and the occasional cartoon sound effect. However, since half the movie takes place in Las Vegas, rear speakers are dormant for extended periods.

    Your subwoofer won't get much to do either. We get a little bit of LFE to assist the music, also whenever George hits a tree, and near the end of the film for the bulldozer engines. In general though, there's not much activity in this department.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

    The menus are 16x9 enhanced and the main menu contains music and video footage from the movie playing in the background.

Featurette - Behind the Trees (8:51)

    A semi-amusing little EPK-style documentary. This is very tongue-in-cheek, and is more of a parody of an EPK. The extra is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, and I should warn you, has serious aliasing problems in some parts.

Deleted Scenes (5:04)

    7 short deleted scenes, totalling just over 5 minutes in runtime. These are presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, but are not 16x9 enhanced. There is an optional commentary for these scenes, with two participants who are not actually credited, but one is clearly the director. The scenes are as follows:

• George and Junior's jungle yell.
• George battles his insomnia.
• Lyle pumps up.
• Lyle's campfire saga.
• Rocky teaches Junior to hop.
• Can you spot George in the crowd?

Vine Surfing Game

    A trivia game where the user selects the right answer to a question about the film, and is then whisked along a tree vine to a spot where another question is asked. If you get all questions right you get a "prize". There are three separate versions of this game, all with different questions and prizes. This should keep the kids happy for half an hour.

Jungle Bungles (0:34)

    A short set of bloopers, presented in an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. Nothing of note in here.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• DTS track.
• French and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks.

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Portuguese and Polish Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks.

    Besides the DTS track on the Region 1 release, the only differences between the two versions are language related. I noticed that one US review even claimed that the extra track was DTS-ES, but I seriously doubt that the soundtrack on this movie is going to gain anything substantial from the DTS format, compared to our Dolby Digital offering.

    If you or your kids liked the first movie, then this one should go down well. Somewhat puerile humour, but it's pretty harmless Disney fare which is a lot better than some of their other direct-to-video sequels.

    The video transfer is a pleasure to watch.

    The audio is more than adequate.

    The extras include a few insubstantial items that will keep the kids occupied for a little longer after they've watched the film.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall