Jungle Book 2

1 1/2 Gus Heads

Voice talent: John Goodman, Haley Joel Osment, Phil Collins

Directed by: Steve Trenbirth

Running time: 75 minutes

Rated: G

The first time I remember being introduced to a Disney knockoff sequel was when the second "Aladdin" movie came out. "Now, that's not Robin William's voice," I thought.

A good movie was quickly soured for me with its cheap sequel. I had poor expectations coming into "Jungle Book 2," but I figured if the first one was that good, the second has got to be okay. Not with Disney.

Admittedly, it was a little strange going to see a children's movie, but talking about "Jungle Book 2" has made me realize there are a lot of other people I know who aren't quite ready to grow up. The other thing is that they are all angry, too, seeing what Disney is doing to our favorite animated movies with bad sequel after bad sequel.

Now, I may not be a kid anymore, but if I were, I would still think this was a cheap flick. Some of the movies being put out for kids today are the best I've seen. "Toy Story," "Shrek," and "Monsters Inc." come to mind (I've been told "Lilo and Stitch" is very good, too.) Kids today have enough good choices to not see this movie and still be well- adjusted grownups one day.

"Jungle Book 2" picks up where the first movie left Mowgli (Haley Joel Osment's voice) all those years ago. Mowgli is living in a human village apart from the dangers of the jungle and from his good friends Bagheera and, my reason for seeing this movie, Baloo the bear (John Goodman.)

Mowgli finds himself in trouble in the human world for not following the rules. At the same time, Baloo finds himself without a dancing partner when he tries to do one of the films many renditions of "Bare Necessities." Goodman seems to be made for these cartoon voices, and I didn't mind him being Baloo, but Osment as Mowgli just seemed weird.

At the same time that Mowgli and Baloo find each other again, the tiger Sheer Khan is tracking down Mowgli, eager to erase the insult of being chased away by a "man-cub." Predictably, Mowgli's new human friends get mixed up in the hunt, and soon the plot goes on with Mowgli and Sheer Khan facing off. The basic message is that everyone has their place, and as much as Mowgli loves the life he lives with Baloo, he belongs with his own kind.

I have disregarded some of the new millennium updates made to the general premise of "Jungle Book." I've even gone so far as to ignore the cheap poppy tunes thrown in the film, because kids seem to love these. I don't want to give this movie a bad review because I'm not a kid today. I want to give it a bad review because Disney really dropped the ball on this one.

I guess "Jungle Book 2" is probably passable for the tot crowd, but it is really just a bad rehash of the first movie. The songs aren't anything special, and the constant singing of "Bare Necessities" gets annoying after time number four or so. Disney needs to borrow the directors and writers from Pixar and get back into the game with their normal animated movies. They've got it in them, but the bar needs to be raised, and "Jungle Book 2" needs to go the straight-to-video bins.