Jungle 2 Jungle (1997)

Director:

John Pasquin

Writers (WGA):

Hervé Palud (earlier screenplay Un indien dans la ville) and
Thierry Lhermitte (earlier screenplay Un indien dans la ville) ...

Release Date:

7 March 1997 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Comedy | Family | Romance

Tagline:

Get a little savage.

Plot:

Michael Cromwell, a New-Yorker, suddenly learns that he has a 13-year old son that's been raised in the jungle...

Plot Keywords:

Jungle | Divorce | Venezuela | 13 Year Old | Culture Clash

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Tim Allen	...	Michael Cromwell
Martin Short	...	Richard Kempster
JoBeth Williams	...	Dr. Patricia Cromwell
Lolita Davidovich	...	Charlotte
Sam Huntington	...	Mimi-Siku
David Ogden Stiers	...	Alexei Jovanovic
Bob Dishy	...	George Langston
Valerie Mahaffey	...	Jan Kempster
Leelee Sobieski	...	Karen Kempster (as LeeLee Sobieski)
Frankie J. Galasso	...	Andrew Kempster
Luis Avalos	...	Abe
Carole Shelley	...	Fiona
Dominic Keating	...	Ian
Rondi Reed	...	Sarah
Oni Faida Lampley	...	Madeleine

Also Known As:

Jungle to Jungle (USA) (alternative spelling)
Un Indien à New York (France)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some mild violence and language.

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:L | Singapore:PG | USA:PG (certificate #35004) | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:6 (w) | Netherlands:AL | Portugal:M/6 | Spain:T | Sweden:7 | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Canaima National Park, Estado Bolívar, Venezuela

Company:

Walt Disney Pictures

Trivia:

After shooting Charolette's cat with the dart, Michael exclaims "Oh no!" in the same grunting manner as Tim Allen's character, Tim Taylor, in "Home Improvement" (1991).

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: When Michael Cromwell first arrives in the village, a cordless microphone transmitter can be seen on the back of the Chief.

Quotes:

Michael Cromwell: I should probably take some pictures of Mimi.
Richard Kempster: I can never have enough pictures of my kids. I have like, four hundred albums. I never look at them, but they exist... it's good, you know?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Southie (1998)

Soundtrack:

You Can Do It

Can be amusing for kids at least

I first watched this live action Disney flick shortly after it came out in video in 1997. It was around the time of my eleventh birthday, and I was very pleased with the film, enough to watch it more than once. I don't know exactly how many times I watched it, but definitely several times. Years later, after seeing that the IMDb rating for "Jungle 2 Jungle" was low, I finally watched it again, for the first time in I don't know how long, and like I expected, it no longer meant much to me.

Michael Cromwell is a commodities broker in New York. It has been years since his wife, Patricia left him, and he now has a new fiancé, but before they can marry, he must go down to the Amazon (where his first wife now lives), to make the divorce official. While there, Michael learns that he has a son, who is part of the primitive tribe that Patricia now lives with! His name is Mimi-Siku, and while Michael is stuck on the island, the boy turns thirteen, the age which he is considered a man in this tribe. Mimi is assigned by the tribe's chief to go to New York and get the fire from the Statue of Liberty, so Michael reluctantly takes his son home with him. Mimi-Siku has always lived very primitively, and has never experienced city life, so while in New York, he is bound to unintentionally cause trouble!

Watching "Jungle 2 Jungle" after my adolescent years had come and gone, I didn't find it very funny at all. I smiled a few times (mostly the parts where Richard Kempster, Michael Cromwell's co-worker, played by comedian Martin Short, throws fits) but if I ever actually laughed, it was very slight, and if I saw the gag again, I probably wouldn't laugh at all. For the most part, I kept a straight face, and found most of the movie quite simply boring. There are also some jokes that are a tad embarrassing, such as Michael Cromwell lying awake in his hammock on the island while others around him are constantly farting in their sleep, and quite a few embarrassing quotes that are supposed to be funny.

It appears that Tim Allen has starred in a lot of movies that haven't been too well received. "Jungle 2 Jungle" is one of those movies, and right now, I can understand why. Overall, this is a mediocre Disney feature in my opinion, though many consider it lower than that. After enjoying this movie when I was eleven years old, then watching it again after growing up and not thinking much of it, I would say that it's definitely for the younger folk, and for adults, there are definitely comedies of this kind (ones about someone living a primitive lifestyle somewhere in the world and coming to a city for the first time in their lives) that are much more likely to impress you.