THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 3, 1995 TAG: 9412310095
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
THE TARGETED audience of kiddies are not likely to care in the least that the basic tone of Rudyard Kipling's ``The Jungle Book'' has been totally changed in the film ``Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book.'' Kipling, who supported British colonialism, might well be turning in his grave that something with his name attached to it suggests that the British were actually low-life baddies.
The British class system is the enemy of everything natural, particularly jungle life, in this edition of Kipling's tale.
But the real intent of the new ``Jungle Book'' is to create an old-fashioned, Saturday afternoon-type action film in which Mowgli, the jungle boy, saves a lovely British girl, swings on vines, confronts a tiger face to face, fights British bad guys and even runs across a hidden jungle city ruled by monkeys.
The stunts with animals involve everything from panthers to wolves, tigers, a bear and elephants. Most of the scenes look believable enough, and all are a marked improvement over the 1942 live version, which starred Sabu, the jungle boy, and featured talking animals. This third movie version is from the same Disney studio that did the 1967 animated edition.
Jason Scott Lee, star of ``Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story,'' has the role of the adult Mowgli. Romance as well as several new human characters have been added. Mercifully, the animals no longer talk, but Mowgli still understands them.
After an accident involving a runaway horse, the orphaned 5-year-old Mowgli is raised by wolves in the jungle. Later, as the well-muscled Lee, he returns to civilization, where he falls in love with Kitty (Lena Headey), whom he had known when they were small children.
It is quite noticeable that the scenes involving the trained animals were filmed among Southern pines in some place like Tennessee. The contrast between these scenes and others filmed in India is not hidden very well.
Cary Elwes (from ``The Princess Bride'' and ``Lady Jane'') seems to delight in his super-evil role as a British officer who, after being spurned by Kitty, kidnaps her to force Mowgli to reveal the location of the lost city. At issue is untold treasure.
Lost cities of gold in the jungle are nothing new in adventure movies, but there aren't many movies made these days with quite this silly an escapist slant. There's plenty of action, and some of the animal violence scenes are chewy-messy, but it's unlikely kids are going to care.
It doesn't seem to matter that the entire political and social outlook of Kipling's original work has been changed. This is merely ``Tarzan Goes to India with Indiana Jones and Discovers the Lost City of Gold.''
Young audiences are likely to love the animals and the action. For the Disney studio, this is the only aim. MEMO: Mal's rating: two and a half stars
ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Jason Scott Lee
by CNB