George of the Jungle (1997)
Directed by Sam Weisman
Deep in the African jungle, a baby named George, the sole survivor of a plane crash, is raised by gorillas. George grows up to be a buff and lovable klutz who has a rainforest full of animal friends: Tookie, his big-beaked toucan messenger; Ape, a witty talking gorilla; and Shep, a peanut-loving pooch of an elephant. But when poachers mess with George's pals, the King of Swing swings into action.
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What critics compared George of the Jungle to
Fraser does a reasonable Indiana Jones knockoff - he's an amiable comic talent ( "George of the Jungle" ) with enough dash to give the proceedings some much-needed lift, despite dialogue by director / writer Sommers that isn't sharp enough by half.
…the thick-headed hero (half-Indiana Jones/half-George of the Jungle)…
…half Indiana Jones, half George of the Jungle…
Perhaps when Sommers got Brendan Fraser as his star he felt obligated to pander to admirers of "George of the Jungle."
It may not have the talent of a Harrison Ford as the archeologist/adventurer, but Brendan Fraser has a heady bravado, a gun-toting derring-do (the kind that makes any member of the NRA smile), and a brawny musculature that is bound to continue to find him roles in blockbusters like The Mummy and George of the Jungle, while allowing the actor some occasional time off for the award-winning likes of last year?s…
Lost as a baby in a fantasy African mountain forest -- where Asian orangutans, New World monkeys, and savannah lions mix with a talking ape and an elephant who thinks he's a dog -- George (Fraser, from Gods and Monsters and The Mummy ) was raised by said talking ape, Ape (John Cleese, from The Out-of-Towners and Fierce Creatures ) and has never seen another human.
There are scenes that feel like they’re ripped straight out of Raiders of the Lost Ark, George of the Jungle, and The Goonies – but it’s always done with warmth and fondness for the originals rather than cheap imitation.
Fraser is gone -- he heard a "George of the Jungle" reboot calling his name -- but we still have Josh Hutcherson, the teenager who played his nephew in "Journey."
However, this trajectory is weighed down by a stone-faced performance from Johnson, who can’t seem to decide whether he’s a conflicted anti-hero, with his numerous lines of dialogue about how he isn’t really a savior, or whether he’s George of the Jungle, with occasional hints of naivete as he gives his one-liners a test run.
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But its superficiality is finally annoying, it says nothing new or profound about the Italian mystique and writer-director Audrey Wells (who wrote "George of the Jungle") never raises the humor above a sitcom-cute level.
The disparity between the features might be because the first was independently produced, but even Wells' giddy screenplay for the studio hit "George of the Jungle" plays more real than this film.
An established screenwriter ("The Truth About Cats and Dogs," "George of the Jungle") before she began directing, Wells supplies plenty of welcome quirks and wry repartee for the movie's winning supporting cast.