George of the Jungle is a 1997 American comedy film directed by Sam Weisman based on the 1967 American animated television series of the same name created by Jay Ward and Bill Scott, which parodied the fictional character Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The screenplay was written by Dana Olsen and Audrey Wells. The film stars Brendan Fraser as the title character, alongside Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Church, Holland Taylor, John Bennett Perry, Richard Roundtree and John Cleese. The plot follows a man who was raised by animals in the jungle and later falls in love with a wealthy heiress, leading to conflict with her self-absorbed fiancé. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, the film was released theatrically in the United States and Canada by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution on July 18, 1997. It premiered on the Disney Channel in the United States on December 5, 1998. The film received mixed reviews from critics but was a commercial success grossing $174.4 million worldwide against a $55 million budget. A direct-to-video sequel, George of the Jungle 2, was released on October 21, 2003, with Church, Cleese, Kelly Miller, Abdoulaye N'Gom, Lydell M. Cheshier and Keith Scott (voice actor) as the only actors reprising their respective roles.
Plot
On a flight to the Bukuvu, a baby named George becomes stranded after a plane crash and is raised by the jungle, becoming the self-procalimed "White Ape." 25 years later, while touring Burundi with local guide Kwame and a trio of porters, Kip, N'Dugo and Baleto, San Francisco heiress Ursula Stanhope encounters her spoiled fiancé, Lyle van de Groot, who wishes to take her home and has hired two poachers, Max and Thor, to help track her down, but Ursula refuses to leave until she sees an ape, so Lyle enters the jungle to find them. However, instead of finding an ape, they encounter a lion and when Lyle knocks himself unconscious while ostensibly fleeing to get help by tripping over a tree stump, Ursula is saved by George who, after taking Ursula to his tree house home and caring for her, introduces her to his three animal friends: Ape, a talking gorilla who raised him for 25 years; Shep, an elephant who acts like a dog; and Tookie, a toucan who delivers him news, similar to that of Zazu from The Lion King. George is smitten with Ursula and attempts to woo her; Ursula's time spent with George makes her grow fond of him and she soon reciprocates his attraction. Lyle, Max and Thor soon arrive at the treehouse, but Ursula berates Lyle for abandoning her during the lion attack. Max and Thor try to shoot Shep for his ivory and Ape shouts at Shep to run. Everyone is stunned by the fact that Ape can talk and Max and Thor decide to forgo shooting Shep and instead tranquilize and capture Ape. George runs to stop them and is accidentally shot by Lyle, who is imprisoned after being identified as the shooter by the porters, while Max and Thor are deported, but resolve to return to the treehouse to capture Ape and make a fortune off of him. Meanwhile, Ursula takes a wounded George back to San Francisco to get the finest medical treatment available and to show him the human world, something he hasn't seen since infancy. While Ursula is at work (she works at her father Arthur's family bank), George explores San Francisco on his own and uses his vine-swinging skills to rescue a man whose paraglider has become caught on the suspension cables of the Bay Bridge due to strong winds. After Beatrice and Arthur see the aftermath of the embrace between Ursula and George, Ursula confesses to her parents about what happened to Lyle in Africa and intends to break off the wedding, but Beatrice objects. At a party intended to celebrate Ursula's engagement to Lyle, Beatrice takes George aside and tells him that Ursula's marriage to Lyle needs to proceed as planned and threatens to harm and humiliate George if he does anything to interfere. Meanwhile, after Max and Thor tranquilize Ape in Burundi, Ape sends Tookie to San Francisco to find George, after which Max and Thor place a now-unconscious Ape in a cage. Tookie subsequently informs George of Ape's capture, forcing George to leave Ursula and return to Burundi. While confused by George's unexplained departure, Ursula realizes she truly loves George and goes to find him, much to the support of Arthur and dismay of Beatrice. Upon returning to Burundi, George confronts and defeats Max and Thor with help from Ursula and the animals. Lyle then appears, revealed to have escaped from prison and become a legally ordained minister able to perform marriage ceremonies. Lyle has George subdued by a five-member group of mercenaries (Gunner, Gunther, Hans, Jan and Phil) and forcibly takes Ursula to a boat waiting on the Ape River to perform their marriage rites, a ceremony interrupted by a series of harsh rapids that put them both in danger. George is rescued from the mercenaries with help from Shep and the gorillas and swings in to reach Ursula and Lyle, but crashes painfully into a massive tree. As the tree falls over the river, George manages to pull Ursula to safety while the rapids lead Lyle into a dark cave. Lyle, thinking Ursula is still in the boat, proclaims their wedding vows, but inadvertently marries a gorilla, who begins kissing him. George and Ursula declare their love for each other and marry, with the people of San Francisco, the Bukuvu and the jungle's animals in attendance. Sometime later, the two live in their treehouse and raise a son, George Jr., whom they present to the animals, while Ape moves to Las Vegas and becomes a singer, with a now humiliated Max and Thor forced to be part of his performance.
Cast Brendan Fraser as George, a young man who was raised in the jungle like Tarzan and frequently crashes into trees while swinging on vines. Fraser had concurrently auditioned for the title role in Disney's serious animated adaptation of Tarzan, which would be released in 1999, but lost to Tony Goldwyn. Leslie Mann as Ursula Stanhope, a wealthy but virtuous heiress and George's love interest Thomas Haden Church as Lyle van de Groot, Ursula's wealthy, self-absorbed and bumbling former fiancé who serves as the main antagonist of the film Greg Cruttwell as Max, one of two poachers hired by Lyle to track down Ursula Abraham Benrubi as Thor, one of two poachers hired by Lyle to track down Ursula Holland Taylor as Beatrice Stanhope, Ursula's domineering mother who believes that social position is more important than having a loving marriage and serves as the secondary antagonist of the film John Bennett Perry as Arthur Stanhope, Ursula's supportive father who wishes her to marry for love rather than for social position Kelly Miller as Betsy, Ursula's best friend who has an instant attraction to George Willie Brown (politician) as Himself Richard Roundtree as Kwame, the head jungle tour guide during Ursula's visit to Africa Abdoulaye N'Gom as Kip, one of Kwame's porters and fellow tour guides Michael Chinyamurindi as N'Dugo, one of Kwame's porters and fellow tour guides Lydell M. Cheshier Baleto, one of Kwame's porters and fellow tour guides Lauren Bowles, Samantha Harris and Afton Smith as Ursula's friends at Ursula's engagement party Spencer Garrett and Jon Pennell as Male Guests at Ursula's engagement party Noah John Cardoza and Benjamin John Cardoza as George Jr. Mr. Binx, Zakery, Emely and Crystal as Monkey Tai as Shep, an African forest elephant that acts like a dog Joseph, Kaleb and Bongo as The Lion Tookie, Scooper and Hopper as Tookie, a toucan
Voices John Cleese as Ape, a well-educated, talking eastern gorilla who is George's best friend and foster brother Frank Welker as Shep, monkeys, gorillas and Tookie Keith Scott as Narrator
Production Screenwriter Dana Olsen originally wrote a spec script titled Gorilla Boy, a parody of Tarzan told from the perspective of a wealthy American woman similar to the character of Jane. Although Olsen initially believed Disney would not be interested due to the studio having recently acquired the rights to the George of the Jungle animated series. Olsen's agent submitted the script and Disney acquired it. He was subsequently hired to rewrite the existing screenplay. Animal scenes in the film were created using a combination of live animals, puppetry and computer-generated imagery. Lions Joseph and Kaleb were trained by Charlie Sammut of Monterey Zoo (formerly Vision Quest Ranch) in Salinas, California. Sammut also served as Fraser's stunt double for a lion attack sequence. The gorilla characters were portrayed by costumed performers from Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Additional visual effects were provided by Dream Quest Images. The jungle environment was constructed on a soundstage in Playa del Rey, Los Angeles, measuring approximately in length, in width and in height at its peak.
Release Box office George of the Jungle debuted at #2 at the North American box office, behind Men in Black, with $16.3 million in its first weekend.
Critical response On Rotten Tomatoes, it holds an approval rating of 56% based on 52 reviews. The website's consensus reads: "George of the Jungle is faithful to its source material-- which, unfortunately, makes it a less-than-compelling feature film." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 53 out of 100, based on 18 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews." Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film a grade of "B+" on an A+-F scale. Roger Ebert awarded the film three out of four stars, describing it as "good-natured" and praising the comedic performances.
Accolades George of the Jungle was nominated for Best Fantasy Film at the 24th Saturn Awards.
Home media George of the Jungle was released by Walt Disney Home Video on VHS, DVD and LaserDisc in the United States and Canada on December 2, 1997.
Sequel A sequel, George of the Jungle 2, was released direct-to-video on October 21, 2003. Directed by David Grossman, the film is set six years after the events of the original. Most principal roles were recast with new actors, while Church, Cleese, Kelly Miller, Abdoulaye N'Gom, Lydell M. Cheshier and Keith Scott reprised their respective roles of Lyle, Ape, Betsy, Kip, Baleto and Narrator.
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