George of the Jungle

It was a strange experience, watching “George of the Jungle,” released in 1997. The movie would stroll along, not going anywhere, and suddenly there’d be a huge laugh. More strolling, and then suddenly again. Instead of sprinkling the laughter and making a movie that was discreetly funny from beginning to end, they concentrated the laughs and made a movie that is somewhat funny some of the time and occasionally hilarious.

For example, look at the character of Shep, the elephant. Shep looks like an elephant and is played by an elephant named Tai, but Shep thinks he’s a dog. George has trained him that way. Roger Ebert admitted in his review, “When Shep first comes bounding through the jungle and slides to a halt and sits on his haunches, barking and panting and wagging his tail, I was blindsided by laughter.” When George demonstrates Shep’s ability to fetch by throwing a stick (which is really a log), the joke only got funnier.

Then there’s an Ape, named Ape, who’s voiced by John Cleese and who sounds and behaves exactly like George’s British butler. Ebert said, “I liked how he looks down his glasses at people and explains situations in a reserved and very proper tone, like Jeeves might. He's the funniest ape since those gorillas who drank the martinis in “Congo.” George himself is pretty funny, too. He's played by Brendan Fraser, who has bulked up and perfected a facial expression that can best be described as sheeplike goodwill. George has approximately the IQ of his namesake on Jay Ward's famous '60s TV cartoon series and makes the same mistakes, swinging on vines and crashing into trees.”

The movie is live action but tries for the look and feel of a cartoon, and has a rich American girl named Ursula Stanhope (Leslie Mann) who goes on an expedition in the jungle, hears a mysterious white ape, meets George, falls in love with him and spends the rest of the movie trying to get out of her engagement to the society snob Lyle Van de Groot, played by Thomas Haden Church.

Meanwhile, George knows nothing about women, doesn’t realize she likes him and turns desperately to Ape for tips on how to flirt with her. Ebert said, “Ape suggests baring his fangs, uprooting grass, beating his chest and all the other usually dependable approaches, but when they don't work, he's adaptable: He gives his young master a copy of “Coffee, Tea or Me?” and says it contains all of the answers.”

The script makes some required stops (we know more or less what will happen at the society functions in San Francisco and we guess the fate of the wedding cake), but the movie is good-natured, a little vulgar (in a mild Jim Carrey way) and well played by actors who are certainly good here. Among the other cast members are Richard Roundtree, many years after “Shaft in Africa,” as Kwame, an African leader, and Greg Cruttwell and Abraham Benrubi as two expedition members with evil plans of their own.

Is “George of the Jungle” a great movie? No. Ebert admitted, “But it is well-positioned for the silly season, when we've had just about all of the terrorist explosions we need for one summer and it's still too hot for the autumn art films. I recommend a spinoff: a Saturday morning cartoon series about an elephant who thinks he's a dog.” Think of all the things a dog could do if he had a trunk and you’ll get the picture.

When I saw this movie on Disney+, I found myself thoroughly enjoying it and laughing from beginning to end. This is a movie that I think families can watch and enjoy. I remember seeing a little bit of the “George of the Jungle” cartoon when I was a kid, and I remember finding it funny. This one may be a good adaptation of the cartoon, but I wouldn’t be able to tell you. Check it out and you’ll be entertained.

Tomorrow I will review a film that was saved by the ending, and it actually heartwarming, in “Disney Month 2022.”