Movie Type: Family-Oriented Adventure, Jungle Film
Themes: Survival in the Wilderness
Main Cast: Bill Williams, Jamie Williams, Bill Campbell, Roddy McDowall, David Paul Francis, Gulshan Grover
Release Year: 1997
Country: US
Run Time: 88 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
A prequel to The Jungle Book, this live-action kids' film follows the young wild boy Mowgli (Jamie Williams) as he's pursued through the late 19th century Indian jungle by a variety of "civilized" men, each seeking him for their own nefarious purposes. When Mowgli is spotted by the passengers on a train, Harrison (Bill Campbell), an employee of P.T. Barnum, immediately orders his underlings to capture the kid, who will make a first-rate sideshow attraction for his boss. Joining the hunt for Mowgli is Buldeo (Gulshan Grover), a local nobleman who is secretly Mowgli's uncle and wants the boy dead so that he can inherit his brother's vast fortune. Also on the hunt is Chuchundra (David Paul Francis) and his trained monkey, and the evil tracker Karait (Dyrk Ashton), who has trained a giant python to locate whatever prey its master chooses. Trying to evade the determined hunting party with the help of his animal pals like the bear Baloo and the panther Bagheera, Mowgli stumbles upon a great lost city in the jungle, where the mad King Murphy (Roddy McDowall) rules over a monkey empire and becomes Mowgli's unlikely ally. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
Dyrk Ashton - Karait; Bill Williams; Hal Fowler - Capt. Ward; B.J. Hogg - Col. Reece; Cornelia Hayes O'Herlihy - Emily Reece; Amy Robbins - Molly Ward
Credit
Paul Takis - Art Director, Sunil Wijeratne - Art Director, Don Pemrick - Casting, Jo Gilbert - Casting, Dean Fronk - Casting, Brian McMilan - Coordinator, Peter Shepherd - Co-producer, Stephen Monas - Co-producer, Mohammed Yusef - Co-producer, Ann Hollowood - Costume Designer, Bruce Gillies - First Assistant Director, Duncan McLachlan - Director, Marcus Manton - Editor, Mark Damon - Executive Producer, Sharad Patel - Executive Producer, John Scott - Composer (Music Score), Errol Kelly - Production Designer, Adolfo Bartoli - Cinematographer, Raju Patel - Producer, Cameron Hamza - Sound/Sound Designer, Bayard Johnson - Screenwriter, Matthew Horton - Screenwriter, Rudyard Kipling - Short Story Author
The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo is a 1997adventure film starring Jamie Williams and Roddy McDowall. The film was adapted for the screen by Matthew Horton and Bayard Johnson.
The film opens with Mowgli being chased by a two chimps sent by King Murphy. When Mowgli is breathless and can't run any further, his fiends, Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther and his brother Grey Wolf come to his defence. This scares off the banderlog.
One day, whilst by the river Mowgli is chased off by the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan who had killed the man cub's father. Mowgli ends up on a train track. When a train stops in front of Mowgli, he is spotted by Harrison, an explorer who works for a circus. He takes Mowgli onto the train. Mowgli escapes however, with a small monkey named Timo. Harrison still wishes to capture Mowgli. To do this he seeks out a wealthy man named Buldeo, who is in fact Mowgli's uncle. They team up with Timo's owner, Churchanda and Karait who has Kaa the python as a pet.
Back at the jungle, Mowgli's family (the wolf pack) learn that he has brought home a member of the banderlog family and turn against him. The banderlog kidnap Timo and Mowgli and Baloo try to look for him but Baloo is caged by the banderlog. The next day, the four men find Mowgli in the jungle and attempt to shoot him but fail. When he falls asleep in a tree, they use Kaa the python to tie him up and catch him in a net. They take him to their camp and put him in a cage. Shere Khan the tiger approaches their camp and Mowgli uses a stick with fire to scare him off and in the process escapes. Later, Buldeo finds him and attempts to kill him until Harrison arrives and puts Mowgli back in the cage. Mowgli howls for help and the next morning Baloo, who is now free, comes to his help. He gets the boy out and they escape.
They run off to Monkey City where Mowgli encounters King Murphy.
Trivia
During the making of the movie, Jamie Williams was bitten in the foot by a chimpanzee. The bandage on his foot shows in some scenes in the widescreen version.
