George of the Jungle 2 is a 2003 American direct-to-video comedy sequel to 1997's George of the Jungle, based on the 1967 cartoon of the same name, created by Jay Ward. The film stars Christopher Showerman and Julie Benz replacing Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann as George and Ursula respectively, alongside Thomas Haden Church, Christina Pickles, and John Cleese as the voice of Ape. Unlike the first movie which received polarized reviews, The sequel received mostly negative reviews.
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 Watch out for that sequel! The cover is right! Watch out!
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Plot
Six years after Ursula Stanhope left civilization to marry George of the Jungle, George finds himself hard-pressed to maintain a balance between jungle king, father, and husband, all while Ursula's mother Beatrice and ex-fiancé Lyle team up to take away all that George holds most dear.
Why It Didn't Watch Out For That Tree
- The plot is basically a rehash of the first film, aside from a bunch of minor changes like George goes to Las Vegas instead of San Francisco, in later of which was shown in the mid-credits scene in the first movie where Ape performs in Vegas.
- It is pointless, as the first film never set up any sequel and ended on a good note.
- The new villains, namely Sally and Kowalski, were lame and less funny, and feel more like pale imitations of Max and Thor from the first film.
- Some of the characters have gotten flanderized in this film:
- Beatrice Stanhope, the main antagonist of this film, is far more unlikable than she was in the first film, as here in the sequel her villainy is amped up to eleven, going so far as to actually break up George and Ursula's marriage and to force both Ursula and her grandson George Junior into civilization against their will, and stops at nothing to break them up. This is in stark contrast to the first film where she doesn't approve of Ursula and George's relationship, but seems to relent and finally accepts their relationship at the end of the first film.
- George, while still likable and nowhere near as bad as his season 2 2007 animated reboot counterpart, is still marginally flanderized in this film, where he is made a lot dumber than he was in the first film or even the 1967 cartoon.
- Ursula Stanhope, while still likable and nowhere near as bad as her two 2007 animated reboot counterparts, originally went from a Jane-like character whom is far more intelligent than George in both the original film and the 1967 cartoon to become almost as clueless and dimwitted as her husband George in the sequel, albeit to a lesser extent.
- Betsy (Ursula's best friend), while still likable, even isn't safe from flanderization as well: in the first film, she jokes once about hooking up with George, but still respects the boundaries between George and Ursula's romantic relationship. But here in the sequel, she willingly ignores her best friend Ursula getting knocked out in hopes of finding out if George has a brother, and then later, forces herself on him to help break her hypnosis.
- In contrast to the first film, the slapstick in this film is overkill, especially with the number of flatulence jokes, leaving the story with very little room to breathe.
- Unfunny jokes and horrible dialogue, like when George says that the studio was too cheap to hire Brendan Fraser to play him again.
- The film's production values is a massive downgrade from the original film:
- Unlike the first film, the CGI effects for some animals look too cartoony to be in an realistic environment, especially for Rocky the Kangaroo who looks like he is from a low budget animated movie.
- Weird special effects, such the use of Beatrice's creepy Cheshire Cat-like smile in some scenes.
- The scene where George gets hit by an ape looks kind of fake unlike the first film.
- Poor acting from some of the cast.
- Unfunny references, like a shoehorned reference to King Kong (1933) when George and Ape are seen on top of the Empire State building on the news report seen on Beatrice's television.
- Unlike the first film, the narrator over-talks the story way too many times, which gets annoying.
Redeeming Qualities
- Christopher Showerman does sort of look like Brendan Fraser in the role of George and was still decent even if he wasn't as enjoyable as Fraser was in the first movie.
- The original theme is still used and the cover was decent although it is not as good as the cover in the first movie which was performed by The Presidents of the United States of America.
- John Cleese is still pretty good as the voice of Ape. Same for Thomas Haden Church returning as Lyle van Groot.
- The costumes for the apes are still pretty good.
- The main characters from the original film (except for Beatrice Stanhope) are still great and likable, especially George and Ursula Stanhope, despite their respective flanderizations.
- Ape, Shep, Tookie Tookie, Kip, N'Dugo and Baleto (the three African travel guides from the first film) and Lyle were not flanderized like the others were.
Trivia
- Despite the movie claiming that Brendan Fraser didn't return in this movie because Disney was "too cheap" to pay him, in reality Fraser expressed interest in reprising his role as George, but was unable to due to a commitment as DJ Drake in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
- The film location was entirely set in Queensland, Australia, except for Las Vegas scene.
- Angus T. Jones, who portrays Jake Harper in Two and a Half Men, portrays the role of George Junior in this film. Similarly, Holland Taylor, who also portrays Jake's grandmother Evelyn Harper in the same sitcom, also previously portrayed the role of Beatrice Stanhope in the first film, hence making both Angus T. Jones and Holland Taylor to portray both grandson and grandmother in two different live-action comedy franchises (co-incidentally, both George of the Jungle 2 and the first season of Two and a Half Men were released in 2003).
External links
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