George of the Jungle (1997)

George of the Jungle (1997)

5/10

Starring

Brendan Fraser

Leslie Mann

Thomas Haden Church

Holland Taylor

John Bennett Perry

Directed by Sam Weisman

In the late '90s and through the 2000s, Brendan Fraser was having the time of his life in his career. Now, many people might be wondering who he is. Well, to put it simply, for those of us who knew him in his prime, he’s Rick O’Connell from The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008).
He was also the lead in movies like Blast from the Past (1999) and Bedazzled (2000). But for many of us, we first knew him from this 1997 movie: George of the Jungle.

The movie is, well… boring, if I may say so. The George of the Jungle story is a Tarzan spoof animation made in 1967. Why Disney thought turning this spoof into a live-action movie was a good idea beats me, but they did. And I can say, watching the movie is dangerous to your sanity.
The fact that Disney went ahead to make a direct-to-video sequel also makes me wonder who they thought would want to own this Tarzan spoof.

Now, as a Tarzan rip-off, you can probably guess some parts of the storyline. 

In this modern spoof,  there’s a plane crash in the jungle somewhere in Africa. A baby is lost and raised by the animals in the jungle. George, somewhat self-raised, makes friends with the animals and has a brother primate—an ape named Ape. He also has an elephant as a “dog,” and he’s the king of the jungle.

There’s a couple who go into the African jungle to look for the White Ape, an animal believed to be in charge of the jungle that no one has ever seen. Soon, their paths cross when the woman in the couple, Ursula (Leslie Mann), is attacked by a lion. Her fiancé runs away, leaving Ursula to defend herself. The defenseless Ursula is saved by the White Ape, who turns out to be a man named George (Brendan Fraser). He takes her to his home, watches over her, and cares for her during her time with him.

Her fiancé gathers some men, finds George’s treehouse, and George gets hurt in the process. Ursula takes him back to her home in the city to care for him in return and get him the best medical help she can find. Now, George must learn to adapt to this new way of life and find a way to win the heart of the lady he loves, Ursula.

If you’ve managed to avoid this movie all your life, just keep it that way. The effects aren’t great—they used puppetry for the animals, and it just didn’t blend well. I already mentioned that the plot was predictable, but the real issue is that the leads weren’t the ones who kept the movie interesting. As funny as this sounds, their acting wasn’t strong enough to carry the film, and their chemistry didn’t give much reason to care. The supporting cast, though, was a different story. They were the only real fun I had rewatching this. Of the top three standouts (Thomas Haden Church, Holland Taylor, and John Bennett Perry), Holland Taylor stole the show. She was fantastic as Ursula’s mother, commanding every scene she was in and just being a class above everyone else.

I personally don’t recommend watching this—it won’t sit well.