''George of the Jungle'' is a 1997 American

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...

directed by

Sam Weisman Sam Weisman is an American film director. He has directed the films '' D2: The Mighty Ducks'', '' Bye Bye Love'', ''George of the Jungle'', '' The Out-of-Towners'', '' What's the Worst That Could Happen?'', and '' Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star' ...

and based on

Jay Ward Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bu ...

and Bill Scott’s 1967 American animated television series of the same name, which in turn is a spoof of the fictional character

Tarzan Tarzan (John Clayton II, Viscount Greystoke) is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungle by the Mangani great apes; he later experiences civilization, only to reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adv ...

, created by

Edgar Rice Burroughs Edgar Rice Burroughs (September 1, 1875 – March 19, 1950) was an American author, best known for his prolific output in the adventure, science fiction, and fantasy genres. Best-known for creating the characters Tarzan and John Carter, he ...

. The film was produced by

Walt Disney Pictures Walt Disney Pictures is an American film production company and subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, which is owned by The Walt Disney Company. The studio is the flagship producer of live-action feature films within the Walt Disney Studios uni ...

and was released in theatres throughout the United States and Canada on July 16, 1997. It was later aired on

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

in the United States on December 5, 1998. It stars

Brendan Fraser Brendan James Fraser ( ; born December 3, 1968) is an American-Canadian actor known for his leading roles in blockbusters, comedies, and dramatic films. Having graduated from the Cornish College of the Arts in 1990, he made his film debut in '' ...

as the title character, a primitive man who was raised by animals in an African jungle,

Leslie Mann Leslie Jean Mann (born March 26, 1972) is an American actress. She has appeared in numerous films, including ''The Cable Guy'' (1996), ''George of the Jungle'' (1997), '' Big Daddy'' (1999), '' Knocked Up'' (2007), '' 17 Again'' (2009), '' Funn ...

as Ursula, George's

love interest ''Gli Innamorati'' (, meaning "The Lovers") were stock characters within the theatre style known as commedia dell'arte, who appeared in 16th century Italy. In the plays, everything revolved around the Lovers in some regard. These dramatic and pos ...

, and

Thomas Haden Church Thomas Haden Church (born Thomas Richard McMillen; June 17, 1960) is an American actor. After starring in the 1990s sitcom ''Wings'' and playing the lead for two seasons in ''Ned & Stacey'' (1995–1997)'','' Church became known for his film work, ...

as her treacherous former fiancé. The film received mixed reviews and grossed $174 million worldwide. A sequel, ''

George of the Jungle 2 ''George of the Jungle 2'' is a 2003 comedy film and the sequel to the 1997 Disney film ''George of the Jungle''. It was directed by David Grossman, written by Jordan Moffet, and stars Thomas Haden Church, Julie Benz, Christina Pickles, Angus T. ...

'', was released direct-to-video on October 21, 2003.

Plot

While touring

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territor ...

with

local Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States * Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administrat ...

guide Kwame and a trio of porters,

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

heiress Ursula Stanhope is tracked down and joined by her

fiancé An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

, Lyle Van De Groot, with

two 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...

poacher Poaching has been defined as the illegal hunting or capturing of wild animals, usually associated with land use rights. Poaching was once performed by impoverished peasants for subsistence purposes and to supplement meager diets. It was set a ...

s named Max and

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred groves and trees, strength, the protection of humankind, hallowing, an ...

. Kwame tells the group of the "

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...

Ape", a local legend of a superhuman primate that rules the

jungle A jungle is land covered with dense forest and tangled vegetation, usually in tropical climates. Application of the term has varied greatly during the past recent century. Etymology The word ''jungle'' originates from the Sanskrit word ''ja� ...

. The next day, Lyle, insistent on taking Ursula home as soon as possible, goes into the jungle with her to find the White Ape, and they are attacked by a lion. Lyle knocks himself out trying to flee while Ursula is saved by the King of the Jungle, George, who takes Ursula to his

tree house A tree house, tree fort or treeshed is a platform or building constructed around, next to or among the trunk or branches of one or more mature trees while above ground level. Tree houses can be used for recreation, work space, habitation, a han ...

home and cares for her, introducing her to his three animal friends: Ape, a sapient, talking gorilla who raised George; Shep, an

Asian elephant The Asian elephant (''Elephas maximus''), also known as the Asiatic elephant, is the only living species of the genus ''Elephas'' and is distributed throughout the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia, from India in the west, Nepal in the no ...

that acts like George's dog; and Tookie, a

toco toucan The toco toucan (''Ramphastos toco''), also known as the common toucan or giant toucan, is the largest and probably the best known species in the toucan family. It is found in semi-open habitats throughout a large part of central and eastern Sou ...

. George is smitten with Ursula and attempts to woo her; Ursula soon reciprocates his attraction, and her time spent with George makes her no longer wish to return home. Lyle, Max, and Thor find the treehouse, and Lyle confronts Ursula and George. Max and Thor make to shoot Shep for his

ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals is ...

, and Ape shouts at Shep to run. Everyone is stunned by the sight of a talking ape, and Max and Thor decide to tranquilize and capture him. George runs to stop them and is accidentally shot by Lyle, who thought his gun was a novelty lighter. Lyle and the poachers are imprisoned, and Lyle is identified as the shooter by the porters; Max and Thor are released and resolve to capture Ape to make a fortune in

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

. Meanwhile, Ursula takes George to

to get medical help for his wound and to see the

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

world, which George is fascinated with. While Ursula is at work, George explores San Francisco on his own and uses his vine-swinging to rescue a

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ' ...

tangled in the Bay Bridge. Uninterested in marrying Lyle, Ursula admits the truth to her parents, but her overbearing mother Beatrice objects. At a party intended to celebrate Ursula's engagement, Beatrice takes George aside and coldly tells him she will not let Ursula's engagement fall apart, and refuses to let George be with her. In Africa, Max and Thor capture Ape, who manages to order Tookie to find George before he falls unconscious. Tookie flies to San Francisco, and George returns to the jungle, leaving Ursula in the night. While comforted by her parents, Ursula realizes she loves George and goes to find him with her father's approval. Ape tricks the poachers into circling the jungle and returning to the treehouse, where George confronts and eventually incapacitates them with help from a newly arriving Ursula. However, Lyle arrives too, having escaped prison, joined a cult, and become an ordained minister. Lyle has mercenaries he brought with him subdue George and takes Ursula to the nearby Ape River, where he has a boat waiting to escape while he performs a marriage ceremony. However, the river is a harsh series of rapids that hurtle the two into danger. George escapes the mercenaries and performs a big swing to reach Ursula and Lyle, only to crash painfully into a massive tree, which falls over the river and allows him to pull Ursula to safety. Lyle ends up in a cave and, believing he is still sharing the boat with Ursula, proclaims them wedded; he lights his lighter and beholds that he has just married himself to a gorilla. George and Ursula declare their love for each other and marry, with Ursula moving into George's treehouse. Some time later, the two are raising a son, George Jr., whom they present to the animals from atop Pride Rock. Meanwhile, Ape moves to

and becomes a famous stage performer with Max and Thor as props.

Cast

as George, a young man who was raised in the jungle like

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 Anthony Howard Goldwyn (born May 20, 1960) is an American actor, singer, producer, director, and political activist. He made his debut appearing as Darren in the slasher film '' Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives'' (1986), and had his breakthr ...

. *

as Ursula Stanhope, a wealthy heiress and George's love interest. *

as Lyle van de Groot, Ursula's former narcissistic wealthy fiancé. *

Richard Roundtree Richard Roundtree (born July 9, 1942) is an American actor. Roundtree is noted as being "the first black action hero" for his portrayal of private detective John Shaft in the 1971 film ''Shaft'', and its four sequels, released between 1972 and 2 ...

as Kwame, Ursula's jungle guide. * Greg Cruttwell and

Abraham Benrubi Abraham Rubin Hercules Benrubi (born October 4, 1969) is an American actor. He is known for his appearances as Jerry Markovic on the long-running medical television drama '' ER'', for his first role as Larry Kubiac on the series '' Parker Lewis C ...

as Max and Thor, two poachers and trackers who were working for Lyle. *

John Bennett Perry John Bennett Perry (born January 4, 1941) is an American actor, singer and former model. He is the father of actor Matthew Perry. Life and career Perry was born on January 4, 1941, in Williamstown, Massachusetts, the son of businessman, bank dir ...

as Arthur Stanhope, Ursula's supportive father who takes a shine to George. *

Holland Taylor Holland Virginia Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003). F ...

as Beatrice Stanhope, Ursula's controlling mother, who believes that social position is more important than having a loving marriage. She strongly dislikes George. * Kelly Miracco as Betsy, Ursula's best friend. * Abdoulaye N'Gom as Kip, Ursula's friend and an African tour guide. * Michael Chinyamurindi as N'Dugo, Ursula's friend and another African tour guide. * Lydell M. Cheshier as Baleto, Ursula's friend and the third African tour guide. * Willie Brown as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

Willie L. Brown Jr. *

Lauren Bowles Lauren Elizabeth Bowles is an American actress. Early life and education Bowles was born in Washington, D.C., to Judith (née LeFever) and L. Thompson Bowles. Her half-sister (on her mother's side) is actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus. She majored in ...

as Ursula's friend * Afton Smith as Ursula's friend *

Samantha Harris Samantha Harris (born Samantha Harris Shapiro; November 27, 1973) is an American television presenter, model, and entertainment reporter and actress, known as the co-host of seasons two through nine of ''Dancing with the Stars'' with Tom Bergero ...

as Ursula's friend * Noah John Cardoza and Benjamin John Cardoza as George Jr. *

Crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

as Monkey. *

Tai Tai or TAI may refer to: Arts and entertainment *Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain *Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless'' *Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon'' Businesses and organisations ...

as Shep, the Asian elephant with personality of a dog. * Joseph, Kaleb and Bongo as The Lion.

Voices

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

as Ape, a well-educated, talking

eastern gorilla The eastern gorilla (''Gorilla beringei'') is a critically endangered species of the genus ''Gorilla'' and the largest living primate. At present, the species is subdivided into two subspecies. There are 3,800 eastern lowland gorillas or Graue ...

who is George’s best friend and foster brother. * Keith Scott as Narrator. *

Frank Welker Franklin Wendell Welker (born March 12, 1946) is an American voice actor. He began his career in the 1960s, and holds over 860 film, television, and video game credits as of 2022, making him one of the most prolific voice actors of all time. With ...

as Lion, Little Monkey, Shep, Tooki Tooki Bird, and Gorilla sound effects *

Tress MacNeille Teressa Claire MacNeille (née Payne; born June 20, 1951) is an American voice actress, whose credits include voicing Dot Warner on the animated television series ''Animaniacs'', Babs Bunny on ''Tiny Toon Adventures'', Chip and Gadget Hackwrench ...

as Shep (some many scenes, uncredited)

Gorilla suit performers

* John Cleese –

Ape Apes (collectively Hominoidea ) are a clade of Old World simians native to sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia (though they were more widespread in Africa, most of Asia, and as well as Europe in prehistory), which together with its sister g ...

(body) * Tom Fisher * Jody St. Michael *

Philip Tan Philip Tan (born 1978) is a comic book writer/artist best known for his work on ''Spawn'', ''Uncanny X-Men'' and ''Iron Man''. Career Tan graduated at the University of Santo Tomas with a Bachelor's Degree in Architecture. Tan was the pencill ...

* Lief Tilden * Robert Tygner – Ape (facial puppetry)

Production

The lion, elephant, and bird scenes were all filmed with a mix of real animals, puppetry (especially for the lion fight), and CGI (to show Shep the elephant acting like a dog). The scenes with the

orangutan Orangutans are great apes native to the rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia. They are now found only in parts of Borneo and Sumatra, but during the Pleistocene they ranged throughout Southeast Asia and South China. Classified in the genu ...

, a chimpanzee, and the

capuchin monkey The capuchin monkeys () are New World monkeys of the subfamily Cebinae. They are readily identified as the " organ grinder" monkey, and have been used in many movies and television shows. The range of capuchin monkeys includes some tropical fores ...

s were filmed with live animals, but some computer work was used in a scene wherein the little monkey imitates George. Three male African lions were used in this film. Bongo was trained by Bowmanville Zoo's Michael Hackenberger. Joseph's trainer was Charlie Sammut of

Salinas, California Salinas (; Spanish for "Salt Marsh or Salt Flats") is a city in California and the county seat of Monterey County. With a population of 163,542 in the 2020 Census, Salinas is the most populous city in Monterey County. Salinas is an urban area lo ...

's Monterey Zoo. Sammut temporarily replaced Fraser as his stunt double for its wrestling scene. Fraser was really holding an animatronic lion.

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

's Rick Glassey trained Kaleb. He was the third and final lion to appear onscreen. The large

gorilla Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...

s who live with George were all costumed actors who were Henson puppeteers. Their faces were remote-controlled

animatronic Animatronics refers to mechatronic puppets. They are a modern variant of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films and in theme park attractions. It is a multidisciplinary field integrating puppetry, anatomy a ...

heads, which, along with the yak fur gorilla suits, were provided by

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was originally ...

. Other effects were provided by

Dream Quest Images Dream Quest Images, later known as The Secret Lab, was an American visual effects company, co-founded in 1979 by Hoyt Yeatman, Scott Squires, Rocco Gioffre, Fred Iguchi, Tom Hollister and Bob Hollister. History After early piecemeal work on ''Es ...

. In the " Pride Rock" scene, when George presents his son to the animals, CGI work is again used. The jungle setting was constructed on a stage in Playa Del Rey, Los Angeles. The stage was 750 feet long, 71 feet high at the peak, 90 feet wide.

Release

Box office

The film debuted at No. 2 at the box office behind ''

Men in Black In popular culture and UFO conspiracy theories, men in black (MIB) are purported men dressed in black suits who claim to be quasi- government agents, who harass, threaten, or sometimes even assassinate unidentified flying object (UFO) witnesse ...

'' and grossed $174.4 million worldwide.

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

the film has a score of 56% based on 54 reviews and an average rating of 5.5/10. The site's consensus states: "''George of the Jungle'' is faithful to its source material—which, unfortunately, makes it a less-than-compelling feature film". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

it has a weighted average score of 53% based on reviews from 18 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade "B+" on scale of A to F.

Gene Siskel Eugene Kal Siskel (January 26, 1946 – February 20, 1999) was an American film critic and journalist for the ''Chicago Tribune''. Along with colleague Roger Ebert, he hosted a series of movie review programs on television from 1975 until his d ...

and

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film two thumbs up on their show '' At The Movies''; Ebert awarded it three out of four stars, praising it as "good-natured" and complimenting the cast's comedic performances. Siskel wrote, "What sets the film apart is a script that has the good sense to laugh at itself".

James Berardinelli James Berardinelli (born September 25, 1967) is an American film critic and former engineer. His reviews are mainly published on his blog ''ReelViews.'' Approved as a critic by the aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, he has published two collections of r ...

thought "the comedy in ''George of the Jungle'' is not sophisticated, but it is frequently audacious and irreverent". It was nominated for Best Fantasy film at the

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films be ...

Home media

Walt Disney Home Video Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc., doing business as Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, is the home entertainment distribution arm of The Walt Disney Company. The division handles the distribution of Disney's films, television series, an ...

released the film on VHS and

LaserDisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

in the United States and Canada on December 2, 1997.

Sequel

The film was followed by a direct-to-video sequel, ''

'', which picks up five years after the original. Most of the major characters were re-cast using different actors, although Keith Scott,

and

reprised their roles from the original.

References

External links

* * * {{George of the Jungle 1990s children's films 1997 romantic comedy films 1997 films American children's comedy films American films with live action and animation American romantic comedy films 1990s English-language films Films about animals Films about gorillas Films about elephants Films based on television series Films directed by Sam Weisman Films scored by Marc Shaiman Films set in 1996 Films set in 1997 Films set in Africa Films set in San Francisco Films set in the 1990s Films set in the San Francisco Bay Area Films shot in Hawaii Films shot in San Francisco Films with screenplays by Audrey Wells George of the Jungle Jungle adventure films Live-action films based on animated series Live-action films based on Jay Ward cartoons Mandeville Films films Swahili-language films Walt Disney Pictures films Films produced by David Hoberman 1990s American films