''Jungle Beat'' is a family-friendly series of CGI animated, self-contained, dialogue-free, five-minute episodes focusing on different animals and the bizarre situations they encounter in nature.

Production

''Jungle Beat'' is produced by Sunrise Productions, a CG animation studio based in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

, South Africa. The first episode of ''Jungle Beat'', "Always Take the Weather with You" was produced in Harare in 2003. Initially produced as a VFX test for fur and weather effects, the five-minute short was an unexpected success, and went on to win a number of awards, including “Best Animation” at the African Eye Animation Festival and the Audience Award at São Paulo's Anima Mundi International Animation Festival in 2004 This short, which follows the adventures of a monkey in extreme weather conditions, served as the pilot episode of ''Jungle Beat'' and the story structure of an animal navigating its way through a quirky predicament became the format for each five-minute episode of ''Jungle Beat''s three seasons.

Characters

The ''Jungle Beat'' series consists of standalone shorts which follow the antics and adventures of a different animal in each episode. Several of the more popular characters, such as

Giraffe The giraffe is a large African hoofed mammal belonging to the genus ''Giraffa''. It is the tallest living terrestrial animal and the largest ruminant on Earth. Traditionally, giraffes were thought to be one species, ''Giraffa camelopardalis ...

Elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

Monkey Monkey is a common name that may refer to most mammals of the infraorder Simiiformes, also known as the simians. Traditionally, all animals in the group now known as simians are counted as monkeys except the apes, which constitutes an incomple ...

Bee Bees are winged insects closely related to wasps and ants, known for their roles in pollination and, in the case of the best-known bee species, the western honey bee, for producing honey. Bees are a monophyly, monophyletic lineage within the ...

, and

Hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introducti ...

, feature in multiple episodes, facing a different predicament in each.

Spin-off

In 2015, Sunrise expanded the ''Jungle Beat'' universe to include '' The Jungle Beat Explorers'', a 3D 13-episode series that broadcasts exclusively on the Sunrise YouTube channel. The non-dialogue show introduced Mirabelle, Simon, Dexter and Rita, four curious, inept safari adventurers who document the wild animals of the world. The ''Jungle Beat'' franchise was then further expanded with the development of ''Munki and Trunk'', a 52 x 7 minute series aimed at kids aged 4–7. The show takes place in the ''Jungle Beat'' universe, but reintroduces the familiar animal cast as an ensemble, with more developed characters and relationships than the original parent show. The “tree-crashing, rock smashing, water-splashing, fruit-mashing, knock-about comedy adventure” centres on two unlikely best friends: crafty Munki and caring Trunk. Sunrise Productions produced '' Jungle Beat: The Movie'' and was released on 26 June 2020. In this version, unlike the others, the animals are able to talk, although previously other characters occasionally spoke on occasion, if it fits the scene. In 2023, Season 4

Other media

Sunrise Productions released ''Jungle Beat: The Game'' on the Apple App Store and Google Play. Released on the 24th of August 2015, the game was successful and had reached the top spot in the South African App Store by the 25th of August. The game features 25 levels and is aimed at children of 4–11 years of age.

Film adaptation

''Jungle Beat: The Movie is a 2020

Mauritian Mauritians (singular Mauritian; french: Mauricien; Creole: ''Morisien'') are nationals or natives of the Republic of Mauritius and their descendants. Mauritius is a multi-ethnic society, with notable groups of people of South Asian (notably I ...

computer-animated Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images (moving images), while computer animation refe ...

film directed by Brent Dawes, based on the characters of the television series ''Jungle Beat''. The film premiered at the 2020

Annecy International Animated Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

References

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External links

Official website
South African animated television series South African children's television series 2000s South African television series 2000s animated television series 2010s animated television series