The Jungle King (also known as: Enchanted Tales: The Jungle King) is a 1994

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

musical film that was made by

Golden Books *Western Publishing (1907−2001) — , magazines, and {{C, Children's book publishers, children's books publisher, formerly based in Racine, Wisconsin Racine ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Racine County, Wisconsin, United States. It is ...

' film studio,

Golden Films Golden Films is an American production studio founded in 1994 by Diane Eskenazi, previously known as American Film Investment Corporation. The studio has produced a variety of animated films. The company's most notorious films were part of the ...

and distributed by

Sony Wonder Sony Wonder (founded as Sony Kids’ Music) is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not directl ...

. Diane Eskenazi, who is the founder of Golden Films, was the producer, director and storywriter for the film as she did the same for other animated films made by this studio. It was originally released on VHS in 1994, but it later did see a DVD release in 2003. This animated feature was released in Golden Films' Enchanted Tales collection of films. The style of the film is reminiscent to the cartoons and animated films of the 1970s.

Plot

Taking place in the continent between

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

, the film is about an anthropomorphic lion named King Maximilian III, a grumpy, selfish and obnoxious king who rules the main part of the continent in an unpopular monarchy. He constantly makes preposterous laws and oppresses his subjects, though he is oblivious to how much he is hated by the angry animal citizens, due to how his main servants, the hyena Chancellor (with his beautiful

parrot Parrots, also known as psittacines (), are birds of the roughly 398 species in 92 genera comprising the order Psittaciformes (), found mostly in tropical and subtropical regions. The order is subdivided into three superfamilies: the Psittacoide ...

assistant, Ricardo) and gorilla General Glump, constantly flatter and cajole towards him. Meanwhile, Max's twin brother, Irwin, who is kind and friendly, enjoys his life illustrating birds, including his pet bird, Daphne. One day, Max falls in love with a young lioness named Leonette and demands to marry her, despite the fact that she hates him as much as anyone-else, even though the rest of her family love the king and support the idea of her marriage to him. Unfortunately, the Chancellor is also in love with her and plots to take the throne. To this end, he has been doing covert work in another part of the continent that is ruled by Emperor Raj, a

tiger The tiger (''Panthera tigris'') is the largest living cat species and a member of the genus ''Panthera''. It is most recognisable for its dark vertical stripes on orange fur with a white underside. An apex predator, it primarily preys on ...

king who rules less land than Max. They plot to remove King Max and attack his army while they are leaderless. As a result, the Chancellor would become king and Raj would get more land. The next day, Chancellor tricks Max into bathing in the river, in where he is captured in a lion cage by zoo hunters. Upon learning of Max's capture and the Chancellor's betrayal, General Glump seeks out Irwin and asks for his help. Using his likeness, Irwin poses as Max and manages to fool the Chancellor. During his ruse, he also repeals all of Max's ludicrous laws, thus winning the hearts of the animal citizens, including Leonette. Irwin himself falls in love with her, but she finds out that Irwin is not really the king and rejects him for his lies. The Chancellor also learns of the deception and advises Raj to attack anyway since Irwin doesn't know how to lead an army. Raj agrees to this, but secretly plans to betray the Chancellor out of distrust. General Glump manages to save Max from hunter's camp and they both return to find the kingdom under attack by Emperor Raj and his army. The Chancellor runs away after being betrayed and invades Leonette's home where he kidnaps her. The soldiers quickly fall into disarray due to Irwin's ineptitude, but the citizens join the fight to repay his kindness. Upon which, Max realizes how unpopular he was before. Soon enough, Max and Irwin get together and team up to fight back, forcing Raj's army into retreat. Once Raj has been defeated, Irwin rescues Leonette and defeats Chancellor, who runs away for good after being kicked by the angry Leonette. The next day, Max changes his ways and even offers to share the monarchy with Irwin, but Irwin decides that he wants to marry Leonette, who he has reconciled with. Together they return to the jungle to get his book finished, alongside Ricardo and Daphne, who have also fallen in love.

Voice cast

Irene Cara Irene Cara Escalera (March 18, 1959 – November 25, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress of Black, Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. Cara rose to prominence for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 musical film '' Fame'', and f ...

as Leonette *

Cam Clarke Cam Clarke is an American voice actor, known for his work in animation, video games and commercials. Among his notable roles are Leonardo and Rocksteady in the 1987 ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'' animated series, Shotaro Kaneda in the 1989 ...

as Ricardo the beautiful Parrot and Emperor Raj *

Townsend Coleman Townsend Coleman is an American voice actor who has performed in many animated series and TV commercials beginning in the early 1980s. Among his most notable roles are Michaelangelo from ''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'', Wayne Gretzky on '' ProSta ...

(additional voices)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jungle King, The 1994 films 1994 animated films American children's animated adventure films American children's animated fantasy films American fantasy adventure films Animated films about lions 1990s American animated films 1990s fantasy adventure films Fictional lions Fictional hyenas Fictional apes Golden Films animated films 1990s English-language films

Plot

Voice cast

See also

References

External links