Return To The Jungle (1998)

Return To The Jungle (also known as The Jungle Book Chapter II ~ Return To The Jungle) is a 1998 live-action American adventure film co-written and directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Edward S. Feldman and Raju Patel, from a new original story by Ronald Yanover and Mark Geldman. The film is a sequel to Walt Disney's 1994 film Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book, which itself was a second film adaptation by The Walt Disney Company of the Mowgli stories from The Jungle Book and Rudyard Kipling's The Second Jungle Book; this film, however, is partly based on a collection of stories from The Third Jungle Book by Pamela Jekel.

Reprising their roles from the first film were Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli, Lena Headey as Kitty Brydon, Sam Neill as Colonel Geoffrey Brydon and John Cleese appearing as Dr. Julius Plumford. Bollywood actress Hema Malini portrays Mowgli's dear friend and mother figure Messua, and Taunton actress Jenny Agutter plays Eunice Harvey, an English military nurse and a love interest of Colonel Brydon. English actor Robert Hardy plays her longtime friend and medical assistant Dr. Conrad Richardson. Bollywood actor Faran Tahir, who played Mowgli's father Nathoo in the first film, appears in this film as Mowgli's father figure and close friend Armand. Prominent Indian actress Madhuri Dixit plays Shanti, Mowgli's childhood friend and Messua and Ahmad's daughter. Mumbai actor Sohail Khan portrays Messua and Armand's youngest child and Shanti's brother Rajan. Michelle Monaghan plays Kitty's beloved cousin Lynette Landon. Canadian-American Grace Park plays Kitty's best friend and fellow Honor Council member Jun Lee.

And just as the first film, iconic motion picture composer Basil Poledouris provides a lavishly old-fashioned, purely orchestral and enormously emotional theatrical score.

Released on January 9, 1998, by Walt Disney Pictures, and like the first film, Return To The Jungle received generally positive reviews, however it grossed $36.4 million in theaters against a $43 million budget, and gained an additional $56 million in foreign markets.

The film was rated "PG" by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) for "sequences of adventure action/violence, intense peril, scary moments, innuendoes and some mild language".

Describe in what franchise your movie is. If it is a Original Movie, say the genre of your movie. Also, you could tell when your movie comes out, if it is a sequel or has sequels and which actors/actress returns or plays in the movie. You could also add who the director, writer, and producer of this movie idea.

Synopsis
The film takes place just two years later after the events from the first film with Mowgli and Kitty, now recently married, living a peaceful existence in the village and Mowgli resuming his position as lord of the jungle as an all-new threat looms over the town of India, leaving Mowgli to preserve his happy marriage and maintaining the safety of his animal companions as well as the lives of the villagers.

Cast

 * Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli, lord of the jungle, Kitty's husband and Colonel Brydon's son-in-law.


 * Lena Headey as Katherine "Kitty" Brydon, zoologist, member of the Honor Guard, jungle tour guide, acclaimed artist, Mowgli's wife and Colonel Brydon's daughter.


 * Sam Neill as Colonel Geoffrey Brydon, Kitty's father, Mowgli's father-in-law and head of the British troop stationed in India.
 * John Cleese as Dr. Julius Plumford, the town doctor, the medical professional of Brydon's battalion and good friend of Brydon, Mowgli and Kitty.
 * Hema Malini as Messua, a close friend and surrogate mother of Mowgli's.
 * Faran Tahir as Armand, a close friend and father figure of Mowgli's, and Messua's husband.
 * Jenny Agutter as Dr. Eunice Harvey, an acclaimed English military nurse and Colonel Brydon's love interest.
 * Robert Hardy as Dr. Conrad Robinson, Eunice's longtime friend and medical assistant, and an old rival of Dr. Plumford's.
 * Madhuri Dixit as Shanti, Mowgli's childhood friend and Messua and Armand's daughter.
 * Sohail Khan as Rajan, Shanti's younger brother, and Messua and Armand's son.
 * Michelle Monaghan as Lynette Landon, Kitty's beloved cousin who was a bridesmaid at Kitty and Mowgli's wedding, and is especially close to the couple, and a fellow member of the Honor Council.
 * Grace Park as Jun Lee, Kitty's best friend and a fellow member of the Honor Council alongside Kitty and Lynette.

Trained Animals
 * Casey as Baloo
 * Shadow as Bagheera
 * TBA as Mang, a bat
 * TBA as Red Dog, a dhole
 * TBA as Akela, an Indian wolf
 * TBA as Ikki, an Indian crusted porcupine
 * Lowell as King Louie
 * TBA as Jacula, a mugger crocodile
 * TBA as Rashka, an India wolf
 * Shannon as Grey Brother
 * TBA as Tendua, a bloodthirsty leopard rampaging through India
 * TBA as Hathi, an Indian elephant
 * Bombay as Shere Khan

Reception
The film received generally positive reviews, especially for its striking action sequences, strong performances, effective blend of mature emotion and play, plus exciting and exotic cinematography as well as a more grandiose love story of Mowgli and Kitty and Poledouris' strong and tuneful score, and was commended for primarily staying true to much of Kipling's original work, compared to the first film. It was also nominated for Excellence In Media's 1998 Golden Award for Best Motion Picture.

Production
Similar to the first film, animals such as rhesus macaques and Asian elephants were shot in Jodphur and Bombay, while the majority of the animals were shot along with the jungle scenes in South California and Fall Creek Falls State Park, Tennessee, however the scenes featuring Lowell the monkey were shot entirely in India, unlike the first film where they were shot in a studio against blue screen in Los Angeles. The village scenes as well as the scenes with Mowgli and Kitty's tree hut were shot on location in New Delhi, India.