Jungle 2 Jungle (1997)

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Whoo, have we got a stinker for you today! A Hollywood remake of the French film, Un indien dans la ville, Jungle 2 Jungle received overwhelmingly negative reviews, yet performed moderately well at the box office. You can never trust audiences, can you?

Anyway, let’s get this over with! Read on for my review of the John Pasquin-directed Jungle 2 Jungle!

And remember, SPOILERS AHEAD!

As the film begins, we’re introduced to Michael Cromwell, a stockbroker, played by Tim Allen. He lives in New York City, but is currently headed somewhere in Central America South America, I think, to visit his wife, Dr. Patricia, from whom he’s separated.

Dr. Patricia, played by JoBeth Williams, separated from Michael years ago when she realized how obsessed Michael was with his work and how little time he had for her. She retreated to this random South American location where she’s lived among a native tribe acting as their doctor.

Michael has since found a new woman in his life whom he wants to marry, so he’s come to seek a divorce from Dr. Patricia. He makes sure to bring his laptop to check up on his work though.

Not long after he arrives though, Dr. Patricia drops a bomb on him: when she left him, she was pregnant with his child. Unbeknownst to him, Michael is the father of a 13-year-old boy named Mimi-Siku, played by Sam Huntington. Mimi-Siku’s mother taught him English, but because he grew up amongst this native tribe, the culture he’s a part of is that of the tribe, rather than that of the West.

Mimi-Siku is excited to meet his father and wants to go back to America with him to see the Statue of Liberty. Michael is shocked to learn that he has a son, but promises to take him to New York when he’s a man. Unbeknownst to Michael, you’re considered a man at 13 in this particular tribe. There’s actually a rite of passage ceremony later that night where the chief of the tribe tasks Mimi-Siku to bring back fire from the Statue of Liberty.

Now Michael is stuck taking his son back to New York with him. He intends for it to be a brief visit and for him to be gone before his upcoming wedding with fashion industry person (I’m not 100% sure exactly what her job is) Charlotte, played by Lolita Davidovich.

When Michael returns to New York, he learns that his stockbroker partner, Richard, played by Martin Short, didn’t sell coffee shares when Michael had told him to do so. (I don’t really understand stocks and how any of these things work, so forgive me if I’m not super accurate.) This resulted in their boss, Mr. Langston, played by Bob Dishy, being understandably upset.

Michael does his best to calm him down while Mimi-Siku is in awe of New York. Much of the film and its “comedy” lies in the cultural differences between the West and Mimi-Siku’s tribal ways. Another aspect of the film is Michael continuously promising to spend time with Mimi-Siku and take him to the Statue of Liberty, but continuously postponing it. Mimi-Siku decides to explore New York City himself and climb the Statue of Liberty.

When Michael hears about this, he’s upset at Mimi-Siku. Mimi-Siku tells Michael how he’s also upset that Michael keeps breaking his promises and only brought Mimi-Siku to New York because he was obligated to. But since this is New York, after the two of them dance together with a bunch of random strangers in a park, all seems to be forgiven.

Mimi-Siku even goes to spend the weekend at Richard’s house which comprises his wife, Jan, played by Valerie Mahaffey, their teenage daughter, Karen, played by Leelee Sobieski, and their younger smart-aleck son, Andrew, played by Frankie J. Galasso.

While Mimi-Siku is there, the house is attacked by Alexei Jovanovic, played by David Ogden Stiers, a man who is somewhat connected to the Russian Mafia and believes that Michael and Richard cheated him out of a lucrative stock deal. (Again, don’t ask me to explain the details.) Alexei along with his goons attack the family, but Mimi-Siku scares them off with his pet spider.

Soon enough, it’s time for Mimi-Siku to return home. Michael buys him a Statue of Liberty lighter which fulfills the task given to him by the tribal chief. Michael is also experiencing doubts about what he wants in life and he and Charlotte seem to have grown apart and he and Mimi-Siku seem to have grown closer.

He decides to surprise Mimi-Siku by visiting him in South America (presumably ending his engagement to Charlotte) for a little while. He also brings Richard and his family with him since Mimi-Siku and Karen have fallen in love with each other.

And that was Jungle 2 Jungle! Boy, was that bad! I had seen it before many years ago, but forgot just how bad it was! From the non-family-friendly jokes to the lack of comedy, it makes you wonder why this film was even made!

Was there anything good about it? To be fair, yes. I thought that Martin Short and David Ogden Stiers gave really great performances, way better than this film deserved! I also really enjoyed Frankie J. Galasso’s scenes. Even Sam Huntington looked like he sincerely tried his best.

Tim Allen’s character is so unlikeable that I’m not sure if it’s actually a great performance or not! But one thing about his character is that he does sincerely try to get to know his son. Yes, he’s still heavily self-absorbed, but he’s not as totally dismissive of his son as he could have been in a film like this.

Having said all that though, this was just a really bad film!

So, my final score for this film is 11/35 = 31.43% (F) !

The next review will be posted on July 2, 2024.