Episode 165: George of the Jungle (1997)

Back again for more, are you? Well, we’ll soon fix that! This week, we’re hip-deep in “I Made From TV Love You!”, the series about movies inspired by their small-screen counterparts.  And this week . . .  ah, Jay Ward. You fine animator, you.  You gave us so much.  Rock and Bullwinkle.  Dudley Do-right. Mr. Peabody and Sherman.  Endless Captain Crunch commercials.  So . . . what happened? What took you from pithy wit and subtle political satire to and brain-dead Tarzan parody? This show didn’t even last a year . . . and yet three decades later, The All-Conquering Mouse decided that the world needed a live-action big-screen resurrection of this sad aberration, starring no less than a very oiled-up Brendan Fraser.  Oh, Jay.  Sweet, sweet Jay.  We’ll always remember you for Moose and Squirrel, not . . . that other thing.  But is this a fitting tribute to this unfortunate misstep? Does the remake surpass the original? And why won’t Disney consider Super Chicken as a long-needed addition to the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Why, I ask you! Well, I can’t promise you an answer to that last one, but we’ll try to answer the others.  Give a listen!

Poll question: how much to a movie’s musical score (the background music, not the pop songs on the soundtrack) affect your cinematic experience? Tell, tell!

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6 thoughts on “Episode 165: George of the Jungle (1997)”

  1. When I saw Fraser was in this I was so sad… loincloth and all and just screamed – “But he was in Gods and Monsters! Why do this?

    I wish I had the nerve to have chosen Tideland as a film I like but everyone else hates, but while I seriously think it’s a fantastic film I am afraid just recommending will lose me friends, more so the even the film “In a glass cage”. I am glad someone else liked it besides me!

    Music can really make a film, think almost any John Williams classic score. It can be better than the film itself like Gerry Goldmith’s music in the Damien Omen 2 and in general can really set the mood or push you into feeling a certain way. This works the other way too. When the music is a bad fit or just bad it can ruin an otherwise decent film. Now is a good time to remind Mike that the music in Starcrash, the adventures of Stella Star, a film I tied him to a chair so he could enjoy it better, won an academy award.

    1. Fraser would go on to do much more UN-like “Gods and Monsters” thank like it. And I think he did pretty well for himself. And wait, “Stella Star” won ANYTHING? I find that hard to believe. 😀 Thanks, Vince! Make sure to spend all your BumpyBux soon, before the coagulate!

      1. So true, lots of actors and directors start off with an amazing project then go in totally different directions. Yes the music in Stellar Star won an Oscar! You might think there was a bizarre costume category that year but no! John (James Bond) Barry composed it!

  2. Oh, music is a huge part of it, for sure! That’s what I miss most about going to the theaters–well, that and feeling the popcorn resin slowly gluing my feet to the theater floor. I’ve never felt that music has made a movie worse, though. Can either of you think of times you’ve heard music that’s actively detracted from your enjoyment of a movie? (And no, music sung by actors doesn’t count.)

    On a completely different set of notes, a question and a trio of suggestions.

    Question: are there any movies that you two think are deserving of sequels that haven’t gotten them? (Dune is on the mind, but they’ve already announced that one so it doesn’t count anymore.)

    Suggestion 1: If you’re looking for an idea for a series, I think you could do a grab bag series of movies that you either didn’t have space for in previous series or movies that, in retrospect, you feel you really should have covered in a given series. Call it “Odds and Ends” or “Cutting Room Floor” or something like that. Maybe you feel a need to talk about, I dunno, Die Another Day for the James Bond series or you realize you left something out of your Pixar lineup. Some of your earlier series when you were really rigid about holding yourselves to eight episodes might have some good material, not that it seems like you’re hurting for subjects.

    Suggestion 2: Can you make the header menu of series collapsable on the webpage? It’s taking up a lot of real estate, especially on mobile.

    Suggestion 3: The sidebar for series is alphabatized, meaning that you go from Series 19 to Series 2 to Series 20, on to Series 21, and thence to Series 3. It bugs me, and I know that I, and I alone, am your target audience.

    1. Thanks for the feedback, Lad of Cheese! We’ll get to the much of this later; for now, I’ve removed the list of categories from the sidebar (not really necessary as they’re already on the top). Not sure if I can make the top menu collapsible but I’ll give it a try. Thanks again!
      Max

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