Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

The Excellent and Excruciating W/O is on now. See Slarter or CaptainD for details.

Truly excellent films are hard to come by these days. Whether that’s due to lack of competent directors, actors, scriptwriters, or all three I don’t know. However, it does explain why my entry into the “Excellent” side of this W/O was made in 1997.

Ursula Stanhope (Leslie Mann), is soon to get married to Lyle van DeGroot (Thomas Haden Church). While on a journey through the jungle without her fiancée (probably one of those stupid “I am woman, I am independent” things), Ursula is being shown the sights by some locals when Lyle shows up and insists she return with him. They wander away from the group and are attacked by a lion, when George (Brendan Fraser) shows up. Lyle decides this must be the legendary “white ape” he’s heard about, and promptly faints. George rescues Ursula and whisks her back to his treehouse.

George arrived in the jungle after a plane crash when he just a baby. He was then raised by an ape named Ape, the most intelligent ape in the jungle, voiced by John Cleese. George falls for Ursula immediately, and spends a lot of time showing her the jungle like no-one else can with the aid of his animal friends, including his doggy Shep (who is actually an elephant) and Tookie Tookie bird. However, a plan to kidnap Shep interrupts things and involves Lyle shooting George and being carted away to an African prison. So Ursula must now take George back to San Francisco to get medical treatment and explain where Lyle is.

Does Ursula realize her true feelings for both Lyle and George? Will Lyle get out of jail? Does George return to the jungle?

There’s not a lot here in the way of special FX, but the animal training is certainly impressive, especially concerning Ape, Tookie and Shep. The jungle looks amazing enough, which may or may not mean it was filmed on location. In a way, I think it may have looked too realistic. Some parts were so green it was amazing. If wilderness like that really exists, I’d love to see it one day.

The story isn’t exactly realistic, which means you have to suspend belief to really enjoy the film, and if you do it’s absolutely great.

Mann’s acting is excellent. She portrays Ursula as quiet, yet opinionated, and her feelings for both Lyle and George come across as genuine. Church’s Lyle is certainly the villain of the film, yet he brings a charm to the character that almost makes us like him. Almost. John Cleese brings an amazing quirkiness to Ape, making him intelligent and funny, often sarcastically which is what Cleese does best.

The showstealers, however, are Fraser as George and Keith Scott as the voice of the narrator. Fraser is about as Tarzan as they come, which really suits George, and the beauty of having a narrator is that while for the most part he’s just a voiceover, there is one absolutely precious scene where he has a fight with a couple of bad guys.

While the story is cliché and predictable, there are so many laughs here it doesn’t really matter. Having a narrator is a touch of genius, especially in the couple of scenes where he interacts with the characters.

Sometimes, a rarity of a film comes along that is so excellent on many different levels, and is just a five-star classic worth repeat viewings. George Of The Jungle is the epitome of such films. A sequel was made, but without any of the original actors bar Church (to the best of my knowledge) and so it looks like it could be cheesy trash. I’ll be avoiding the sequel, but I’ve certainly added George Of The Jungle to the list of movies I want to add to my DVD collection when I eventually have the money to start one.

While there’s nothing wrong with the movie itself, I would have liked to see something in the way of special features on the DVD. Most films at least come with a theatrical trailer, but with George Of The Jungle we get nothing. It’s still an excellent film though.

Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD