Movie Review: The Jungle Bunch – The Movie

If your family are fans of the movies Madagascar and Happy Feet, then you’ll love the new animated family movie The Jungle Bunch – The Movie.

The movie features the voice talent of John Lithgow as the main character of Maurice. Here John talks about the movie. If you are reading this via e-mail you can find the clips here (look on the bottom task bar – videos #4 and #5) – http://bit.ly/JxIy0S.

The movie stars Maurice (Lithgow). Maurice is a Penguin that was raised in the jungle by a Tiger mother after his egg was tossed into the sea from the South Pole and made it’s way to the jungle. Maurice even even goes so far as to paint stripes on himself so that he resembles a Tiger. He considers himself the “Great Tiger Warrior”.

Maurice also has an adopted son – a Tiger Fish named Junior.

Maurice and Junior share their jungle home with a variety of characters.

Fred – A Warthog that has an Elvis style hairdo and who loves to sign his words rather than speak them.

Miguel – A Gorilla that doesn’t say very much.

Gilbert – A funny little Tarsier that is content to stay on the tree branch he’s lived on for the past several years. He’s also very nervous and twitchy.

Al & Bob – Two funny Toads.

One day a pair of Penguins arrive in the jungle named Ping and Pong. They came in search of the “Great Tiger Warrior” (Maurice) in hopes that he could help their community of Penguins who have been taken over by a group of mean Walruses. Convinced that he’s up for the challenge Maurice heads back to the South Pole with Ping and Pong and his son Junior. Their friends Fred, Miguel, Gilbert, Al and Bob also come along in hopes that they could help out. Along the way they meet up with a bat named Batricia who happens to be afraid of the dark.

The group makes it’s way to the South Pole where they find a community of Penguins who are forced to be slaves to the Walrus group, otherwise the Walruses will destroy all of the Penguin eggs. The Penguins are forced to gather all the fish that they can to feed the mean Walruses.

Will Maurice and his jungle friends be able to rescue the Penguin eggs before it’s too late? Will they be able to free the Penguins from the Walruses rule? To find out you’ll need to pick up a copy of The Jungle Bunch – The Movie. It will be available on DVD May 29, 2012. Look for it where ever movies are sold.

After the movie be sure to check out the bonus feature – 26 shorts from “Behind the Scenes of the Jungle”. They are really funny.

Over all my family enjoyed the movie. The characters were very likeable and adorable.

I love John Lithgow the actor, but for me the voice just didn’t seem to fit the character of Maurice. John Lithgow is very refined and proper. I just didn’t feel that his voice was the right choice for Maurice.

The characters were funny. I personally liked Gilbert, Al & Bob the best. Gilbert was very twitchy. Even his eye would twitch when he talked. Al & Bob were funny the way they bantered back and forth.

This is a cute family friendly movie. My whole family enjoyed it but my teen daughter lost interest in it about 1/2 way through. I think this is better suited for the under 10 crowd and their parents.

Here is the movie’s trailer for your enjoyment. If you are reading this via e-mail you can find the trailer here, http://bit.ly/Jq7l2o.