Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo, The

The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo is a film about Mowgli, a boy, who, as an infant, was raised by wild animals after his parents were killed in the jungle. Twelve years later, while out exploring, Mowgli stumbles upon some train tracks and is spotted by passengers on the passing locomotive. Buldeo, Mowgli's uncle, hears about the sighting and hires a man to take him into the jungle, supposedly to rescue his long lost nephew. However, he really wants the guide to show him where the boy is so he can kill him, keeping the boy's fortune all to himself.

  • Starring: Bill Campbell, Jamie Williams and Rody McDowall
  • Director(s): Duncan McLachlan
  • Producer(s): Raju Patel, Peter Shepherd
  • Screenwriter(s): Matthew Horton, Bayard Johnson
  • Distributor: Sony Pictures
  • Release Date: Thursday, May 15, 1997

Featured Animal Action

Animal action is throughout the film using real and animatronic animals. There are several different species of exotic animals in this film. Real and animatronic animals were used when the animals are speaking to Mowgli or between themselves. In one scene there are some chimps seen going from A to B in trees chasing Mowgli. Then some chimps are seen jumping off a tree branch. Later a chimp is seen grabbing Mowgli's ankle on a tree stump above ground. The chimp climbs down and smacks Mowgli. This scene was shot in cuts. The trainer placed the chimps on their mark with one chimp holding the boy's ankle. The trainer cued them with verbal and hand signals. When traveling from one tree to another, the chimps were merely going from one trainer to another trainer. As the chimp holds Mowgli's ankle, his jungle friends come to his rescue. Baloo, a jungle bear, rises up behind Mowgli and snarls at the chimps and they run up into the trees. Grey Wolf and Bagheera, a black panther, approach and Mowgli hugs his friend Grey wolf. This scene was shot in cuts. The chimps were placed on their mark while trainers surrounded the bear. When cued, the chimps ran up into the tree as the bear was cued to stand and snarl. There is a scene where Mowgli is in a cave with his wolf friends and a roach crawls across the floor. Mowgli picks up the roach and puts it in his mouth. This scene was shot in cuts. A real and a fake roach were used. The real roach is placed on his mark for the establishing shot from A to B and then is replaced with the fake. When the boy is seen picking up the roach and putting it into his mouth, that, too, is fake. The wolves were placed on their mark and were cued with verbal and hand commands. A tiger is seen traveling A to B to a cliff over looking a river. Mowgli appproaches and jumps in the water. Baloo, Grey Wolf, and Bagheera, all run over to the cliff looking down at the water. A deer is seen walking by when Mowgli jumps up from under the water with a frog on top of his head. This scene was shot in cuts. A fake frog was used for this scene. The deer was placed on his mark and cued with verbal and hand commands. The rest of the animals were placed on their marks and cued with verbal and hand signals. As a safety precaution, additional trainers were strategically placed around the animals. There is a scene where the people are revealed inside the passing train. Chuchundra, a small fat man is seen with Timo, a trained monkey, sitting on his shoulder. The monkey is wearing a collar with a long chain attached and is trained to steal pretty baubles. Timo dances on a table and then leaps onto a female passenger. The men at the table are playing cards and in all the excitement, Timo picks an officer's pocket. Chuchundra leads Timo back to the table, where the monkey salutes the officers and Chuchundra gives the man his wallet. The monkey proceeds to jump around and play pick-pocket. This scene was shot in cuts. The behavior in this scene was pre-trained and cued with verbal and hand signals with food as a reward. When Mowgli sees the train tracks, he and his friends, Baloo, Bagheera and Grey Wolf walk closer to inspect their new find. As the train is heard approaching, the animals move back from the track. Mowgli's friends approach the tracks after the train stops. They growl at the train and its occupants. This scene was shot in cuts. Each animal was placed on their mark by their trainers and released from point A to point B where a second trainer waited. Timo and Mowgli escape through a window on the train and crawl across the top, jumping from car to car. Timo gets on Mowgli's shoulder and the boy jumps from the train into the jungle. Timo is seen going from A to B in the trees. This scene was shot in several cuts. The train was only moving approximately 10mph. The actual jumping of the boy with the monkey is not seen. When the monkey is seen running across the roofs of the train cars, a safety cable is attached to the roof and the monkey is on a waist tie attached to the cable. Trainer #1 placed the monkey on his mark at point A and trainer #2 called the monkey to point B. When the monkey jumps from one car to the other he is actually jumping from trainer #1 to trainer #2 who are on opposite rail cars. Mowgli and Timo find an old abandoned camp site and some chimps are in the tent. Timo pulls out the pin holding up the tent and it falls onto the chimps. The chimps jump into an old cart and their weight jolts the cart into rolling down the hill. The cart falls over a cliff and the chimps are seen hanging onto some branches. This scene was shot in cuts. The chimps were placed in the cart with waist ties and the trainers were also present in the cart during filming. A process car was hooked to the cart with a safety cable and driven at a speed of 10mph. The chimps were cued to jump up and down making faces while the cart was moving. The segment of the chimps hanging from the tree branches, was shot before a blue screen and inserted during post production. When Mowgli takes his new friend to see Grey Wolf he is crushed that his friends rejects him. Mowgli is wearing a hat he found at the camp site and Grey Wolf can smell the scent of man on it. Grey Wolf and Mowgli play a game of tug of war for the hat. Baloo and Bagherra growl at their old friend. This scene was shot in cuts. The trainers placed the animals on their mark and cued them with a buzzer and verbal, and hand commands, from one mark to another. The wolf was actually a hybrid and merely played a game with the boy for the hat. In several scenes a man is seen walking with a python around his neck and arms. In one scene the man lets the snake go and it crawls up and around a tree approaching Mowgli, wrapping himself around the boy. For all of theses scenes a real snake was used. The trainer placed the snake on the actor or stuntdouble and retrieved him at completion of the shot. The wild chimps capture Baloo and put him in some type of a dungeon. Baloo starts growling as a chimp, above on a grate, antagonizes him. He finally digs his way out and runs off. This scene was shot in cuts. Trainer #1 released the bear and trainer #2 called him to his next mark. When the bear is seen digging his way out of the dungeon, he was cued with verbal commands. The chimp was placed on his mark and cued with verbal and hand signals. Later, Baloo is captured by the white men and put in another cage. One night in the camp, a tiger approaches and Mowgli scares the animal off with a flaming stick. Baloo is grateful and licks Mowgli's face through the bars on his cage. This scene was shot in several cuts. Trainer #1 released the tiger and he ran to trainer #2 where he is seen scratching and sniffing looking for treats. Several wolves show up at the ruins to help rescue Mowgli after the chimps have captured him. The wolves run from A to B in several scenes at the ruins. These scenes were shot in cuts. The trainer placed them on their mark and cued them with verbal and hand signals. While at the ruins, several wild chimps are seen walking, climbing, running, sitting, or bringing food or clothing to the crazy captain. In one scene at the ruins, the captain is shooting a gun in the direction of the chimps. The chimps were placed on their mark and cued with verbal and hand commands, using food as a reward. The segment with the shooting of the gun was done in cuts. When Mowgli is in the pit, numerous snakes are seen crawling all around him. Mowgli and Timo attempt to climb up a rope to safety, however, just as Timo reaches safety, Buldeo cuts the rope plunging Mowgli back into the pit. Then a python is sent down through a hole in the roof to act as a leverage and pull the boy up. The snake wraps itself around the boy and the snake's owner, helps to pull the two to safety. This scene was shot in several cuts. A real snake was used for this scene. The boy was never at any time actually lifted from the floor by the snake. There are several shots were only portions of the boys body is seen, at that time, a trainer is pulling the boy up, simulating the snake action. Several shots were filmed before a blue screen and inserted during post production. The trainer placed the snake around the boy and retrieved it at completion of the shot. When Timo and Mowgli are seen climbing the rope, trainer #1 placed the monkey on the boys shoulder and the monkey, responding to the commands of trainer #2, jumps from the boy to the rope and on to his trainer. Later, Mowgli's uncle is seen hanging from a tree and a tiger is seen jumping up to grab him. This scene was shot in cuts. The trainer released the tiger and the stuntman used a buzzer to cue the tiger to his next mark. When the tiger is seen leaping at the stuntman, he is actually jumping up to get a treat. When the animals are seen walking or running from A to B or climbing trees, trainer #1 released the animal at point A while trainer #2 retrieved him at point B. There are many scenes where Timo is seen jumping on the actor's shoulder or various objects. For these scenes the monkey was placed on his mark and cued with verbal commands and retrieved by his trainer. Other animal action consists of several scenes where the chimps and monkey are seen traveling from A to B or performing behavioral tricks such as, making faces, giving kisses, throwing food, jumping and squealing, eating with a spoon etc. All of these behaviors were accomplished with hand and verbal commands or a buzzer. In several scenes a tiger, a leopard, a bear, wolves, birds, snakes, etc., are seen performing various behavioral tricks such as, snarling, standing, leaping, swatting, slithering, etc. Again, all of this action was accomplished with the trainers placing the animals on their mark and cueing them with verbal and hand commands or a buzzer with treats as a reward.