I just read adriennek's most recent column (http://www.mouseplanet.com/more/mm030226ak.htm). I thought it was good, as usual. I'm not one for driving from where I live all the way to the El Capitan, I'm just not that into it, but I appreciate hearing the ins and outs.

As far as the movie itself; I took my girls to see it this past weekend (while lisap went to Disneyland, some trade, huh?). I will break the movie down into what I thought were the good and the bad:

The Good
The voice actors did a good job sounding like the originals. Even the highly recognizable John Goodman as Baloo sorta sounded more like Phil Harris than Sully from Monsters Inc. Tony Jay was also good as Shere Kahn.

The song, Jungle Rhythm, was not bad. It doesn't make you cringe like most sequel songs and I could see it up there with most feature film songs.

The animation was mediocre, but did seem to capture the look of the original (that probably sounds weird, but it does have the same look, just not as good).

Ummmmm......that's about it.

The Bad
Everything else. Stupid, pedestrian plot. Inane dialogue. The step-brother of Mowgli was annoying beyond all comprehension. The extra buzzard, voiced by Phil Collins, did not make me laugh at all. Tons of filler by having them sing "Bare Necessities" three times. The relatively short running time seemed like an eternity to me.

Of course, the kids liked it and want Grandma to take them again next week. Better her than me.

Thanks for the bits EandCDad. I've been doing the "do we go; or do we wait for video" dance. Youngest wants to go; oldest is in the "wait" camp. So any info is good.

The kids will like it, tjrj, but you probably won't and unless the youngest is unbearable in wanting to see it, I'd wait.

Re: voices: Sterling Hollaway originally did Pooh, Piglet and Kaa. Now the guy who currently voices Pooh and Piglet, Jim Cummings, also did Kaa. I thought it was the best, most similar casting.

The filler was what annoyed me the most about the movie. I agree that the little kid as annoying, too. I told Kevin that I couldn't tell what age he was supposed to be because he talked like a baby (with his speech impediments), looked like a baby, but the words he used and his behavior was like an older child. As if the writers/animators made up a developmental age that doesn't exist. Does that make sense? I think I'm overanalyzing a sequel here...

Adrienne K