Jungle 2 Jungle is a 1997 comedy film distributed by TF1 Productions, and Walt Disney Pictures.
Plot[]
Michael Cromwell (Tim Allen) is a self-absorbed commodities broker living in New York City. Wanting to marry his new fiancée, Charlotte (Lolita Davidovich), he needs to obtain a divorce from his first wife, Patricia (JoBeth Williams), who left him some years earlier. She now lives with a semi-Westernized tribe in Canaima National Park, Venezuela. He travels there to get her signature on the divorce papers, but upon arriving, she reveals that they had a son together, who is now 13 years old and named Mimi-Siku (Sam Huntington).
Michael attempts to bond with Mimi in his brief stay with the tribe and promises to take him to New York City "when he is a man". He is also given a new name of "Baboon" as is a custom in the tribe. That night, Mimi undergoes the traditional rite of passage of the tribe, who then considers him to be a man. The tribal elder gives him a special task to bring fire from the Statue of Liberty in order to become the next chief. A reluctant Michael, realizing his promise would have to be honored sooner than he realized, brings Mimi to New York City with him.
Charlotte is less than pleased about Mimi and his primitive ways. As Michael attempts to adapt him to city life, cross-cultural misunderstandings occur when he reverts to customs considered acceptable by his tribe. On climbing the Statue of Liberty to reach the torch, he is disappointed when he sees that the flame is not real. After a brief argument with Michael, Mimi's antics have caused Charlotte to reach her breaking point.
While staying at the home of Michael's business partner Richard Kempster (Martin Short), Mimi falls in love with his daughter, Karen (Leelee Sobieski). He paints her face and gives her a new name, Ukume, as is the custom in his tribe. Richard resents Mimi's presence in his home due to his influence over Karen and because he cooked and ate his valuable prize-winning Poecilia latipinna fish. Richard freaks out when he sees Karen and Mimi together in a hammock and threatens to send her to an all-girls summer camp.
The Kempsters and Michael are targeted by Alexei Jovanovic (David Ogden Stiers), a Russian mobster and caviar dealer who believes that they have cheated him in a business deal. He arrives at the Kempsters' home and tortures Richard for information, and is prepared to cut off his fingers. By fighting together, utilizing Mimi's hunting skills, and Mimi's pet tarantula Maitika, Michael and Mimi fight off Jovanovic's group.
Before returning to the Amazon jungle, Mimi is given a satellite phone by Michael so they can stay in touch. He also presents him with a Statue of Liberty cigarette lighter, which produces fire from the torch and will fulfill his quest. In return, he gives Michael a blowpipe and poisoned darts, telling him to practice and come to see him when he can hit flies.
Shortly afterward, Michael finds himself disheartened by the rat-race and realizes that his relationship with Charlotte is not working for him anymore. He attempts to kill a fly with his blowpipe on the trading floor of the New York Board of Trade. He hits it, but also his hot-tempered boss Langston (Bob Dishy) who collapses asleep on the trading floor.
Michael returns to Lipo-Lipo to see Mimi and Patricia, bringing the Kempsters with him for a vacation. Karen and Mimi are reunited and it is suggested that Michael and Patricia also resume their relationship.
As the closing credits start rolling, Michael undergoes the rite of passage as Mimi did earlier.
Cast[]
- Tim Allen as Michael Cromwell
- Martin Short as Richard Kempster
- Sam Huntington as Mimi-Siku Cromwell
- Lolita Davidovich as Charlotte
- David Ogden Stiers as Alexei Jovanovic
- JoBeth Williams as Dr. Patricia Cromwell
- Adam LeFevre as Morrison
- Valerie Mahaffey as Jan Kempster
- Leelee Sobieski as Karen Kempster
- Luis Avalos as Abe
- Frankie J. Galasso as Andrew Kempster
- Carole Shelley as Fiona Glockman
- Bob Dishy as George Langston
- Dominic Keating as Ian
- Rondi Reed as Sarah