The Jungle Book 2, Sing-A-Long with Baloo runs at the El Capitan daily, now through March 20th.
Photo by Adrienne Krock
Disney opened a new movie-going experience at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood for its theatrical release of Jungle Book 2 this month. You have until Thursday, March 20 to attend the “El Cap” for this event — if you were wondering whether you should bother going, consider the following:
1. The movie’s not that bad.
Let’s be honest here. Any time I see the word “Movie” or “2” in the title of a movie, it doesn’t exactly fill me with anxious anticipation so much as it makes my eyes roll. If it weren’t for the opportunity to write an article about the El Capitan experience, our family had no plans to even go see Jungle Book 2 in theaters.
In the opening scene, I felt a sense of dread. A new character, Ranjan, a young boy, is listening to Mowgli tell the story about his first encounter with Shere Khan. The young boy tells Mowgli that if he met Shere Khan, he would tell the tiger, “I’ll toss some fire at your tail and burn your butt.” Burn his butt. Fine dialogue, isn’t it? Fortunately, this was not the pattern for the rest of the movie.
Although not necessarily in keeping with Rudyard Kipling’s original Jungle Book, at least this movie does not devolve as horribly far from the original story as Hunchback of Notre Dame 2 did. The story takes place very shortly after the end of the original. While I lack the critical eye for animation that my husband has, the animation looked fine to me and the story felt like it stayed true to the themes of the original.
There was a bit of rehashing — one might even say filler — from the original movie, such as reprising “Bare Necessities” and the “Colonel Hathi’s March (the Elephant Song)”. Kaa once again attempts to hypnotize an unsuspecting prey, as well. Shere Khan seemed to be more severe and threatening than I remember from the original.
Phil Collins impresses as Lucky the Vulture
Promotional photo © Disney
2. Phil Collins
Perhaps it is my bias towards Phil, but his too-brief appearances as the voice of Lucky the Vulture were among the movie’s highlights for me. I especially enjoyed a scene where Lucky taunts Shere Khan with one pun after another.
3. Jungle Rhythm
Jungle Book 2 introduces two new songs. “Jungle Rhythm,” sung by Mowgli and the village children, has a cute catchy beat. For months after I saw Mulan, I sang “I’ll Make a Man Out of You.” Likewise, the beat of “Jungle Rhythm” keeps coming back into my head. I may just get the soundtrack so my boys and I can sing and dance around the family room together.
John Goodman’s Baloo sings the second of the new songs, “W-I-L-D”. I spent most of the song trying to figure out what “W-Y-O-D” stood for, so I can’t really say much about it except that the swing beat sounded fun once I redirected my attention to the music and not just the words.
4. The El Capitan Show
The El Capitan’s “Mighty Wurlitzer” entertains audiences before each movie screening at the El Capitan.
Photo by Adrienne Krock.
This time around, the experience includes a pre-show sing-a-long. Of course, we arrived early enough to enjoy Disney tunes played on the El Capitan Wurlitzer organ. At showtime, our hostess, Jennifer, came on stage and led us in singing “Bare Necessities” with Wurlitzer accompaniment and words on the screen behind her. Baloo joined Jennifer on stage to dance along as we sang. The crowd was rather quiet during the verses but the audience filled with school groups and off-track day camps on field trips gained momentum during the chorus.
Jennifer and Baloo left the stage and we watched footage describing Louis Prima’s involvement in the original Jungle Book. With our extensive DVD collection, I felt confident that I had seen this footage somewhere, but have not yet figured out where. At the end of the footage, Jennifer and Baloo returned to the stage and we sang “I Wan’na Be Like You.”
For the end of the pre-show, Jennifer explained how music and song evolved through Mickey Mouse’s first three animated shorts, Plane Crazy, Steamboat Willy, and Jungle Rhythm. Jennifer illustrated her points with brief clips from all three shorts while Baloo danced in a spotlight on stage. I do not know why Baloo danced, but it seemed strange that he was distracting from Mickey Mouse himself.
Jennifer and Baloo lead the crowd singing “I Wan’na Be Like You” with
Wurlitzer accompaniament.
Photo by Adrienne Krock.
4. Tiger Trouble
Before the movie, we saw the Goofy short, “Tiger Trouble.” This short is also available on the recently released, limited-edition Walt Disney Treasure’s DVD, The Complete Goofy. [Read the MousePlanet Home Theater review.] This short is not always shown prior to the movie.
5. El Capitan Staff
I have had many opportunities to visit El Capitan both as a paying customer, and as a press guest for movie premieres and previews. I have sat in both VIP and general admission seats, and even as a group admission rate ticket-holder. In every case, I found El Capitan staff to be friendly and helpful — definitely more friendly than most movie theaters. If you live within a reasonable drive to El Capitan and plan to purchase a general admission ticket, this alone would be reason to see any movie at El Capitan.
6. Weekday crowds
This was my first weekday visit to El Capitan. The first thing I noticed was how small the VIP section has become. Only two rows were reserved for VIP guests at our show. Weekday crowds will be much lighter during the school year, so if you have the opportunity, you might be able to sit in the center section of the theater with a general admission ticket. Availability varies based on how many VIP tickets the El Capitan expects to sell, and how many groups are in the audience. There are several general admission seats with fine views of the show and screen, especially if you arrive early and sit on the aisle.
Tips for visiting the El Capitan
Arrive early – Unlike most theaters, you miss more than just the previews by arriving late for a movie at El Capitan. Several groups at our show arrived so late that they missed the entire sing-a-long. I noticed one group with T-shirts from the City of Corona, nearly 70 miles from El Capitan. They came all the way from Corona for the El Capitan experience, but missed the best part by arriving late! Plan to arrive with plenty of time to find your seat, enjoy the Wurlitzer organ, and see the pre-show. Generally, I try to arrive in the area about 30 to 45 minutes ahead of time.
Booster seats – Although we have used booster seats at other theaters, this was our first experience with the El Capitan booster seats for children. My 45-pound, 4-year-old sat relatively well in his booster seat, but my 25-pound, almost-2-year-old struggled. The problem was not his attention span. Rather, Spencer was too small to keep the booster from sliding on the theater seat and to keep the seat from folding. I gave up trying to hold the theater seat down for him, and he eventually sat on my lap. Although this was fine with me, it was not Spencer’s first choice. Unlike his brother at this age, Spencer would have been fine in a booster seat had it worked for his size.
Prices:
- Four hours of parking at the Hollywood and Highland complex across the street is only $2 with validation from the El Capitan theater.
- General admission seats are $10 for adults and $7 for children and seniors, and group rates are available for general admission seats.
- VIP seats include a themed bucket of popcorn, a 20-ounce bottle of soda, reserved seating in the better sections of the theater, and a special line that enters the theater before the general admission ticket holders. VIP admission is $19, regardless of age.
Is popcorn, soda, and early entry worth $12 extra for your child aged 3 to 11, or $9 extra for adults? You can decide for yourself. The El Capitan snack bar also sells larger themed buckets of popcorn if you must have a themed plastic bucket.
