Jungledyret Hugo
Encyclopedia
Jungledyret Hugo is a Danish
media franchise
featuring the cartoon
adventures of an anthropomorphic
mammal
named Hugo. Created by Danish author and filmmaker Flemming Quist Møller and produced at A. Film A/S
, the franchise currently consists of two animated features
, an animated television series, and a third film done in CGI
.
The two feature films were translated, edited, and released in the United States
on a single DVD
in 2005 by Miramax.
comedy
, the first film in the series.
This film introduces us to Hugo, an apparently one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic animal
who lives in a jungle
. Youthful and carefree, Hugo is prone to playing practical jokes on his friends, Zig and Zag the monkeys. His idyllic lifestyle is interrupted when he is captured by CEO of a famed movie company, Conrad Cupmann, to be co-star in a Hollywood-style film. In order to return from Copenhagen
to his jungle home, he must escape with the help of a newly found friend, Rita the fox.
In this film, the animated depiction of Hugo is reminiscent of Don Bluth
's style of animation; other animated films from A. Film A/S
also share this kind of animation, such as Help! I'm a Fish
.
The cat characters featured in the film's appearance is similar to that of the characters from Felidae
.
This feature is listed as Go, Hugo, Go! on the 2005 Miramax release, and is five minutes shorter than its original release.
The sequel
, Jungledyret 2, picks up where the first movie left off. Hugo and Rita each tell their friends about how much they miss one another. Meanwhile, the CEO of the movie studio still wants to catch him. His plan is to have Hugo co-star in a film, and then earn lots of money through merchandising
.
This feature is listed as Hugo the Movie Star on the 2005 Miramax release, an almost literal translation of the Danish title. A recap of the first film was put during Rita's song at the beginning of the film.
, edited edition of the two animated films. Released directly to stores without publicity, the disc has no special features. This release was criticized for its awkward voice acting, altered music, poor translation and some scenes have been cut down or removed.
. The plot again involves Hugo being captured, this time by several competing groups of humans who are all after Hugo for their own reasons.
It begins where the second movie left off, with Hugo and Rita on the train they jumped on near the end of the second movie. Hugo's plan is to return to his jungle with Rita, promising her they can live in peace there. During their journey, General Maximus, ruler of Junglandia, and Hugo's home, hears about Hugo and decides to capture Hugo, whose species is the symbol of Junglandia. Eventually, Hugo and Rita are caught and brought to General Maximus, but the duo manage to escape and they arrive in the jungle. At first, Rita has a hard time adapting to the life in the jungle and all the predators, but with the help from Hugo and his fellow jungle animals she decides to "give it a try".
For a time, Hugo and Rita live in the jungle, but as the rainy season comes, Hugo and Rita end up being flushed out of the jungle, and are once again being hunted by General Maximus. Fortunately, Hugo and Rita find Meatball Charlie, and he manages to get them away from the General. Hugo and Rita then stay with Meatball Charlie for a while, while planning their next move. Eventually they end up working in a circus. There, Hugo and Rita meet a tomte
, who promises that in return for Hugo and Rita helping him to the North Pole and the Tomte king's castle, he will teach them how to be invisible. Rita is sceptical about the tomte's magic, but Hugo convinces her that if they could learn how to be invisible, no one could catch them again.
Eventually, they make it to the North Pole, but Hugo and Rita are left behind in the blizzard, as the tomte leaves. As they fall asleep, Hugo and Rita are once again caught, this time by scientists that believe Hugo is a unknown arctic animal. Thanks to help from Meatball Charlie, Hugo and Rita manage to escape the research facility, and General Maximus, who was one again back on Hugo's track. Meatball Charlie then decides that in order to keep Hugo safe from people hunting him, he buys a house on an island in the middle of a lake in Denmark where Hugo, Rita and himself, can live in peace and freedom. There, Hugo and Rita chose to stay, with Meatball Charlie acting as their "guardian", up until the third film.
13 episodes of 24 minutes were produced, and originally aired 2002-2003.
. The following character names are from the Miramax Family DVD
.
Hugo is a young, rare, apparently unique, fictional mammal of the previously unknown species Hugus Primiticus. His parents are never mentioned. He looks something like a living teddy bear
, and has yellow fur
. In the second film, he mentions to a pig that he only has a summer coat.
He has prehensile (grasping) hands, each with three fingers and a thumb. He has large, fuzzy ears, and human-like feet with four toes. He is bipedal, though he can run in a quadrupedal manner for speed. He can use tools such as levers and skateboards, and can outwit other animals, such as snakes, cats, and squirrels. He is noted for his cleverness, his kind heart, his love of food, his bragging, his mischievousness, and the occasional bout of childish selfishness. He eats mostly fruits and loves bananas.
In the original Danish release, Hugo was voiced by Jesper Klein. On the 2005 Miramax release, Hugo was voiced by Bronson Pinchot
, probably best known in the United States for his role as Balki Bartokomous
on the sitcom Perfect Strangers
.
Rita is an adolescent red fox
who befriends Hugo on the streets of Copenhagen
. She and Hugo quickly become best friends
. She's kind, streetwise, spunky and has a decent amount of common sense, unlike Hugo who is rather impulsive. She lived with her mother and her two younger brothers and sister in a den near some railroad tracks, until the second movie where she escaped alongside Hugo from Cupmann. Her father is never mentioned. A romance between Hugo and Rita is hinted and even implied on the first two films, but the later animated series and third film dimmed down this element to the point where it was only mention on a few occasions.
In the original Danish production, Rita was voiced by Kaya Brüel. On the 2005 Miramax release, Rita was voiced by Holly Gauthier-Frankel
.
Charlie is the cook aboard the cargo ship
that transports Hugo to Copenhagen. He finds Hugo, who has escaped the cargo hold, and at the end of the voyage, donates him to the city zoo
. He appears toward the end of the first film, and is not present in the second. Though, in the animated series, he appears once again, helping Hugo and Rita on numerous occasions, and in the third film he makes several appearances, nearly coming off as part of the main character cast. Hugo mentions that Meatball Charlie is probably his and Rita's only "human" friend.
In the original Danish production, Meatball Charlie is named Dellekaj (a mixture of "Delle" which is slang
for frikadelle, a special kind of Danish meatball and Kaj which is a common Danish name) and was voiced by Jesper Klein who also voices Hugo. On the 2005 Miramax release, Charlie was voiced by Marcel Jeannin.
Conrad is the main antagonist in both films. He owns a movie studio in Copenhagen
, and dreams of making lots of money. He is morally
bankrupt, willing to slash and burn
the jungle to capture Hugo. His first relationship started off with Izabella Dehavalot, but rejected her wishes and left her when Hugo manages to escape Copenhagen in the first film. His second relationship is with Barbie Turner, but instead, he is rejected by her, since she did not want him hurting Hugo. On the 2005 Miramax release, Conrad was voiced by Mark Camacho
.
Generalissimo Maximillion Maximus, or better known as General Maximus is one of the series most recurrent major antagonists. He is the ruler of the recently founded fictional nation Junglandia, the country where Hugo originates from.
The symbol of Junglelandia, is General Maximus' coat of arms, which depicts the same species as Hugo, and since Hugo is the rarest animal in the world, are General Maximus seeking Hugo, both to have him as a symbol of the nation, and in order to gain a world famous reputation. He has a low moral, promising a great reward to the ones who gets Hugo, but he will not always keep his promises, either cheating them, or will later break his promises, and displays a ruthless determination in order to capture him.
Izabella is a black-haired starlet with a sharp figure. She is also the wife of Conrad Cupmann during the first film. Her goal is to gain notoriety through the exploitation of an animal co-star; she cites several fictional actors, and then her "good friend Michael
" and his chimp
. Upon the discovery of Hugo, Izabella brightens at the idea of using him as her co-star and stops at nothing to capture him. Conrad divorced her in the time span between the two films, after she becomes obsessed to the point of madness over capturing Hugo. In all European versions she is called Izabella Scorpio. On the 2005 Miramax release, Izabella was voiced by Susan Glover
.
Barbie is a stereotypical dumb blonde
, and in the second film is Cupmann Studio's new starlet. It is also implied that she is Conrad's lover. She often chews bubble gum, even on the sound stage
. In original version her name is Sensuella. On the 2005 Miramax release, Barbie was voiced by Jennifer Seguin.
Loongkoffer is an animal psychologist hired by Conrad to tame
Hugo. His role is reminiscent of Animaniacs
' Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, whose job was to civilize the Warner siblings
. On the 2005 Miramax release, Loongkoffer was voiced by Arthur Grosser
.
A small jungle dog pup that Hugo and Rita encounter in the third movie. Rita discovers the pup when she hides in a hollow log near the Jungle Dog's nest area. The pup mistakes Rita for its mother and Rita (presuming the pup was abandoned by its real mother) takes it under her wing. Before the movie's release, some fans mistook the pup to be Hugo and Rita's child.
In the first film, when Hugo is sleeping on a ship, a calendar above him displays a picture of a naked woman. The image was blurred in the Miramax dub. A scene where Hugo is shocked three times by telephone wires and climbs up a brick wall to find, through a window, a man changing channels on a television was cut from the dub. The dub also toned down the original's language and removed some of Izabella's racial remarks about an Indian character, and the scene near the end of the film when Izabella becomes insane with her obsession was cut.
In the second film, most edits were limited to dialogue alterations, but two scenes where Conrad is seen grabbing the buttocks of Sensuella/Barbie Turner were cut.
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
media franchise
Media franchise
A media franchise is an intellectual property involving the characters, setting and trademarks of an original work of media , such as a film, a work of literature, a television program or a video game. Generally, a whole series is made in a particular medium, along with merchandising and endorsements...
featuring the cartoon
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
adventures of an anthropomorphic
Funny animal
Funny animal is a cartooning term for the genre of comics and animated cartoons in which the main characters are humanoid or talking animals, with anthropomorphic personality traits. The characters themselves may also be called funny animals...
mammal
Mammal
Mammals are members of a class of air-breathing vertebrate animals characterised by the possession of endothermy, hair, three middle ear bones, and mammary glands functional in mothers with young...
named Hugo. Created by Danish author and filmmaker Flemming Quist Møller and produced at A. Film A/S
A. Film A/S
A. Film A/S is a Danish animation studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It produces traditional and CGI animation for feature films, television, advertising and games...
, the franchise currently consists of two animated features
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
, an animated television series, and a third film done in CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
.
The two feature films were translated, edited, and released in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
on a single DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
in 2005 by Miramax.
The Films
The original films are known in various locales under different translated names, including Jungledyret, Jungledyret Hugo, Skógardýrið Húgó, Amazon Jack, Jungle Jack, Go Hugo Go, Hugo the Movie Star, Jungo, and recently seen as "Hugo" and "Hugo II". The final film's original title is "Fræk Flabet og fri" which translates to "Frank, cheeky, and free".Jungledyret (1993)
A musicalMusical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, the first film in the series.
This film introduces us to Hugo, an apparently one-of-a-kind anthropomorphic animal
Animal
Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and...
who lives in a jungle
Jungle
A Jungle is an area of land in the tropics overgrown with dense vegetation.The word jungle originates from the Sanskrit word jangala which referred to uncultivated land. Although the Sanskrit word refers to "dry land", it has been suggested that an Anglo-Indian interpretation led to its...
. Youthful and carefree, Hugo is prone to playing practical jokes on his friends, Zig and Zag the monkeys. His idyllic lifestyle is interrupted when he is captured by CEO of a famed movie company, Conrad Cupmann, to be co-star in a Hollywood-style film. In order to return from Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
to his jungle home, he must escape with the help of a newly found friend, Rita the fox.
In this film, the animated depiction of Hugo is reminiscent of Don Bluth
Don Bluth
Donald Virgil "Don" Bluth is an American animator and independent studio owner. He is best known for his departure from The Walt Disney Company in 1979 and his subsequent directing of animated films such as The Secret of NIMH , An American Tail ,The Land Before Time , and All Dogs Go to Heaven ,...
's style of animation; other animated films from A. Film A/S
A. Film A/S
A. Film A/S is a Danish animation studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark. It produces traditional and CGI animation for feature films, television, advertising and games...
also share this kind of animation, such as Help! I'm a Fish
Help! I'm a Fish
Help! I'm a Fish is a 2001 Danish animated film directed by Stefan Fjeldmark and Michael Hegner.Unlike some European animation, this film was recorded and animated in the English language to increase international distribution...
.
The cat characters featured in the film's appearance is similar to that of the characters from Felidae
Felidae (film)
Felidae is a 1994 German animated mystery directed by Michael Schaack, written by Martin Kluger, Stefaan Schieder and Akif Pirinçci based on the novel Felidae, produced by Trickompany, and starring Ulrich Tukur, Mario Adorf and Klaus Maria Brandauer. The famed nightmare sequence was directed,...
.
This feature is listed as Go, Hugo, Go! on the 2005 Miramax release, and is five minutes shorter than its original release.
Jungledyret 2 - den store filmhelt (1996)
Still a musical, but more of a drama than the first film, with themes of friendship and loyalty. It was the first film in Denmark ever to pioneer and use digital animation software which was provided by the uncredited additional animators, Bill Waldman, Ann Telnaes, Jean Morel (who re-designed Rita's mother), Kevin Richardson & Steven Wahl.The sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, Jungledyret 2, picks up where the first movie left off. Hugo and Rita each tell their friends about how much they miss one another. Meanwhile, the CEO of the movie studio still wants to catch him. His plan is to have Hugo co-star in a film, and then earn lots of money through merchandising
Merchandising
Merchandising is the methods, practices, and operations used to promote and sustain certain categories of commercial activity. In the broadest sense, merchandising is any practice which contributes to the sale of products to a retail consumer...
.
This feature is listed as Hugo the Movie Star on the 2005 Miramax release, an almost literal translation of the Danish title. A recap of the first film was put during Rita's song at the beginning of the film.
2005 Miramax Release (United States)
In 2005, Miramax Family released a translatedTranslation
Translation is the communication of the meaning of a source-language text by means of an equivalent target-language text. Whereas interpreting undoubtedly antedates writing, translation began only after the appearance of written literature; there exist partial translations of the Sumerian Epic of...
, edited edition of the two animated films. Released directly to stores without publicity, the disc has no special features. This release was criticized for its awkward voice acting, altered music, poor translation and some scenes have been cut down or removed.
Jungledyret 3 - Fræk Flabet og fri (2007)
The third film continues where the animated series left off, which in turn is a sequel to the second movie. It is a CGI filmComputer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
. The plot again involves Hugo being captured, this time by several competing groups of humans who are all after Hugo for their own reasons.
The animated series
In 2002, the franchise was made into an animated TV-series. It follows the adventures of Hugo and Rita, as they search for a home for the two of them, where they can live in peace and away from any humans that are trying to catch Hugo.It begins where the second movie left off, with Hugo and Rita on the train they jumped on near the end of the second movie. Hugo's plan is to return to his jungle with Rita, promising her they can live in peace there. During their journey, General Maximus, ruler of Junglandia, and Hugo's home, hears about Hugo and decides to capture Hugo, whose species is the symbol of Junglandia. Eventually, Hugo and Rita are caught and brought to General Maximus, but the duo manage to escape and they arrive in the jungle. At first, Rita has a hard time adapting to the life in the jungle and all the predators, but with the help from Hugo and his fellow jungle animals she decides to "give it a try".
For a time, Hugo and Rita live in the jungle, but as the rainy season comes, Hugo and Rita end up being flushed out of the jungle, and are once again being hunted by General Maximus. Fortunately, Hugo and Rita find Meatball Charlie, and he manages to get them away from the General. Hugo and Rita then stay with Meatball Charlie for a while, while planning their next move. Eventually they end up working in a circus. There, Hugo and Rita meet a tomte
Tomte
A tomte , nisse or tonttu is a mythical creature of Scandinavian folklore. The tomte or nisse was believed to take care of a farmer's home and children and protect them from misfortune, in particular at night, when the housefolk were asleep...
, who promises that in return for Hugo and Rita helping him to the North Pole and the Tomte king's castle, he will teach them how to be invisible. Rita is sceptical about the tomte's magic, but Hugo convinces her that if they could learn how to be invisible, no one could catch them again.
Eventually, they make it to the North Pole, but Hugo and Rita are left behind in the blizzard, as the tomte leaves. As they fall asleep, Hugo and Rita are once again caught, this time by scientists that believe Hugo is a unknown arctic animal. Thanks to help from Meatball Charlie, Hugo and Rita manage to escape the research facility, and General Maximus, who was one again back on Hugo's track. Meatball Charlie then decides that in order to keep Hugo safe from people hunting him, he buys a house on an island in the middle of a lake in Denmark where Hugo, Rita and himself, can live in peace and freedom. There, Hugo and Rita chose to stay, with Meatball Charlie acting as their "guardian", up until the third film.
13 episodes of 24 minutes were produced, and originally aired 2002-2003.
The Characters
In the Jungledyret films, many animals talk to each other, but humans can't understand them. This is a standard conceit, seen in such films as BaltoBalto (film)
Balto is a 1995 American animated comedy-drama film directed by Simon Wells and produced by Amblimation, and the first of the overall trilogy. The film is based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome...
. The following character names are from the Miramax Family DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
- Hugo
Hugo is a young, rare, apparently unique, fictional mammal of the previously unknown species Hugus Primiticus. His parents are never mentioned. He looks something like a living teddy bear
Teddy bear
The teddy bear is a stuffed toy bear. They are usually stuffed with soft, white cotton and have smooth and soft fur. It is an enduring form of a stuffed animal in many countries, often serving the purpose of entertaining children. In recent times, some teddy bears have become collector's items...
, and has yellow fur
Fur
Fur is a synonym for hair, used more in reference to non-human animals, usually mammals; particularly those with extensives body hair coverage. The term is sometimes used to refer to the body hair of an animal as a complete coat, also known as the "pelage". Fur is also used to refer to animal...
. In the second film, he mentions to a pig that he only has a summer coat.
He has prehensile (grasping) hands, each with three fingers and a thumb. He has large, fuzzy ears, and human-like feet with four toes. He is bipedal, though he can run in a quadrupedal manner for speed. He can use tools such as levers and skateboards, and can outwit other animals, such as snakes, cats, and squirrels. He is noted for his cleverness, his kind heart, his love of food, his bragging, his mischievousness, and the occasional bout of childish selfishness. He eats mostly fruits and loves bananas.
In the original Danish release, Hugo was voiced by Jesper Klein. On the 2005 Miramax release, Hugo was voiced by Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Pinchot
Bronson Alcott Pinchot is an American actor. He has appeared in several feature films, including Risky Business, Beverly Hills Cop , The First Wives Club, True Romance, Courage Under Fire and It's My Party...
, probably best known in the United States for his role as Balki Bartokomous
Balki Bartokomous
Balki Bartokomous is a fictional character on the television sitcom Perfect Strangers, played by Bronson Pinchot. Balki is from the island of Mypos, a fictional country in the Mediterranean Sea.- Character history :...
on the sitcom Perfect Strangers
Perfect Strangers (TV series)
Perfect Strangers is an American sitcom that ran for eight seasons from March 25, 1986, to August 6, 1993, on the ABC television network. Created by Dale McRaven, the series chronicles the rocky coexistence of midwestern American Larry Appleton and his distant cousin from eastern Mediterranean...
.
- Rita the fox
Rita is an adolescent red fox
Red Fox
The red fox is the largest of the true foxes, as well as being the most geographically spread member of the Carnivora, being distributed across the entire northern hemisphere from the Arctic Circle to North Africa, Central America, and the steppes of Asia...
who befriends Hugo on the streets of Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
. She and Hugo quickly become best friends
Best Friends
Best Friends is a children's novel by Jacqueline Wilson, first published in 2004.-Plot:Gemma and Alice have known each other all their lives, but when Gemma reads Alice's diary at a sleepover, it eventually leads her to discover Alice is moving....
. She's kind, streetwise, spunky and has a decent amount of common sense, unlike Hugo who is rather impulsive. She lived with her mother and her two younger brothers and sister in a den near some railroad tracks, until the second movie where she escaped alongside Hugo from Cupmann. Her father is never mentioned. A romance between Hugo and Rita is hinted and even implied on the first two films, but the later animated series and third film dimmed down this element to the point where it was only mention on a few occasions.
In the original Danish production, Rita was voiced by Kaya Brüel. On the 2005 Miramax release, Rita was voiced by Holly Gauthier-Frankel
Holly Gauthier-Frankel
Holly Gauthier-Frankel is a Canadian voice actress, singer, and Burlesque dancer. She is the daughter of Ron Frankel and Mary Lou Gauthier. Holly is best known for supplying the voice of Fern in Arthur, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Teri in What's with Andy?, Loulou in Wimzie's House, and Flora...
.
- Meatball Charlie
Charlie is the cook aboard the cargo ship
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
that transports Hugo to Copenhagen. He finds Hugo, who has escaped the cargo hold, and at the end of the voyage, donates him to the city zoo
Zoo
A zoological garden, zoological park, menagerie, or zoo is a facility in which animals are confined within enclosures, displayed to the public, and in which they may also be bred....
. He appears toward the end of the first film, and is not present in the second. Though, in the animated series, he appears once again, helping Hugo and Rita on numerous occasions, and in the third film he makes several appearances, nearly coming off as part of the main character cast. Hugo mentions that Meatball Charlie is probably his and Rita's only "human" friend.
In the original Danish production, Meatball Charlie is named Dellekaj (a mixture of "Delle" which is slang
Slang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
for frikadelle, a special kind of Danish meatball and Kaj which is a common Danish name) and was voiced by Jesper Klein who also voices Hugo. On the 2005 Miramax release, Charlie was voiced by Marcel Jeannin.
- Conrad Cupmann
Conrad is the main antagonist in both films. He owns a movie studio in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, and dreams of making lots of money. He is morally
Morality
Morality is the differentiation among intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good and bad . A moral code is a system of morality and a moral is any one practice or teaching within a moral code...
bankrupt, willing to slash and burn
Slash and burn
Slash-and-burn is an agricultural technique which involves cutting and burning of forests or woodlands to create fields. It is subsistence agriculture that typically uses little technology or other tools. It is typically part of shifting cultivation agriculture, and of transhumance livestock...
the jungle to capture Hugo. His first relationship started off with Izabella Dehavalot, but rejected her wishes and left her when Hugo manages to escape Copenhagen in the first film. His second relationship is with Barbie Turner, but instead, he is rejected by her, since she did not want him hurting Hugo. On the 2005 Miramax release, Conrad was voiced by Mark Camacho
Mark Camacho
Mark Camacho is a Canadian actor who has starred in many films, and more notably, some voice acting roles, such as Oliver Frensky in Arthur, Lyle in Animal Crackers, Dad in Rotten Ralph, Harry and Dragon in Potatoes and Dragons, Spritz T...
.
- Generalissimo Maximillion Maximus
Generalissimo Maximillion Maximus, or better known as General Maximus is one of the series most recurrent major antagonists. He is the ruler of the recently founded fictional nation Junglandia, the country where Hugo originates from.
The symbol of Junglelandia, is General Maximus' coat of arms, which depicts the same species as Hugo, and since Hugo is the rarest animal in the world, are General Maximus seeking Hugo, both to have him as a symbol of the nation, and in order to gain a world famous reputation. He has a low moral, promising a great reward to the ones who gets Hugo, but he will not always keep his promises, either cheating them, or will later break his promises, and displays a ruthless determination in order to capture him.
- Izabella Dehavalot
Izabella is a black-haired starlet with a sharp figure. She is also the wife of Conrad Cupmann during the first film. Her goal is to gain notoriety through the exploitation of an animal co-star; she cites several fictional actors, and then her "good friend Michael
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
" and his chimp
Bubbles (chimpanzee)
Bubbles is a common chimpanzee, known for being the one-time pet of American recording artist Michael Jackson. The entertainer adopted the young primate from a Texas research facility in the early 1980s. The singer's attachment to the animal led to media mockery and, among other factors, to a...
. Upon the discovery of Hugo, Izabella brightens at the idea of using him as her co-star and stops at nothing to capture him. Conrad divorced her in the time span between the two films, after she becomes obsessed to the point of madness over capturing Hugo. In all European versions she is called Izabella Scorpio. On the 2005 Miramax release, Izabella was voiced by Susan Glover
Susan Glover
Susan Glover is a Canadian actress, best known for playing Sarah in Naked Josh. She is also known for voicing Miss Woods in Arthur, Izabella Dehavalot in Amazon Jack, Mrs...
.
- Barbie Turner (Miss Sensuella)
Barbie is a stereotypical dumb blonde
Dumb blonde
The blonde stereotype, the stereotypical perception of blond-haired women, has two aspects. On one hand, over the history, blonde hair in women has been considered attractive and desirable...
, and in the second film is Cupmann Studio's new starlet. It is also implied that she is Conrad's lover. She often chews bubble gum, even on the sound stage
Sound stage
In common usage, a sound stage is a soundproof, hangar-like structure, building, or room, used for the production of theatrical filmmaking and television production, usually located on a secure movie studio property.-Overview:...
. In original version her name is Sensuella. On the 2005 Miramax release, Barbie was voiced by Jennifer Seguin.
- Doctor Loongkoffer
Loongkoffer is an animal psychologist hired by Conrad to tame
Domestication
Domestication or taming is the process whereby a population of animals or plants, through a process of selection, becomes accustomed to human provision and control. In the Convention on Biological Diversity a domesticated species is defined as a 'species in which the evolutionary process has been...
Hugo. His role is reminiscent of Animaniacs
Animaniacs
Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
' Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, whose job was to civilize the Warner siblings
Yakko, Wakko, and Dot
Yakko, Wakko and Dot Warner, also known as "The Warner Brothers " or "The Warner Siblings", or just simply "The Warners", are the three titular cartoon characters featured on the animated series Animaniacs. The trio of red-nosed Warner siblings were considered to be the stars of the ensemble of...
. On the 2005 Miramax release, Loongkoffer was voiced by Arthur Grosser
Arthur Grosser
Arthur Grosser is an actor who also works as a physical chemistry professor at McGill University, Montreal. He has done a lot of voice acting work in several animated series as well as in video games such as Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed.-Filmography:...
.
- The Jungle Dog
A small jungle dog pup that Hugo and Rita encounter in the third movie. Rita discovers the pup when she hides in a hollow log near the Jungle Dog's nest area. The pup mistakes Rita for its mother and Rita (presuming the pup was abandoned by its real mother) takes it under her wing. Before the movie's release, some fans mistook the pup to be Hugo and Rita's child.
Censorship and Content issues
The films have some content which might make viewers in the United States disgusted and offended.In the first film, when Hugo is sleeping on a ship, a calendar above him displays a picture of a naked woman. The image was blurred in the Miramax dub. A scene where Hugo is shocked three times by telephone wires and climbs up a brick wall to find, through a window, a man changing channels on a television was cut from the dub. The dub also toned down the original's language and removed some of Izabella's racial remarks about an Indian character, and the scene near the end of the film when Izabella becomes insane with her obsession was cut.
In the second film, most edits were limited to dialogue alterations, but two scenes where Conrad is seen grabbing the buttocks of Sensuella/Barbie Turner were cut.
External links
- Jungledyret.dk Official site
- A Film, home studio of Jungledyret Hugo
- Flemming Quist Møller Director and head writer
- Teaser Trailer to the 3rd Movie
- UltimateDisney DVD Review of first two films by Aaron Wallace