studioAT

Made very much during the era of the Disney 'cheap-quel' where the studio cashed in royally on fans love of classic films by producing sequels to them belatedly, 'The Jungle Book 2' is not bad...but it's certainly not good.

Kipling did do sequels to the original, so it's strange that Disney opted to come up with their own plot rather than use one of them.

What we get is a re-telling largely of the original film, with some twists along the way. We get sound-a-likes for the original characters (I wish they'd stop using John Goodman - he's Sulley, he sounds like Sulley, not Baloo) and a very similar ending.

So what really was the point?

Look, there are positives here.

The animation style is nice, it's a good return to the old days of 'celeb' cameos ala 'The New Scooby Doo Movies' back in the day.

Unfortunately for us here in the UK some of the celeb cameos are either so unknown or so obscure that they don't travel well internationally.

It's still a nice and at times entertaining version of a 'Scooby-Doo' show, but when you don't understand who the celeb is and why they are funny/entertaining, the whole thing tends to go a bit flat.

For me it's a hurdle that this show can't ever really get over.

It's a middling 'Scooby' show overall.

Underneath all the quippy dialogue and the ever endearing Ally McBeal, this show does have a dark and overly sexual side to it, which for me is offputting.

It is nice however to see Lucy Liu in particular play something a bit different to the roles I associate her with, but other than that, I can't say I found much to enjoy here.

It's a shame - separate from each other, I like the cast, but there is that darkness that seems to cloud proceedings which really isn't my cup of tea.

I'd actually prefer a shift back to Ally McBeal being a little more boy crazy.

Overall, ok and nothing more sadly.