Jungledyret Hugo
A Danish franchise about a unique jungle creature.
Jungledyret Hugo, which means "Hugo the Jungle Animal" in Danish, is a franchise from Denmark created by Flemming Quist Møller. It began as a lullaby he wrote for his son. The franchise has two hand-drawn animated films, a TV series, books, a music album, and a third computer-animated movie. In 1998, Miramax Family released the first two films together on one DVD in the U.S.
Quick Facts
- Creator
- Flemming Quist Møller
- Origin
- Jungledyret (1993)
- Owner
- Egmont Group
- Years
- 1993–2007
- Vgs
- Jungledyret Hugo (1995)
Facts from the source article.
Characters
In the Jungledyret series, many animals talk to each other, but humans cannot understand them. Hugo is the only known surviving member of the koala-like species Hugus primiticus. He is bipedal but can run quadrupedally for speed, uses tools such as levers and skateboards, and outwits humans and animals like snakes, cats, pigs, squirrels, and foxes. His personality is sly, childish, selfish, gluttonous, and smug. He eats mostly fruits, loves bananas, and is omnivorous, eating meatballs. His most feared predator is humanity, except for Meatball Charlie. Hugo was voiced by Jesper Klein in Danish, with singing by Mek Pek, and by Bronson Pinchot in the Miramax dub. Rita is a young red fox who befriends Hugo in Copenhagen. She is kind, streetwise, spunky, and has common sense, unlike the impulsive Hugo. She lived with her mother, two little brothers, and one little sister near railroad tracks until the second film, where Hugo drags her along while escaping Cupmann. Her father is never mentioned. A romance between Hugo and Rita is hinted in the first film and made sexually suggestive in the second, but the animated series and third film minimized this element. Rita was voiced by Kaya Brüel in Danish and Holly Gauthier-Frankel in the Miramax dub. Meatball Charlie is the cook aboard the cargo ship that transports Hugo to Copenhagen. He finds Hugo, donates him to the city zoo, appears toward the end of the first film, and is absent from the second. In the animated series he helps Hugo and Rita, and in the third film he appears several times, nearly becoming part of the main cast. Hugo considers Charlie his and Rita's only human friend. In Danish, Charlie is named Dellekaj, voiced by Jesper Klein, and in the Miramax dub by Marcel Jeannin.
Films
The first film is a musical comedy and the first in Denmark to pioneer CGI backgrounds and digital ink and paint software, costing 17 million DKK. 150 cartoonists worked on it for a year. It introduces Hugo, a one-of-a-kind creature in the Amazon rainforest who plays pranks with spider monkeys Zik and Zak. He is captured by Conrad Cupmann, CEO of a movie company, to co-star in a Hollywood-style film. To return from Copenhagen to his jungle home, he escapes with help from Rita the fox. Miramax Films and Cinar produced an English dub titled Go Hugo Go, with Bronson Pinchot as Hugo. Though copyrighted 1998, it was not released until 2005 on straight-to-DVD with its sequel. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment released it separately in 2011. The second film is a musical drama with themes of friendship and loyalty, picking up where the first left off. Hugo and Rita miss each other, while the film studio CEO still wants to catch Hugo to co-star in a film and earn money through merchandising. The English version is titled Hugo the Movie Star. A montage of the first film appears during Rita's song. TV2 in Denmark and YLE in Finland collaborated on this film. Unlike the first, it was digitally inked and painted using Toonz, with CGI elements in Softimage, costing 25 million DKK. The third film continues from the 2002 animated series, which was a sequel to the second film. It is CGI, with Hugo captured by several competing human groups. It was co-produced at Asta Film, Nordisk Film, and A. Film's facilities in Latvia, on a budget of €3,400,000. Phase 4 Films released it in the United States in 2014 as Amazon Jack.
More in Animated Film Series
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced