Michael Cromwell (Tim Allen) is successful in the world of New York commodities trading. He plans to marry high fashion high maintenance girlfriend Charlotte (Lolita Davidovich) but first, he must get a divorce from his estranged wife Patricia (JoBeth Williams). Patricia is presently living with natives in the jungle and she shocks him by revealing that they had a son in 13-year-old Mimi-Siku (Sam Huntington). He reluctantly allows Mimi-Siku to go back to NY with him. It's a tough transition especially with the boy's pet spider. The kid falls for Michael's high strung co-worker Richard Kempster (Martin Short)'s daughter (Leelee Sobieski).

I like nobody and they are all annoying to some degree. The worst is Short but his wackiness is not unexpected. By himself, he could be written off as a bad sidekick. The problem is that Michael is unlikeable and sadly the kid is not much better. While the dad's idiocy fits the premise, it's the boy who is the most disappointing. He should be a likeable fish out of water character. He could have a nice puppy love romance with Karen as she teaches him the ways of the city and he teaches her the nobility of jungle living. Instead, he's more of a brat especially with his pet spider and he does it all with that goofy smile. I don't like the coffee trade subplot. I don't know anything about the French original but it sounds even worst. This is misguided at its core.

During his success in the sitcom Home Improvement, Tim Allen's only good movie appearance was as Buzz Lightyear in Toy Story, not even The Santa Clause made the biggest impact in Britain, so this was his next attempt, from director John Pasquin (The Santa Clause). Basically Michael Cromwell (Allen) is to be married to his new girlfriend, but first he needs to divorce from his separated wife Patricia (JoBeth Williams),living in Venezuela. So he travels there to settle things, but he instead discovers he has a 13-year-old son, raised by the local tribe and named Mimi-Siku (introducing Not Another Teen Movie's Ox, Sam Huntington). Michael inadvertently makes Mimi a promise to go to the Statue of Liberty, and bring back its fire (?),so he takes him back with him to New York. What follows is obviously lots of slapstick gags relating to Mimi's upbringing, so peeing in pots, having a pet tarantula, eating weird foods, etc, all making himself or Michael look strange. It takes a while for Michael to get used to having a son, especially with all the background Mimi has, but he is obviously very sad when he has to go back home, but not before giving him the flame of Liberty (a miniature Liberty, a lighter with the torch as the flame, cute),and he does show up back in Venezuela for a little while. Also starring Martin Short as Richard Kempster, Lolita Davidovich as Charlotte, David Ogden Stiers as Alexei Jovanovic, Valerie Mahaffey as Jan Kempster, Leelee Sobieski as Karen Kempster and Frankie J. Galasso as Andrew Kempster. Allen doesn't do too bad, young Huntington adds most of the quite light but still affective jokes, not a bad family film. Worth watching!

You have to give credit to the Disney regime circa 1997 for their bravado: they took a critically-lambasted French farce from 1995 called "Little Indian Big City" and remade it with their number one television star in the lead. Although "Jungle 2 Jungle" features the typically high Disney production standards, it's offensive and disastrous. Tim Allen just coasts through playing commodities broker in New York City who tracks down his estranged wife to the Amazon jungle; there, he finds for the first time he has fathered a son. Fish-out-of-water nonsense is well-produced, but loud, irritating and hammy, with screaming actors bellowing at the camera (Martin Short and Bob Dishy are the worst offenders). Kids might enjoy some of the one-liners and sight-gags, but the film has practically nil adult appeal. * from ****