The Jungle King

The Jungle King
Directed by	Diane Eskenazi
Written by	Diane Eskenazi (story) Jack Olesker
Produced by	Diane Eskenazi
Starring	Irene Cara
Edited by	Peter Grives
Music by	John Arrias Richard Hurwitz
Production company	Golden Films
Distributed by	Sony Wonder
Release date	June 21, 1994 (1994-06-21) (North America)
Running time	44 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

The Jungle King (also known as: Enchanted Tales: The Jungle King) is a 1994 American animated musical film that was made by Golden Books' film studio, Golden Films and distributed by Sony Wonder.^[1] Diane Eskenazi, who is the founder of Golden Films, was the producer, director and storywriter for the film as she did the same for other animated films made by this studio. It was originally released on VHS in 1994 (same year as Rob Minkoff-directed film in theaters), but it later did see a DVD release in 2003. This animated feature was released in Golden Films' Enchanted Tales collection of films. The style of the film is reminiscent to the cartoons and animated films of the 1970s.

Taking place in the continent between Africa and Asia, the film is about an anthropomorphic lion named King Maximilian III, a grumpy, selfish and obnoxious king who rules the main part of the continent in an unpopular monarchy. He constantly makes preposterous laws and oppresses his subjects, though he is oblivious to how much he is hated by the angry animal citizens, due to how his main servants, the hyena Chancellor (with his beautiful parrot assistant, Ricardo) and gorilla General Glump, constantly flatter and cajole towards him. One of the few cases where Max is astute to political problems is when he inspects his troops on parade and remarks how undisciplined they are. Meanwhile, Max's twin brother, Irwin, who is kind and friendly, wants to make a book about jungle birds, but has made little progress, only having finished illustrating his pet bird, Daphne.

One day, Max falls in love with a young lioness named Leonette and demands to marry her, despite the fact that she hates him as much as the rest of his subjects, even though the rest of her family are encouraging it in order to improve their lot in life. Unfortunately, the Chancellor is also in love with her and plots to take the throne. To this end, he has been doing covert work in another part of the continent that is ruled by Emperor Raj, a tiger. Raj is also autocratic, but seems to be antithetical to Max. Raj is aware of issues and has a well-trained military, but rules over a smaller and poorer kingdom than Max's. They plot to remove King Max and attack his army while they are leaderless. As a result, the Chancellor would become king and Raj would get more land. The next day, Chancellor tricks Max into bathing in the river, where Ricardo gets the attention of humans who then capture Max for the zoo.

Upon learning of Max's capture and the Chancellor's betrayal, General Glump seeks out Irwin and asks for his help. Using his likeness, Irwin poses as Max and manages to fool the Chancellor. During his ruse, he also repeals all of Max's ludicrous laws, thus winning the hearts of the animal citizens, including Leonette. Irwin himself falls in love with her, but she finds out that Irwin is not really the king and rejects him for his lies. The Chancellor also learns of the deception and advises Raj to attack anyway since Irwin does not know how to lead an army. Raj agrees to this, but secretly plans to betray the Chancellor out of distrust.

Having a change of heart of his friendship to the Chancellor, Ricardo seeks out General Glump. Glump manages to save Max from hunter's camp and they both return to find the kingdom under attack by Emperor Raj and his army. The Chancellor runs away after being betrayed and invades Leonette's home where he kidnaps her. The soldiers quickly fall into disarray due to Irwin's ineptitude, but the citizens join the fight to repay his kindness. Upon which, Max realizes how unpopular he was before. Soon enough, Max and Irwin get together and team up to fight back, forcing Raj's army into retreat. Once Raj has been defeated, Irwin rescues Leonette and confronts the Chancellor, who runs away for good after being kicked by the angry Leonette.

The next day, Max bestows medals on those who defended his kingdom. He even offers to share the monarchy with Irwin remarking how a good leader recognizes his wrongdoing. Irwin says all he wants is to go back to his old life and be with Leonette, who has reconciled with him. Max gives his blessing for Irwin and Leonette to marry. Together they return to the jungle to get his book finished, alongside Ricardo and Daphne, who have also fallen in love.

• Irene Cara as Leonette
• Cam Clarke as Ricardo the beautiful Parrot and Emperor Raj
• Townsend Coleman (additional voices)

• Golden Films

• The Jungle King at IMDb