Line #2 Headscratchers/TheJungleBook2


1	* How can Shanti and Ranjan immediately understand the animals?
2	** Is there ever any sign that the animals aren't speaking straight English? (Or the native lanuage they would speak in this time and place?) In the original film, Mowgli ''was'' able to understand Shanti when he heard her singing, even though he's been raised by animals all his life. Matter of fact, so were Bagheera and Baloo.
3	** Or Mowgli might have taught Shanti and Ranjan some of his knowledge of the animal languages while he was in the village. In the book, Mowgli learned the calls of different animals so that he could ask them for help when the need arose. Maybe he figured it would be helpful for the villagers to know those same calls.
4	* Where was King Louie supposed to be during the sequel? We see his ancient city and many of his old henchmen, but Louie is nowhere to be seen. The real reason for this was because of issues Disney faced with Louis Prima's widow over her late husband's voice, but what is the in-story reason? All we hear is that he apparently left his old ruins.
5	** Hard to say... all Baloo says is that "he's Splitsville" without going into too many details. We do know he wasn't content with where he was, so perhaps he left in order to discover the secret of fire from a more reliable source than Mowgli... or maybe the monkeys just got tired of his obsession with becoming human and threw him out. Since none of them seems particularly interested in Mowgli this time around, either is possible.
6	* Related to the above, but how did the Ancient Ruins get rebuilt despite crumbling to rubble in the original film? These jungle animals obviously have no experience with construction.
7	** I don't recall the entire temple being destroyed in the first film. It looked more like only one section of it crumbled.
8	* Other than the out-of-universe explanation of "childrens film", why did Shere Khan let Lucky live?
9	** Do we know for sure that he did let him live and not that Lucky somehow lived up to his name by escaping somehow?
10	** Maybe Lucky was simply knocked out from the brutal attack?
11	* Do Mowgli and Shanti like each other romantically? If so, then why wasn't it more explicit?
12	** If by "explicit" you mean kissing and stuff like that, they didn't do that because they're only preteens. As such they are still too young to be comfortable with physical expression of love other than maybe a hug, hand-holding and a kiss on the cheek. But to answer your first question, the movie does indeed make it clear that they have mutual romantic feelings for each other. In the beginning they start flirting when they recall the day they first met right after Mowgli openly admitted that her beauty is what enamored him in the first film. Moments later, Shanti bids Mowgli goodnight in a very flirtatious tone of voice while batting her eyes at him as she knows that her eyes are special to him. In a later scene, Ranjan asks Shanti if she likes Mowgli and she responds that she does but when she turns around and sees Mowgli overheard her she blushes in embarrassment. But most importantly, Shanti forced herself out of her comfort zone and prepared to face her worst fears by going into the jungle to look for Mowgli. And while in the jungle, Mowgli is unable to stop thinking about Shanti. I think the movie makes it explicit enough that they love each other romantically.
13	* Why does Shanti deny her feelings for Mowgli even though she flirts with him in the beginning, Mowgli has no problem with admitting his feelings for her and their families are supportive of their relationship?
14	** It's revealed that Shanti tends to deny her true feelings for Mowgli when she is around other people, fearing it would make her a subject of mockery, despite the fact that her family, Mowgli's family and apparently all the village children are supportive of them.

Context Headscratchers / TheJungleBook2