Jungledyret Hugo is a Danish media franchise created by Flemming Quist Møller from a lullaby he made for his son, it was then later turned into a full-length animated feature, produced at A. Film. The franchise currently consists of two traditionally animated features, an animated television series, books, music album, and a third film animated in CGI
The first two films were translated, edited, and released in the United States on a single DVD in 1998 by Miramax Family. The first movie was released as Go Hugo Go and the second movie was released as Hugo the Movie Star. The third film was released on region 1 DVD on August 12, 2014 under the title "Amazon Jack". A CD-ROM side-scrolling platform game for the PC based on the first movie was also made in 1995 and released in Scandinavia.
Different languages
The original films are known in various locals under different translated names: Jungledyret Hugo in Denmark Jungeldyret in Norway Jungle Jack in France, Netherlands and other countries Skógardýrið Húgó in Iceland おいらフーゴだ (Oira Fūgoda) in Japan Jungle Jack in Czech Republic Jack Iz Džungle in Serbia Jura Iz Džungle in Croatia Dzhungliloom Hugo in Estonia Milý Jack in Slovakia Viidakkovekara Juuso in Finland Hugo das Dschungeltier in Germany Dzsungel Jack in Hungary Hugo ή Ζούνκλα τον Ζον (Hugo i Zoúnkla ton Zóon) in Greece Djungeldjuret Hugo in Sweden Szalony Jack in Poland La grande avventura di Jungle Jack in Italy Jack, Rey del Amazonas in Spain and Mexico Hugo, o tesouro da Amazônia in Brazil Em Directo da Selva in Portugal Hugo the Jungle Animal in Australia, United Kingdom and United States
Films
Jungledyret Hugo (1993) A musical comedy, the first film in the series. It was the first film in Denmark to pioneer the use of CGI backgrounds and digital ink and paint software and costed around 17 million DKK to make. 150 cartoonists were signed on to work on the film for a year.
This film introduces us to Hugo, an apparently one-of-a-kind creature who lives in the Amazon rainforest. Youthful and carefree, Hugo is prone to playing practical jokes with the spider monkeys Zik and Zak. His idyllic lifestyle is interrupted when he is captured by the CEO of a famed movie company, Conrad Cupmann, to be co-star in a Hollywood-style film. In order to return from Copenhagen to his jungle home, he must escape with the help of a newly found friend, Rita the fox.
Miramax Films in partnership with Cinar produced an English dub of the movie titled Go Hugo Go, which featured actor Bronson Pinchot as Hugo. Despite the dub having a 1998 copyright, it was not released until 2005 when it was released straight-to-DVD with its sequel. Echo Bridge Home Entertainment under license from Miramax released the film on DVD separate from its sequel in 2011.
Jungledyret Hugo 2 – den store filmhelt (1996) Still a musical, but more of a drama than the first film, with themes of friendship and loyalty.
The sequel picks up where the first movie left off. Hugo and Rita each tell their friends about how much they miss one another. Meanwhile, the CEO of the movie studio still wants to catch him. His plan is to have Hugo co-star in a film, and then earn much money through merchandising.
The English version titled this film Hugo the Movie Star (or Hugo 2: The Movie Star), an almost literal translation of the Danish title. A montage of the first film was put during Rita's song at the beginning of the film. Two TV networks, TV2, in Denmark, and YLE in Finland, collaborated to make this film. Unlike the 1st film which was done with traditional ink and painted cels, Jungledyret 2 was digitally inked and painted using Toonz with some of the CGI elements being created in Softimage. The film cost $25 million DKK to make.
Jungledyret Hugo 3 – fræk, flabet og fri (2007) The third film continues where the animated series left off, which in turn is a sequel to the second movie. It is a CGI film. The plot again involves Hugo being captured, this time by several competing groups of humans, who are all after Hugo for their own reasons. It was co-produced at Asta Film, Nordisk Film, and A. Film's facilities in Latvia. The film was made on a budget of €3,400,000. It was later released in the United States by Phase 4 Films in 2014 under the title Amazon Jack.
Books
På eventyr med Rita
Hugo and Rita, the jungle animals, are tired of being on the film set. They'd rather go into the jungle and find Hugo's two friends, the monkeys Zik and Zak. They run away together, but finding their way to the jungle proves difficult. It doesn't get any easier when they are caught by a family of wrestlers who want to ransom them. Will the two friends ever make it to the jungle?