The levels of desperation reached by the makers of this weak sequel can be gauged by the amount of times the song Bare Necessities is wheeled out.

Not once, not twice but three times is the Oscar-nominated ditty from the 36-year-old original dusted off to inject some much needed pzazz into proceedings.

It's the rule rather than the exception that every one of Disney's sequels to the cartoon classics has been vastly inferior to the first version.

However, the attraction of familiar characters as strong as those of Mowgli, Baloo and the gang makes the lure irresistible to the money men.

It all looks very nice - the animation is of the usual high standard and the voices, particularly Goodman as Baloo, are well up to the mark.

But the introduction of new characters - Shanti and Ranjan - renders the narrative mix a stodgy mess and smacks of mercenary cynicism.

Jungle girl Shanti is the love interest and baby stepbrother Ranjan basically functions as the naive man-cub of old.

Mowgli (Osment) is living in he secure comfort of a village while his old friends Baloo and wise panther Bagheera pine for him in the jungle.

However, man-eating tiger Shere Khan also bides his time, bent on revenge for the humiliation visited on him by the young Mowgli.

Periphery characters include the vultures, originally created as a Beatles tribute but now dominated by Lucky (voiced by Phil Collins, who shows he's just as irritating in character as out).

The diluted result has all the feel of a Jungle Pamphlet rather than Book and the final insult is a rocked-up version of I Wanna Be Like You.

If the original was good enough for three decades of whippersnappers then why the decision to make a sequel now?

Tim Evans