Abandoning the electronics that dominated his work during the early '90s,
Basil Poledouris returns to his symphonic roots for 1994's live-action adaptation of
Rudyard Kipling's classic The Jungle Book, a surprisingly tepid and mannered effort with few of the exotic accents one might expect given the composer and the subject matter. Despite the film's jungle milieu,
Poledouris largely eschews the primal percussion the narrative would seem to demand, instead relying almost solely on the homogeneous performances of
the London Studio Orchestra to create themes with an obvious affinity for action but little sense of time or place. To add insult to injury, most European versions of Milan's official CD release include "Two Different Worlds," a treacly pop song performed by soundtrack stalwart
Kenny Loggins. ~ Jason Ankeny