Jungledyret Hugo

Jungledyret Hugo is a Danish media franchise featuring the cartoon adventures of a cute anthropomorphic mammal named Hugo. Created by Danish author and filmmaker Flemming Quist Møller and produced at A. Film A/S, the franchise currently consists of two animated features, an animated television series, and a third film done in CGI.

The two feature films were translated, edited, and released in the United States on a single DVD in 2005 by Mirimax.

The Characters
In the Jungledyret films, many animals talk to each other, but humans can't understand them. This is a standard conceit, seen in such films as Balto.

The following character names are from the 2005 Miramax DVD.

Hugo
Hugo is a rare, apparently unique, fictional mammal. His parents are never mentioned. He looks something like a living teddy bear, and has yellow fur. In the second film, he mentions to a pig that he only has a summer coat.

He has prehensile hands, each with three fingers and a thumb. He has large, fuzzy ears, and human-like feet with four toes. He is bipedal, though he can run in a quadrupedal manner for speed. He uses tools such as levers and skateboards, and can outwit other animals, such as snakes, cats, and squirrels. He is noted for his cleverness, his kind heart, his love of food, and the occasional bout of childish selfishness. He eats mostly fruits and loves bananas.

In the original Danish release, Hugo was voiced by Jesper Klein, his singing voice is provided by Mek Pek. On the 2005 Miramax release, Hugo was voiced by Bronson Pinchot, probably best known in the United States for his role as Balki Bartokomous on the sitcom Perfect Strangers.

Rita the fox
Rita is an adolescent red fox who befriends Hugo on the streets of Copenhagen. She and Hugo quickly become best friends. She's kind and spunky and has a decent amount of common sense unlike Hugo when in the city. She lives with her mother and her younger brothers and sister in a den near some railroad tracks. Her father is never mentioned. Hugo is Rita's love interest. In the original Danish production, Rita was voiced by Kaya Brüel. On the 2005 Miramax release, Rita was voiced by Holly Gauthier-Frankel.

Meatball Charlie
Charlie is the cook aboard the cargo ship that transports Hugo to Copenhagen. He finds Hugo, who has escaped the cargo hold, and at the end of the voyage, donates him to the city zoo. He appears toward the end of the first film, and is not present in the second. Though he makes several appearances in the third, nearly coming off as part of the main character cast. Hugo mentions that Meatball Charlie seems to be his and Rita's only human friend.

In the original Danish production, Meatball Charlie is named Dellekaj (a mixture of "Delle" which is slang for frikadelle, a special kind of Danish meatball and Kaj which is a common Danish name) and was voiced by Jesper Klein who also voices Hugo. On the 2005 Miramax release, Charlie was voiced by Marcel Jeannin.

Conrad Cupmann
Conrad is the main villain in both films. He owns a movie studio in Copenhagen, and dreams of making lots of money. He is morally bankrupt, willing to slash and burn the jungle to capture Hugo. His first relationship started off with Izabella Dehavalot, but rejected her wishes and left her when Hugo manages to escape Copenhagen. His second relationship is with Barbie Turner, but instead, he is rejected by her for hurting Hugo.

On the 2005 Miramax release, Conrad was voiced by Mark Camacho.

Izabella Dehavalot
Izabella is a black-haired starlet with a sharp figure. She is also the wife of Conrad Cupmann during the first film. Her goal is to gain notoriety through the exploitation of an animal co-star; she cites several fictional actors, and then her "good friend Michael" and his chimp. Upon the discovery of Hugo, Izabella brightens at the idea of using him as her co-star and stops at nothing to capture him. Conrad divorced her in the time span between the two films. In all European versions she is called Izabella Scorpio.

On the 2005 Miramax release, Izabella was voiced by Susan Glover.

Doctor Loongkoffer
Loongkoffer is an animal psychologist hired by Conrad to tame Hugo. His role is reminiscient of Animaniacs' Dr. Otto Scratchansniff, whose job was to civilize Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.

On the 2005 Miramax release, Loongkoffer was voiced by Arthur Grosser.

The Jungle Dog
A small jungle dog pup that Hugo and Rita encounter in the third movie. Rita discovers the pup when she hides in a hollow log near the Jungle Dog's nest area. The pup mistakes Rita for its mother and Rita (presuming the pup was abandoned by its real mother) takes it under her wing. Before the movie's release, some fans mistook the pup to be Hugo and Rita's child.

Content issues
The films have some content which might make some viewers uncomfortable.

In the first film, when Hugo is sleeping on a ship, a calendar above him displays a picture of a naked woman. The image was blurred in the Miramax dub. A scene where Hugo is shocked three times by telephone wires was cut from the dub. The dub also toned down the original's language and removed some of Izabella's racial remarks about an Indian character.