Bomba feels bad about being an orphan so he decides to find out who his parents are and what happened to them. The trail leads him to a village ruled by a corrupt chief and his ruthless daughter. Needless to say, the two don't like Bomba poking around and asking questions. This is a nice change of pace plot for the series, which usually had the standard 'evil white men come to the jungle to kill or steal and Bomba must stop them' formula. It only took seven sequels for them to think about following up on this plot thread from the first movie but I'm glad they finally did.
The Bomba series had its fair share of pretty ladies and here we have two. Karen Sharpe is the daughter of a government official and Suzette Harbin is the daughter of the village chief. I'm not sure which girl is the jungle girl of the title. I mean, Harbin is the only one of the two who actually lives in the jungle but Sharpe is the heroine. Neither is a 'jungle girl' in the same sense that Bomba is a 'jungle boy.' Both are attractive and well-written for young female roles at the time. When Bomba swims out to rescue her from a crocodile, Sharpe takes matters into her own hands and swims to shore, gets a gun, and kills the croc herself! Harbin is her father's right-hand and heir to the throne. She's in charge of the village guard and killing her father's enemies. It's one of the best Bomba movies, which isn't saying a whole lot I know. It's a juvenile adventure movie with a little more plot than most in the series and some strong female characters which deserves mentioning. The movie makes use of stock footage, as it always did. Maybe a little less than usual, though. There are some humorous moments with the chimps that I enjoyed. It does go on too long, as most of the Bomba sequels did for some reason. Nothing you can't live without seeing but a good way to pass the time if you're so inclined.
