Traditionally dressed African natives were roaming all over the place carrying spears, their faces smeared with paint, and looking, well, pretty darn authentic.

And if you saw that 14-year-old 300-pound plus Arnez Hightower swathed in a very large lavalava you'd guess he might be attending, say, Zulu High School and not St. Louis until his mom jokingly complains about her $800 a month food bill and how she "prays" her son will make it to the NFL.

But it was just another day on the set of Walt Disney's "George of the Jungle" which filmed for 12 days in Hawaii before wrapping last Thursday at the studio for some stunt scenes.

All the producers wanted from Hawaii was one thing: good weather and beautiful scenery. And they got it.

"Everything has been almost perfect," said C. Tad Devlin, executive producer. "We have nothing to complain about."

"Hawaii has a look you can't match anywhere else in the world," said Flip Wylly "George's" location manager. "I've recommended Hawaii to several other location managers already. They don't need to go anywhere else if they want jungle because all they need is right here."

No production days were lost for any reason, including bad weather, said David Linck, "George" publicist. The weather, he said, has been "magnificent."

It may have been more than simple luck. Devlin insisted that the production have a Hawaiian blessing not once but four times at each new location: Kualoa Ranch, Kahana Bay State Park, Waimea Falls Park, and the film studio.

"Someone who worked on 'Waterworld' said they had not done that so I wasn't going to take any chances," Devlin said.

But the weather isn't all the folks at Disney are praising. Devlin described the 100-plus local hired crew and drivers - as "fantastic."

"I have no complaints whatsoever with the local talent," he said. "It's a very, very good crew. And Jeanne Ishikawa, our production coordinator, is terrific. I would take her anywhere."

Producers like to use local crews for a variety of reasons, but mostly it saves them a lot of money because they don't have to pay accommodation and meal expenses. But if local crews are not qualified, then they must be brought from tinsel town.

"Our director of photography had worked in Hawaii before and is very comfortable with the crews here," Devlin said. "And knowing that no other films were being shot here I knew I would get the cream of the crop."

Al Burns, business agent for the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Local 665, said a "George" executive even called him after returning to Los Angeles to praise the crew.

"I was very surprised by that," Burns said. "This is the first time I have been called after the fact about this."

"George" also filmed in San Francisco and Los Angeles where the production built one of the largest sets ever in a hangar at Hughes Aircraft in Play Del Rey, Linck said. It's the same sound stage where the film "Independence Day" was shot, he said.

"We built an entire jungle there and now we're in Hawaii to match that interior with your exteriors," he said.

In Waimea Valley they filmed stars Brendan Fraser and Leslie Mann riding Tai the elephant - star of "Operation Dumbo Drop" and "The Jungle Book" - and at Kahana Valley they filmed the river mouth.

Linck was surprised at the versatility of filming on Oahu. "There are great locations right off the road," he said. "At Waimea Falls Park we used 10 locations alone."

Location manager Wylly said the Oahu and state film commissions were "absolutely wonderful with their support and help."

Disney had considered filming "George" in Mexico, Australia, or Puerto Rico. But Australia was too far, Mexico too culturally challenging, and Puerto Rico's bad weather was feared, Wylly said.

"We had a camera go into the water the other day and if we had been in Australia it would have taken two days instead of five hours to get it here," he said. "You can't put a price tag on that convenience."

"George" used about 60 extras and stand ins, a large number of whom were black, said local casting agent Margaret Doversola. No local actors had speaking parts.

"You know what I'm really impressed with, what was the true surprise for me? How very nice people are here," Devlin said. "They proved that aloha wasn't a meaningless word."