The Jungle Book goes jazz--big band--whatever (16th in a series)

Introduction

"Inspired" by Rudyard Kipling's work (that's a safe way of putting it) Disney's 1967 version of The Jungle Book is a rollicking good time of a movie that is still one of the most popular Disney features ever. Just look at this section, every reviewer recommends the movie. And with good reason.

Our Story

Watch out now, I'm about to tell you the whole plot. As if that were the important part.

Bagheera the panther finds an abandoned baby "man cub." He takes the basket and leaves it outside the den of a wolf family with new cubs. The wolves take the baby in as one of their own.

The movie then skips to Mowgli at 10. The wolf pack meets in council due to the return of Shere Khan, the tiger. Shere Kahn will kill Mowgli, and all the wolves who try to protect him. Bagheera volunteers to escort Mowgli to the nearest man village. As Bagheera and Mowgli settle down for the night, Kaa the snake appears, and attempts to hypnotize Mowgli into becoming his dinner. Bagheera saves him, then Mowgli saves Bagheera accidentally by pushing Kaa out of the tree.

At dawn, a herd of elephants marches by, and Mowgli joins them for exercises. The elephants represent the occupying British army at the time of Kipling's book. After an argument, Bagheera leaves Mowgli on his own, only to return and find the man cub has met up with our true main character, Baloo the bear.

Baloo is shiftless and lazy, but enticing and fun for a young man cub. The first big musical number, "The Bare Necessities," introduces Baloo and endears him to the audience. The song is barely finished (Baloo is still humming) when Mowgli is kidnapped by apes for the jazz-scat portion of our program. King Louie wants Mowgli to show him the secret of being human, ("Wanna Be Like You,") the secret to "red flower" (fire). Mowgli's rescue by Baloo and Bagheera brings the house down.

Now that he has been introduced by reputation, Shere Khan enters the narrative, and overhears Bagheera discussing the prodigal man cub with the elephants. Kaa finds Mowgli first, and sings him "Trust In Me." Shere Khan happens along and interrupts, but Mowgli escapes. Then Mowgli happens upon the Beatles, or that is, the vultures. The birds tease him, further lowering Mowgli's mood. The vultures prove to be more of a barbershop quartet than a fab four, singing "That's What Friends Are For," finished by the low bass of Shere Khan, who finally confronts Mowgli. Baloo shows up in time for the climactic battle. A thunderstorm provides the turning point.

"My Own Home," a fifth different musical style, brings the program to a close, wrapping with a reprise of "Bare Necessities." As usual, all ends happily ever after.

The Good

This film is an adventure story, a musical comedy, and a buddy movie rolled into one. That could make for a rather disjointed effort, but it works here, largely thanks to some excellent voice performances. Phil Harris as Baloo and Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera really shine, with strong supporting performances by George Sanders as Shere Khan and Sterling Holloway as Kaa.

Never before had Disney built an animated film around an actor. This time, Walt chose to build a film around Phil Harris, 40's bandleader, Jack Benny sidekick, radio show star, and noted party animal. The polar opposite of Kipling's Baloo, this character is Harris' public persona projected onto a bruin. This was unique to Disney animation, and would not be fully repeated until Robin Williams' genie in Aladdin.

Starting from that character, the next concentration was the songs. The ever-prolific Sherman brothers wrote four, while Terry Gilkeyson penned Harris' signature song for the flick. George Bruns filled in the rest of the score, as usual. A wide variety of styles was used, with the jazzy Harris number, to Louis Prima's scat on "...Like You," to the very Indian-themed close, as Mowgli returns to his own kind. The music truly makes this picture, along with Baloo's exuberant dancing.

The Bad

If you are looking for a faithful adaptation of Kipling, this isn't the place. Little is retained from the source material besides the setting of colonial India and the character names and species. The characters and their portrayals are very different in the two media. The older (1942) and more recent live-action versions are truer to the original. Kipling's story is very straight and serious, and not given to musical interludes.

The animation is once again quite limited, although the characters are fine this time. The flow is quite choppy in the action sequences, especially the climactic fight between Baloo and Shere Khan. The Kaa-falling-out-of-tree sequence is used twice, and is almost exactly the same. The action is only somewhat smoother than a Jonny Quest episode.

While most voices are extrememly well-done, Mowgli's is not. The director exercised nepotism by choosing his son to do the voice, and it is ineffective. The film manages to overcome this, but it makes Mowgli a secondary character while remaining the focus, a difficult tightrope act. His character is established entirely through animation, not by voice.

The Wrapup

This movie was a hit, and is still very popular, deservedly so. It started a nice second career for Harris, who also starred in the next two Disney animated films, which we will review soon. Sebastian Cabot and Sterling Holloway were at the same time working on the Winnie-the-Pooh short films, which would later be compiled into a feature. This film is one of the bright spots in a dry Disney period, and is known as the last film that Walt himself personally supervised. Animated hits were few and far between for a production company that was mostly contenting itself with making money by re-releasing past successes, which still did quite well at the box office in these pre-VCR days.

The Final Answer

This is a film that is great fun, and very dramatic. Could be too intense for your preschoolers, especially the climax. The musical numbers are worth the rental. If you buy tapes, this is a keeper.