Those Bare Necessities

We rented this after seeing the second "Jungle Book 2" movie as my 13 year old had not seen it. I was surprised at how this movie dragged! Yes, Kaa, SheerKahn, Balou, King Louis and friends, Bageera, and all the vultures were there. But the story still dragged, and the movie is only 78 minutes long.

Start with the fact this was taken from Rudyard Kipling's "Mowgli" stories. Wonderful! Then, a baby found in a Moses basket by the leopard is taken to live with a family of wolves. Baby grows and SheerKahn (the very Disney evil tiger)wants to eat him before the baby gets a gun and joins "man." Mowgli to be taken back to the Man Village by Bageera, but really wants to stay in the jungle.

Along the way, they meet Kaa, who will hypnotize with those crazy eyes, and wrap himself around with those infamous coils. Making Kaa into an accordion of sorts, they continue on their way. Hit song: "Trust in Me."

Dawn Patrol - Col. Elephant and his troops marching the jungle to the zippy march you will know when you hear it.

Louis the Orangatang, wants fire. He wants to be like man by having fire. Not something Mowgli is aware of. Have to defeat Louis to move on. Very clever in old temple structure.

Balou! Balou not wanting to hurt anyone (are there really bears in the Indian forests?) takes Mowgli's cause and decided with Bageera that the Man Village is the only way.
But Balou, not being a rocket scientist, vacillates between keeping Mowgli and letting him go.

Finally, they arrive at the village and our little girl friend is filling her water pitcher singing a song, and batting those big brown eyes. Mowgli, having never seen another human is entranced by the whole thing, and waddles off into the village.

Balou and Bageera wander off singing.

This is refreshing and fun, but there are still some parts that 40 years ago may not have been as slow as they are today. Plus, this was a movie for the theater, there being no VCRs/DVDs.

You must have this for your movie collection, as it really presented many kids' first thoughts of life in a rain forest/jungle - to an entire generation. A great movie in spite of some slowness.