Review #982: 'The Jungle Book' (1967)

Listed as number 19 in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, The Jungle Book is one of the House of Mouse's most beloved films. Loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's book of the same name, Disney demanded a sure-fire hit after the underwhelming response to The Sword in the Stone (1963) and removed any hints of the darkness of Kipling's text in favour of a more child-friendly experience. The last movie to be produced by Walt before his death in 1966, the result is one of the most effortlessly charming films he ever presided over. Featuring possibly the most memorable and catchy song in Disney's history (Bare Necessities), he at least he went out on a high note.

Mowgli (voiced by director Wolfgang Reitherman's son, Bruce) is a young orphan boy who, after being discovered in the deep jungle in a basket by Bagheera the Panther (Sebastian Cabot), is raised for the next 10 years in a wolf pack. After learning that the monstrous, man-eating tiger Shere Khan (a wonderful George Sanders) has returned to the jungle, the pack decide that Mowgli must be taken to the nearby 'man-village' to be with own people for his own safety. Bagheera volunteers to escort him to safety, but he soon becomes frustrated with Mowgli's insistence on staying in the jungle and leaves him the hands of Baloo (Phil Harris), a laid-back bear who promises Mowgli to never take him to the man-village.

With animation far below the standard set by Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and a group of insufferable vultures modelled on the Beatles, The Jungle Book remains great despite its flaws by being so damn heart-warming. The final scene, as Mowgli gazes upon one of his own kind for the first time, is truly wonderful in its unsentimental simplicity. The music, by the Sherman Brothers and Terry Gilkyson, is one of Disney's best soundtracks, with Louis Prima's jazzy I Wanna Be Like You proving particularly toe-tapping. Cabot and Harris are fun as Mowgli's bickering escorts, but Sanders and Sterling Holloway - as the hypnotising Kaa the Snake - steal the show as the bad guys. One of Disney's very best.


Directed by: Wolfgang Reitherman
Voices: Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Bruce Reitherman, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway, Louis Prima, J. Pat O'Malley
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie