Disney/Stuff I Grew Up With: The Jungle Book (1967)

I'll just come out and say it: I love Disney. I may not like what it's become in recent years but this studio's animated features and short subject cartoons were a big part of my childhood and I still adore them to this very day. I think like most people, when I got older I figured Disney was just for little kids and that I should leave it behind but when I began rewatching a good majority of the movies and cartoons, I realized the difference between kids movies and family movies and that Disney's classic stuff has something for all ages. This will be the first of a series of posts where I talk about Disney's films and most of these will be paired up with Stuff I Grew Up With for obvious reasons.

Ironically, our first entry is the very last film that Walt Disney had any active involvement in whatsoever: The Jungle Book. I decided to start with it because it's one of the first movies I ever saw in my entire life. I couldn't have been no more than four or five years old when I first came upon this movie and therefore, it remains a big part of my childhood. While I loved it then and I still love it now, when I look at it as a critical adult, I do believe it's flawed. That said, it still has a lot of the elements that make a good Disney film: loveable characters, great animation and backgrounds, and catchy music and songs. It even has some bizarre overtones that I think are much more pronounced than those labeled onto other Disney films (and most of  I believe are just people trying to see what they want and make something perverted when it's not intended to be so).

Based on Rudyard Kipling's classic novel, The Jungle Book tells the story of Mowgli, an orphaned Indian boy who is discovered in the jungle by the panther Bagheera, who takes him to live with a family of wolves. Ten years later, the man-hating tiger Shere Khan returns to the jungle and the wolf pack decides that Mowgli must leave the jungle to ensure his safety. Bagheera offers to take Mowgli to a nearby "man-village" and the two set out on their journey. However, Mowgli, having spent his entire life in the jungle, doesn't want to leave, creating the main conflict of the story. Along the way, Mowgli makes friends with the easy-going, fun-loving bear Baloo, who encourages Mowgli to stay in the jungle and now Bagheera must find a way to make Baloo see how much danger Mowgli's in before Shere Khan finds him.

One of the biggest issues many people have with the film is that, in relation to Kipling's story, it's basically The Jungle Book in-name-only and the only thing it shares are the characters. While I've never read the original book, I've heard it's quite dark in tone and very violent. In fact, Bill Peet, a screenwriter at the studio, wrote the first treatment of the film in keeping much of the dark tone. However, Walt didn't like the darkness and wanted to concentrate more on the characters. This caused a falling out between the two men and Peet never got a chance to make up with Walt due to his death. Even more to the point, Walt told his animators and song-writers to completely ignore the book. Needless to say, Walt's interest was somewhere other than making a faithful adaptation. Accordingly, after the lukewarm reception of The Sword in the Stone, Walt was interested in coming back with a universally-appealing movie and used Kipling's story as little more than a springboard to do so. But what I'm getting at is that many purists deride the film because of its unfaithful dramatization of the original story and so does that, in essence, make the film bad? To me, no. Again, I've never read the book but as I've said before, I think movie adaptations should be judged as to whether or not they're good movies rather than whether they're faithful to the source material. To that end, Disney's The Jungle Book is a good, if flawed, movie in my opinion. Some may argue that Walt was too wholesome for something dark but if you look at a good majority of the Disney animated features, they have a lot of dark moments in them. Also, Disney is capable of taking dark subject matter and keeping the overall tone and feel while still making it uniquely Disney (The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a good example of that) but that just wasn't Walt's intent at the time and I don't think he should be faulted for that.

The overall design of this movie is where I think it shines very brightly. To me, the jungle backgrounds are absolutely stunning and well-designed with a lot of depth to them. From what I can gather, the xerographic system of animating that had first been used in One Hundred and One Dalmatians was refined so that hand-inked details could be combined with xerox cels. I can think you can actually see that when you look at the film. The backgrounds look much more natural and not as artificial as those in One Hundred and One Dalmatians. The opening title sequence where the camera pans throughout different areas in the jungle is a great showoff of the backgrounds. I especially like the way the ancient ruins where King Louie lives looks as well as the sunset shot in the middle of the jungle looking outward. It's beautiful. The nighttime shot with the river is also breathtaking. Needless to say, The Jungle Book is a very well designed film.

The Jungle Book is well-revered among Disney lovers for having some of the most beloved characters ever. But let's start with the main protagonist, Mowgli the man-cub, voiced by Bruce Reitherman (son of director Wolfgang "Woolie" Reitherman). Some people have said that they find him annoying but I don't. He may be a complainer and hard-headed but he has good reason to: he's being yanked out of the only home he's ever known against his will, even if it is for his own good. One thing you can't say about Mowgli is that he's fearless. When he finally encounters Shere Khan in the film's finale, he stands right up to the tiger and tells him he's not afraid of him. Yet, his fearlessness is what tends to get him in trouble, leading to either Bagheera or Baloo having to save him. Still, I don't find him annoying (again, I seem to have a high tolerance for "annoying" characters in films, so take that for what it's worth). My only problem with Mowgli as a character is that by the end of the movie, I don't feel like he's gone through any kind of arc. Throughout the ten years of his life, all he's done is walk around the jungle in his underwear and during the story of the film he's been kidnapped by an orangutan, hypnotized and basically molested twice by a pedophile snake (I'll get to him soon), been told by his panther guardian that he must leave the jungle, argued with him about it, made friends with Baloo, thought that Baloo had betrayed him at one point, forgives Baloo after he saves his life, and he ultimately goes to the "man-village" for the sole reason that he saw a pretty girl. In fact, after Shere Khan is defeated and sent packing, Mowgli has no reason to leave the jungle other than the practical reason that he doesn't understood but he still leaves. Walt's reason for Mowgli following the girl into the village is because he's never seen another human in his life and while that may be a part of it, I think his main reason for doing so is obvious: he thinks she's hot. Granted, it's handled very tastefully since they're kids but still, you can't watch the way she looks at Mowgli and the way he looks at her and tell me there's not more than meets the eye there. But back to what I was originally saying: I just don't feel that Mowgli's learned anything or matured in any way. Again, yes he went to the village and he should live with humans instead of animals but he never learns why he should do so. I just can't help but think this by the end of the movie each time.

For many, the most lovable character in the film is good ole papa bear Baloo, voiced with great zeal and enthusiasm by Phil Harris. Bagheera calls him a jungle bum but Baloo is in reality the type of guy you'd want to hang out with. He's easy-going and fun-loving, with a great love of life and teaches Mowgli to just go with the flow of life. He's the first real friend that Mowgli has and while he does start out as more than a little irresponsible, he grows to genuinely care about Mowgli like he was his own son. Even though he wants Mowgli to stay in the jungle with, the realization that Shere Khan will kill him if he finds him makes him realize he must take the boy to the man-village. When Mowgli runs away from him feeling betrayed, Baloo says that if anything happens to him, he'll never forgive himself, showing how much he's matured as a character. He ends up putting himself in great danger by fighting Shere Khan and almost getting killed in the process. The scene after the final battle where Mowgli cries over Baloo's apparently dead body is very touching, showing the love Mowgli had developed for his papa bear. What's just awesome is when Baloo regains consciousness while Bagheera is giving an impassioned, flattering speech about the bear's courage and sacrifice. It's just hilarious to watch Baloo say stuff like, "I wish my mother could have heard this" while the speech is going on and when Bagheera and Mowgli are about to leave, Baloo says, "Hey, don't stop now, you're doing great!" It just sums up his character so well. And at the end of the film when Mowgli first sees the girl walking from the village, Baloo's reaction is, "Forget about those. They ain't nothing but trouble." So awesome. By the end of the movie, Baloo obviously still wants Mowgli to stay in the jungle but Bagheera makes him understand that he's where he belongs now. And to end the movie in the best way possible, Baloo and Bagheera, now having become friends themselves, walk back into the jungle singing Bear Necessities. It's a really upbeat way to end the movie and nobody could do it like Baloo.

My favorite character in the movie is actually Mowgli's panther guardian Bagheera, voiced by Sebastian Cabot. I always like wise old characters like him. Being a panther, he could easily have eaten Mowgli when he finds him as a baby but instead decides to have him adopted by a family of wolves. He's also the one who volunteers to take Mowgli to the man-village and during the trip, he tries to act like a stern authority figure to Mowgli as much as he can but it's obvious that he genuinely cares about him. The two constantly argue about Mowgli's going back to the man-village and Bagheera actually gets so fed up with the boy at one point that he leaves him to fend for himself. However, when he hears a sign that Mowgli may be in danger, Bagheera quickly rushes back to help him. He's not at all amused to find Mowgli with Baloo, since he feels the bear is a bum and is a bad influence on Mowgli. He does indeed leave Mowgli with Baloo but when he finds out that Mowgli has been kidnapped, he and Baloo immediately go to the rescue. Afterward, he manages to make Baloo understand the danger Mowgli's in but that doesn't end well when Mowgli runs away. As I said, Bagheera is good enough to make a great speech about Baloo when it seems like Shere Khan killed him... and is none too happy when he discovers that Baloo was alive the whole time but since Mowgli's happy, he lets it go. Ultimately, he does encourage Mowgli to follow the girl into the man-village, knowing it's what's best. Bagheera may seem like a stern person but he does have a heart of gold and that's what makes him so loveable. And I can't help but smile at the end when he and Baloo go back into the jungle. He's clearly come to like Baloo and maybe Baloo can teach him to enjoy life the way he does. Him singing the Bear Necessities along with Baloo seems like a good start.

Another good set of characters is the Jungle Patrol of elephants, led by the pompous windbag Colonel Hathi, voiced by J. Pat O'Malley. Hathi's the typical blowhard English colonel, always bragging about his winning of the Victoria Cross and ordering his troops around. My favorite scene with him and the other elephants is the inspection scene, where Hathi, after telling them to dress up the line, actually smacks Winifred, his wife, on the butt when she doesn't do so! There is no way you could get away with that in Disney films nowadays. I also like the variety of the elephants in the inspection: the one whom he tells to take care of his trunk (who also says he's going to try to be transferred to another herd); the one that's always chomping on a leaf; one that's apparently been in a fight since he has a black eye; one that grins and Hathi immediately tells him to get rid of it, saying, "This is the army!"; the one he tells, "Eyes front" to; and the one he gives a quick buzz-cut to. Backing up a bit, that Victoria Cross speech Hathi gives is great, especially his part about discipline and when he breaks his bamboo twig by leaning on it. The only other elephants that get any real characterization are Hathi's wife Winifred (Disney veteran Verna Felton in her final role) and his young son (Clint Howard). I like how Winifred knows a whole lot more than her husband and confronts him when he refuses to look for Mowgli. My favorite part is when she threatens to take over his command if he doesn't look for Mowgli, causing Hathi to yell, "A female leading my herd?! Utterly preposterous!" (The joke is that elephant herds are led by females in reality.) As for their son, there's not much to say about him other than he briefly befriends Mowgli and is the one who convinces his father to find him. Before we move on, I have to mention something about the elephants that always makes me laugh. It's when Hathi decides to look for Mowgli and he's whispering to his lieutenant. The other elephants put their ears up to try to hear him. Unfortunately for them, Hathi then yells, "Company!", causing them to bang their heads together. That never fails to make me break up laughing.

Many have considered King Louie, voiced by Louis Prima, to be one of three villains in the movie and while he kind of is (seeing as how he tries to find out about fire from Mowgli and God knows what he plans to do with that knowledge), he's definitely most likable. Aside from Baloo, he's also the most lively character in the film. His scatting and laid back persona make him quite likable, even if he does have some malevolent intentions. His song, I Wanna Be Like You, is one of the funnest and most memorable in the film. My favorite parts are when he tries to shut up a monkey that won't stop loudly vocalizing during the song and, of course, his duet with the disguised Baloo. That's just awesome. King Louie is also quite a controversial character for many. Some call him a racial stereotype of African-Americans and cite their evidence as being that the film was made in the Civil Rights turmoil-filled late 1960's. Honestly, I've always thought that was someone trying to make a mountain of a molehill and trying to make a political statement when there's none to be made. Heck, Walt originally thought about casting Louis Armstrong in the role but, realizing what a controversy that would cause, instead cast Louis Prima, who may have had an African-American style voice but wasn't. And there you go, so I think people need to stop with the racist crap they throw on this character.

Disney veteran Sterling Holloway plays Kaa, the hypnotic snake. Remember when I called Kaa a pedophile? I stand by that. This character is freaky, with his soft voice (the fact that Holloway also voiced Winnie the Pooh just makes it creepier), spiraling hypnotic eyes, the way he sings to his victims, and, most of all, his obsession with wrapping Mowgli, who's basically naked, in his coils starting from the waist up (why doesn't he try to do that with anyone else?). Even as a little kid those scenes gave me a weird feeling and they still do. I really do feel there are sexual overtones to the scenes between Mowgli and Kaa and I'm clearly not the only one. Kaa has a bizarre following on the internet of people who get off on watching the scenes between him and Mowgli, as well as editing the scenes to have him hypnotize sexy women, both real and animated. If you don't believe me, go to Google image search, type in Kaa, and see what you get with the safety filters off. It's freaky. All that aside, Kaa is a memorable villain from the film in more ways than one (even more interesting is that in the original book, Kaa was a good guy). What's really creepy about him is that when he first appears, he looks and sounds like an absolute joke but you quickly find out how dangerous he can be. Also, unlike Shere Khan, who wants to kill Mowgli due to his hatred of man, Kaa simply wants to eat him because he's hungry and even seems disgusted with Khan's prejudice! He says Shere Khan gives him the shivers. Well, Kaa, you give me the shivers too so I guess we're even. (Freaking pedophile snake.)

Shere Khan is by far one of the coolest Disney villains ever. Voiced with great icy sophistication by George Sanders, Shere Khan doesn't make his first appearance in the movie until the last third of it but by that point, the film has done a good job of building him up. The wolf pack elder Akeelah says that Mowgli must leave the jungle because not even the entire wolf pack will be any match for Shere Khan in protecting the boy, building him up as a real threat. After that, there's so much more build up to him that you're ready for him to finally appear and when he does, he doesn't disappoint. In the scene where he's listening to Bagheera and Hathi talk about how Mowgli is lost in the jungle, Khan comes off as cool and calculating as a James Bond villain, laughing evilly to himself when Hathi mentions that Khan isn't within miles of their present location. When interrogates Kaa, you can tell that the snake fears him, especially when it seems as though Khan is immune to his hypnotic powers. But in the final battle with Mowgli and Baloo, Shere Khan shows that he's not all talk. He's truly ferocious and deadly in the battle, growling and roaring as he tries to kill Mowgli, and even almost killing Baloo. When he says to Baloo, "I'll kill you for this" before repeatedly scratching at him, he looks and sounds positively frightening. Shere Khan is definitely a force to be reckoned with. Even though his fear of fire is what causes him to lose the fight, he still remains swift, cunning, and deadly, all the trademarks of a great villain.

Lastly, I have to mention the Beatles-style vultures who appear at the end of the film and help Baloo in fighting Shere Khan. I know a lot of people like these characters but I never cared much for them. It may be because they show up so late into the film that it's hard for me to become attached to them or because I know little about the Beatles and whatnot but whatever it is, they never struck me as all that special. I do like the classic exchange, "Hey, Flaps, what we gonna do?" "I don't know. What you wanna do?" Some of their dialogue is kind of funny, like, "Things are right dead all over." "You mean you wish they were." Other than that, I don't have much to say about them.

The character animation in this film is, I think, some of the best Disney has ever done. The animals all look and move very realistic, with the only fantasy element being that they talk. The animation on Kaa is quite impressive. They really got the essence of a snake and the way a snake moves down pat. Shere Khan is also very well animated, especially the first scene with him where he slowly creeps up on a grazing deer. That looks exactly like what you would see in a nature documentary, as he crouches down and prepares to pounce. If you ever played with a cat before, you'd know that that's how they act before pouncing. Apparently, his stripes were an absolute nightmare for the animation team to keep consistent and I can imagine. Even the animation on Mowgli is good. Considering that he wears no clothes, they had to have made sure that the limb movements and such looked realistic and from what I can tell, they did a really good job.

Of course, you can't talk about a Disney movie without mentioning the music score and songs. As for the actual score by George Bruns, I feel that it suits the movie very well. The main theme is wonderfully mysterious and atmospheric during the opening credits and the trek through the jungle, give the setting a real sense of mystery. The music that plays during the scenes with Kaa for me just highlights how sexual those scenes are. I also really like the instrumental version of My Own Home, the song that the girl sings at the end, that actually plays at different points throughout the entire film. It has a melancholy type feel to it and does well in punctuating the fact that Mowgli will soon have to go back to his own kind. As for the songs by the Sherman brothers, no one can forget the Bear Necessities, sung by Phil Harris. When Mowgli actually sings along with Baloo, Bruce Reitherman doesn't sound that bad to me. But we all remember the song because it's such a fun and upbeat tune. I think that jazzy instrumental of it that plays at the very end is a perfect way to end the movie. As I said before about King Louie, I Wanna Be Like You is also a nice jazzy song that makes you want to get up and dance. The songs the Jungle Patrol sing to me are funny because of that one elephant interjecting his own thoughts about how pointless it all seems. As for Kaa's song Trust In Me, do I need to say anything else about how much of a perv that snake seems? That song and scene really does have a bizarre tone to it. And finally, there's That's What Friends Are For, the song that the vultures sing to cheer Mowgli up. Not bad, especially Shere Khan's interrupting of it with a great baritone solo, but again, probably my least favorite since I don't really think much of the vultures.

For many, including myself, the biggest problem with The Jungle Book is the story. I think it's evident that Walt and company were so focused on creating the memorable characters that they didn't pay much attention to the story they were telling. The story isn't bad, mind you, but it is pretty simple. There are some plotholes in it. The one I've always been curious about is the Jungle Patrol marching off to search for Mowgli. After they do so, you never see them again. I've always wondered if someone told them that Mowgli was found and that they could call off the search. That also raises the friendship between Mowgli and Hathi and Winifred's son. They only met once but their friendship was never really made concrete. Since you never see the elephants again after they go off searching for Mowgli, you never see any resolution with the young elephant being worried about Mowgli. I kind would have liked to have seen another scene between the two where the elephant tells Mowgli that he was worried about him and is glad that he's alright. I know that it's not an important part of the film but it's just something I've always wondered about. And I've already talked about how I felt Mowgli following the girl into the man-village felt a bit forced and didn't satisfy me. I also don't like how he doesn't say goodbye to Baloo. He just gets a dazed look on his face, shrugs his shoulders, and just walks on into the village, as if to say, "Sorry, pal, but I've got me a woman now!" Just didn't feel like a natural sendoff to their friendship.

The Jungle Book is far from perfect and while it is one of Disney's most popular classic animated films, I don't think it's among their elite. The story is simple and has some holes in it but when you look past that, it is a fun film with memorable characters, classic songs, and great animation and design. It was such a big part of my childhood that I can't help but adore it to this day, no matter how flawed it is, as is the case with a good majority of the stuff I grew up with.