The Jungle Book (1967) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFdtyGoVSDE

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

It’s not easy to find where you belong because when you do, you’ll never want to leave. You don’t believe me? Look at Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book.


PLOT


Based on Rudyard Kipling’s collection of stories, the 1967 adaptation follows a young boy named Mowgli who lost his birth parents in the jungles of India. A black Panther named Bagheera would find him and out of sympathy would choose to arrange a wolf pack to raise him. This would be temporary because 10 years later, the bengal tiger Shere Khan has returned to their area and will go after him due to his animosity to humans. Knowing that the wolf pack is not strong enough to protect him, Bagheera suggests Mowgli to be taken back to his own kind, knowing he’d be safer. The man-cub is of course skeptical since the jungle has been his home for so long and hasn’t been to a man-village, never interacted with his own kind before. He encounters danger for the first time when evading hypnosis from the Python Kaa (Sterling Holloway) at night with the help of Bagheera. By the next morning, he encounters an elephant herd who are considered ‘Jungle Patrol’. He doesn’t leave a good impression on Colonel Hathi (J Pat O’Malley), but does briefly befriend his son Hathi Junior (Clint Howard). After the colonel accidentally causes his herd to crash into each other, Mowgli still refuses to head to the man-village, leaving Bagheera so irritated that the latter chooses to abandon him. This would lead to him meeting a laid back bear named Baloo who is willing to take him under his wing. That sadly doesn’t last long when the man cub gets abducted by gibbons who take him their orangutan leader King Louie. The ape wants mowgli to teach him the ways of man such as learn to make fire. Not only does he not know, but there is no chance for either to learn when Baloo & Bagheera rescue him and destroy the temple in the process. When Mowgli goes to sleep one night, the panther stays up with the bear to tell him about Khan’s return and that the boy needs to leave the jungle for his safety. Since he won’t listen to him, Baloo does try convincing him by morning, but he is so distraught he runs away from him. Bagheera does reach out to Jungle Patrol hoping to find him before Khan does, but little did they know the tiger overheard the whole thing, making him excited that he has new prey. The colonel is pushed to do so when his wife Winnifred (Verna Felton) demands to put an effort. On his own, Mowgli runs into Kaa again who tries hypnotizing him on a tree, until being interrupted by the tiger unbeknownst what is above him. Kaa denies seeing the man-cub long enough for Khan to believe but just when he leaves, Mowgli is able to escape. He goes so far into the wastelands that he ends up meeting a group of vultures (Buzzie, Flaps, Dizzie & Ziggy) that want to befriend him as well. Just when they do is when Khan finds him and tries attacking him until Baloo catches up & intervenes. The bear takes a beating from the tiger and when the vultures back him up, Mowgli ties his tail to a burning branch, knowing he’s afraid of fire. Making the enemy retreat, Baloo is able to recover from his wounds. As they continue passing through the jungle with Bagheera, Mowgli ends up joining the man-village when encountering a female human for the first time and becoming attracted to her. Baloo would be surprised if this decision, but would respect he belongs there and the film ends with him returning to the jungle with Bagheera.


THOUGHTS


The 60s is probably the most underrated era for Walt Disney Pictures since this was the decade that Walt himself had passed and this was the last movie he supervised before his succumb of lung cancer. With expectations high at the time, it’s safe to say it’s aged gracefully over the years since I’m still watching it as an adult, enjoying it as if it was my first time. The animation has aged so well that frames were actually reused for Robin Hood and The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. I can’t blame the studio for doing this at the time because each scene felt flawless to behold since the backgrounds of the jungle are painted so beautifully and each design of the animal characters are so creative you can be invested with each and every one of them. Particularly, I get chills on how fast night turns to day during Bagheera’s exchange with Baloo on what to do with Mowgli. Knowing that, each one is memorable for the best reasons you can get for this kind of movie. Like you gotta love the irony how Hathi is supposed to be a strict leader as the Elephant Song suggests yet buffoonish. Then when Kaa pulls off being devious as shown in his song ‘Trust in Me’ suggests, only for him to be just as cowardice the moment he meets Shere Khan. I was uncontrollably laughing that he falls off the tree like a pinball machine and his body slings back like an accordion after getting a knot on his end. And it sure felt like a field day for the vultures to have a Beatles-esque song as “That’s What Friends Are For” plays because that was a whole vibe. Louis Prima does also bring that as the ambitious yet energetic King Louie when singing “I Wanna Be Like You”, yet it’s always hilarious how he can’t stand it when another monkey outperforms him before he easily falls for Baloo’s costume of being a female orangutan. Putting aside all the laughs, I think this one stands out a lot from Disney’s catalog because of how it teaches young audiences how the best form of maturity can come from accepting responsibility and embracing community. Bruce Reitherman brought this as the young because while too stubborn to leave the jungle, his naivety is what becomes his strength since no matter which animal he gets along with, that doesn’t mean he won’t stand his ground. Not only did he act fast with Kaa, but had a stick ready to go one on one with Khan without even knowing Baloo was gonna show up in time. I don’t know about you but if a suave yet menacing tiger is voiced by George Sanders, I’m gonna be running for my life. You can’t blame for eventually returning to his kind since at his age, it’s easy to fall in love with any woman that sings so casually & majestically as shown in “My Own Home”, but you also can’t blame him for wanting to stay in the jungle since it was all he knew in advance and never thought he needed to leave if the wolf pack accepted him, hence constantly giving Bagheera a hard time. The panther doesn’t want to be a buzzkill and Sebastian Cabot makes it clear he’s devoted to keep him safe and the man-village was the best case scenario. He’s been looking out for him since he found him alone as a baby and he wants to give him a chance to live a life not many are lucky to have. When there are people who think differently, it does become much harder for him to prove his point. Phil Harris is the movie’s true scene stealer as Baloo because you’re in snarky hooked with his carefree attitude which is the whole point of ‘Bare Necessities’. Mowgli loves Baloo so much because he’s relieved there’s at least one animal that isn’t living in fear as much as others around him do, but even the bear had to be self aware there’s limits in doing so, which is what made it hard for him to try convincing him to go to the man-village. The fact he was willing to die for the kid proves how much he cares if it wasn’t so obvious. He would’ve done it again if it meant for him to stay, but even he can respect it was his choice to leave and at least he can accept it the way Bagheera does. Since this wasn’t the last time they’d see each other since there would be a legacy sequel in the 2000s, at least they kept each other together in memory when apart. I’m always gonna love this movie, but there are still a handful of things that bothered me upon all the times I’ve rewatched it. Like I thought it did make sense for Bagheera that Mowgli can look out for himself. I know he’s not ready for Khan yet, but there’s got to be due credit for him since he was smart enough to push Kaa off the tree when he had the chance. It’s then on him to leave him alone just to teach him a lesson because he’s lucky there wasn’t a bear that actually was dangerous unlike Baloo. That alone makes him unfair for him to judge Baloo’s efforts in watching him. And in all honesty, it’s hard to know what was more of a lucky of a moment that it took a woman for Mowgli to follow into the man-village or the fact lightning struck just when he needed fire to scare off Khan. If you can ignore these things, then you can still love Director Wolfgang Reitherman’s efforts to make a charming animated film for generations of families to enjoy together and if that’s the kind of movie you prefer, see this now.