title : Top Movies - The Jungle Book Review (1967 Disney Animation) - Movie Reviews Sites
Link : Top Movies - The Jungle Book Review (1967 Disney Animation) - Movie Reviews Sites
Top Movies - The Jungle Book Review (1967 Disney Animation) - Movie Reviews Sites
articleAnimated Films,Disney’s 1967 classic animated fairy tale, is a loose adaptation of Kipling’s short story novel The Jungle Book.
Genre: Animation/Adventure/Comedy/Drama
Director: Wolfgang Reitherman
Cast: Bruce Reitherman, Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Sterling Holloway, George Sanders, Louis Prima, J. Pat O’Malley, John Abbott, Ben Wright & Darleen Carr.
Run Time: 78 min.
US Release: 18 October 1967
UK Release: 18 November 1968
German Release: 13 December 1968
Welcome to my review for the original 1967 The Jungle Book by Walt Disney Studios. This analysis will lead up to my Disney live-action remake review, with the movie being released in mid-April this year. The 1967 animation is an adaptation from Rudyard Kipling’s short story collection and was developed by Bill Peet, who also created the stories for 101 Dalmatians and The Sword in the Stone. Peet pitched the idea to Walt Disney claiming that the animation department could do more interesting animal films. After the disappointing reviews from critics, concerning The Sword in the Stone, Disney decided to oversee the project himself.
--- THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS! ---
A wolf family in the jungle raised Mowgli the man cub after the black panther Bagheera found him all alone by a river as a baby. Ten years have passed since that day and Mowgli is now a strong, naive and very rude boy, who wants nothing more than to live with his animal friends and family in the dense tropical forest. But Shere Khan the tiger has returned to that part of the jungle and vowed to hunt and kill the man cub. Bagheera, with the help of Baloo the bear, tries to make Mowgli understand that he needs to go back to the men village where he’ll be safe from Shere Khan, but the boy doesn’t want to hear it and flees.
As Mowgli makes the acquaintance of a couple of vultures, Shere Khan enters the scene and is prepared to kill him. Baloo and Bagheera intervene and with their help, Mowgli manages to scare off the tiger. As the trio is on their way home, Mowgli is drawn to a girl’s singing voice and follows her into the village, much to the dismay of Baloo.
The story deals with the moral teachings of anthropomorphic animals, which include rules for the safety of individuals, communities and most important, the family. It also serves as a metaphor for the human society and is a teaching of the rivalry between man and animal. As with many animated movies of those times, Disney kept the dark tone of Kipling’s original work for the most of the runtime, which makes this a movie that can be enjoyed by both adults and children, something I appreciate very much. The Jungle Book contributed to one of my most beloved childhood memories, sitting in front of the TV together with my family, even though it does not account to my favourite Disney films.
The reason why it doesn’t make my list of favourite animations, even though I love re-watching it every now and then, is the fact that the story feels rushed. Kipling’s short stories that centre on Mowgli could easily be fitted into a two-hour plot but instead; a lot of the story was rewritten and shortened to fit it into a film that just surpasses the one-hour mark. Because of those cuts in the story, the animated movie differs vastly from Mowgli’s short stories and although similar in tone, Disney’s version also accounts as being much lighter.
Mowgli, voiced by Bruce Reitherman, was my least favourite persona because of his snootiness and rudeness towards those that are trying to help him. Granted, the animals want to take him back to the village of men, but it is for his own safety and he shows no appreciation for their care. This made it very hard for me to root for the character and at times, I even wished for Shere Kahn to have his way and maul the boy to death. I did like how the movie ended, though, with Mowgli returning to the village because he falls in love with a human girl.
Bagheera & Baloo, portrayed by Cabot and Harris, were my favourite characters in this hand-drawn feature. Both acted as adoptive parents for the young boy, trying to imprint their knowledge on him, but Baloo was far from being the animal represented in the short stories. Nevertheless, both had fantastic chemistry and gave brilliant renditions of their adapted characters, with Harris playing the more laid back Baloo and Cabot the wise black panther.
King Louie was an original character created specifically for this film. He was portrayed by Louis Prima and was next to Harris one of the comedic reliefs in the story. The villain Shere Khan, voiced by Sanders, only made an appearance in the last third of the plot. While he was mentioned in the beginning, his character was very one dimensional and not fleshed out enough, which made him feel less dangerous.
The animation in The Jungle Book consists mostly of hand painted pictures, except for the waterfall that contained footage from Angel Falls. While in later years each animator was given the task to focus on one character, this film had the Disney workers draw complete sequences. The background consisted of more rough drawings while the animals and Mowgli were painted with smoother and rounder edges. It was also decided to give Shere Khan facial features to resemble his voice actor George Sanders. One of my favourite cinematographic moments is at the beginning of the film when the book opens and the story gains live.
This animated feature contains eight original songs, seven that were produced by the Sherman brothers and “The Bare Necessities” written by Terry Gilkyson. The instrumental music was written and composed by George Bruns and Walter Sheets. Both music and musicals have a mysterious tone but were also composed and sung cheerfully to lighten up the darker story.
Verdict: Disney’s 1967 animated feature The Jungle Book surely isn’t my favourite Disney animation, but it has a special place in my heart. While I was, and still am, disappointed about how Kipling’s short stories were chopped and rushed to fit the 78 minutes runtime, I also need to acknowledge that the animation, the musical pieces and voice acting are tremendous. But the biggest problem for me was the fact that I could not sympathise with Mowgli due to the way he behaved. The Jungle Book is one of Disney’s classic, but not one of it’s best and I will, therefore, give it a 7 out of 10.When did you see The Jungle Book for the first time? Do you agree with my review? Leave a comment underneath to let me know what you thought of this Disney classic. I will go watch Eddie the Eagle tonight, so keep an eye out tomorrow for my review.
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