The Jungle Book (1967)

Today we get yet another animated and live-action double header, starting off with 1967's The Jungle Book.

The Movie:

The Jungle Book is the 19th movie in the Disney Animated Canon.  It was also the last film produced by Walt Disney himself, as he died in December 1966.  During production, both the original writer of the film and the original songwriter left because Disney himself stepped in and demanded changes, as he felt the original treatment, while more faithful to the source material, was too dark for a Disney film.  Disney went so far as to instruct the new writers to not read the source material.  The resulting movie was a financial success for the studio, being hugely popular both in North America and in Europe.  In Germany, The Jungle Book has the most tickets sold of any movie ever and is still the third highest grossing film of all time in that country, behind only Avatar and Titanic.

The Jungle Book is very loosely based on the stories by Rudyard Kipling.  Mowgli is an orphan boy discovered deep in the jungles of India by Bagheera the panther.  Bagheera, knowing the child won't survive in the jungle and that the nearest village is several days away, takes Mowgli to a nearby pack of wolves, who in turn raise the child.  Several years later, the wolves hear that the tiger Shere Khan has returned and will undoubtedly come to kill the child.  For both his and their safety, they decide Mowgli must leave for the nearest village, and Bagheera volunteers to take him.  Along the way Mowgli meets up with Kaa the python, Colonel Hathi the elephant, Baloo the bear, King Louie the orangutan, and a pack of vultures before his inevitable showdown with Shere Khan.

My feelings on The Jungle Book is that it is a pretty good movie, but I wouldn't put it in my favorites.  The story is very episodic with not much in the way of plot, which at times works well but at other times can start to feel tedious.  (This was very much an intentional decision by Disney himself, who wanted a movie more focused on the characters, feeling that if the characters were good the plot would fall into place.)  The parts that do work well are indeed because of the characters and the voice acting.  And although Disney had often recycled bits of animation from time to time, there are several places in The Jungle Book that really stand out, especially if you have just watched the other movies. 

(Being just two days removed from One Hundred and One Dalmatians that one was easy to spot, and I had already noted to myself when watching The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad that the weasel chase scene in that movie is the same as the monkey chase here.  The one that threw me for a second was the place where they copied The Sword in the Stone, because even though that one hasn't come up on my viewing list yet, the copied scene is the one Disney used for The Sword in the Stone for their count-up of all their films leading up to Tangled.)

What perhaps is the most memorable thing about The Jungle Book is the music.  The signature song of the movie is "The Bare Necessities," written by the film's first songwriter, Terry Gilkyson.  This was his only song to survive into the movie's retool, and the famous Sherman Brothers were brought in to do the rest of the songs.  "I Wan'na Be Like You," famously performed by jazz singer Louis Prima, is the best known of their songs, but "Trust in Me" and "Colonel Hathi's March" also stand out.  The score is another fine contribution from George Bruns, with orchestration by Walter Sheets.

A couple of addition notes:  One, I remember finding it curious watching this movie as an adult for the first time a few years ago that Bagheera at one point straight up quotes the Gospel of John, which is something you are not likely to find in more recent Disney movies.

Second, this movie produced a very unusual spin-off TV show called TaleSpin.  This show aired alongside other cartoons in the early 1990s such as Adventures of the Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, and Darkwing Duck as part of a block of programming called the Disney Afternoon.  For those people who were children during this time, these shows are a big point of nostalgia.

Presence in the Parks:

Currently in the parks, you can't find much from The Jungle Book.  Animal Kingdom hosts the character meet for Baloo and King Louie, naturally in the Asia section.  Animal Kingdom also used to be home to a stage show called Journey into Jungle Book.  This was the opening day show in the Theater in the Wild in 1998 and ran for about a year.

In the Magic Kingdom, Colonel Hathi, Baloo, and Mowgli all get cards in the Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom game.  The Jungle Book also gets some love in the Happily Ever After fireworks/projection show and a little representation in Fantasmic! over at Hollywood Studios.

Once upon a time there was another place where you could see Baloo and Louie at WDW.  Back in 1988, a small plot of land on the eastern edge of Fantasyland became Mickey's Birthdayland to celebrate the 60th birthday of Mickey Mouse.  In 1990, the land, which was meant to be temporary, became permanent and re-opened as Mickey's Starland.  In 1995 it temporarily was renamed Mickey's Toyland before becoming Mickey's Toontown Fair in 1996.  The land closed in 2011 and is now home to the Storybook Circus area of New Fantasyland.

Well, back when it was Mickey's Starland, due to the popularity of the Disney Afternoon, there was a stage show featuring those characters called Mickey's Magical TV World (aka Mickey's Starland Show).  And yes, Baloo and Louie were part of that show.

Donald Duck's House in Mickey's Starland, July 1991

Louie, Baloo, and other Disney Afternoon characters in Mickey's Magical TV World, July 1991

Disney Afternoon cutouts, Mickey's Starland, July 1991

This land also served as a model for Mickey's Toontown in Disneyland, though that park did have a small sub-land for the Disney Afternoon for a couple of years preceding that land's 1993 opening.