The Jungle Book (1967)

Junglebogen

In 2012 and 2013 I watched a few Disney movies from the List. My son was at that time around three years old and he loved them, Dumbo and Pinocchio, and so I bought quite a few classic Disney DVDs. One of these was The Jungle Book and along with the others it was on heavy rotation in those years. Children grow up though and in later years The Jungle Book has been standing on the shelf, waiting for its turn on the List.

Watching it now is diving into that period and every scene is laced with memories to the extent that it is difficult to give this movie a fair review. I honestly do not think this is anywhere near the pinnacle of Disney’s production, but I am still smiling all the way through its 70 minutes running time.

Bagheera, the black panther (no, not the superhero), finds a baby boy in the jungle. To save the child he takes it to the wolf Raksha, who just had a litter of her own, and there Mowgli is raised.

Fast forward a few years and the animals learn that the dreaded tiger, Shere Kahn, has returned. This is bad news for Mowgli as the tiger’s hatred for humans is renowned. Bagheera is to take Mowgli back to humankind, but Mowgli does not want to leave the jungle. The major part of the movie is about Baheera and the bear Baloo trying to lead Mowgli out of the jungle and Mowgli resisting, getting into trouble only to be saved by his friends. The monkeys are bad, the snake Kaa is bad, but Shere Khan is the very bad one. Eventually Mowgli prevails, but instead of having now learned to live in the jungle he gets tempted by a pretty, human girl to rejoin humanity.

It seems very likely that this, like Pinocchio, is about growing up. To avoid temptations and dangers and instead take responsibility and make the right choices. Mowgli resists change and growing up. He wants things to stay the way they are and live the easy life, like Baloo, but life is not that easy and unless you face the challenges you get lost. Message-wise Disney had not changed that much since the forties.

The original story was a lot darker. The DVD includes the storyboard for an alternative ending that takes the story to some far darker places and while this might have made the story more interesting it would not have had the same easy appeal to children. I believe Disney made the right decision there. As it is, even small children can sit through The Jungle Book and get a lot out of it and it was to all accounts a smash hit at the box office for Disney.

The Jungle Book is famous for the music and I suppose that is okay. For me it is the character gallery that is the draw here. They are all very well fleshed out, more than I am used to in cartoons. On the negative, the story feels very… thin. It has probably something to do with the short running time and the repeating nature of the challenges Mowgli faces. The drawing technique is also not that impressive. It is not anywhere as polished as Pinocchio or Peter Pan.

Still, I keep thinking of watching this with my son and those memories are so sweet that I would be able to forgive the movie anything. Not the best Disney movie, but you could do worse.