The Jungle Book

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The Jungle Book is obviously up there with Disney’s best films and I can see its charm, but it’s just not a personal favourite of mine. It’s great, but other than the music there is nothing in it that makes it particularly spectacular.

This was the point in Disney history where the films started to become, for want of a better phrase, rougher, as the film’s budgets began to shrink. The Jungle Book gets nowhere near to matching the beauty of Disney’s previous animation, but it does have a certain charm that goes with the film’s overall atmosphere. This is also complemented by the fantastic music, the best songs of course being The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You, both of which are irresistibly fun.

Shere Khan is… ok. I’m sorry to say that, but he’s not nearly as good as the villains Disney would go on to produce. The voice acting from George Sanders is really the only thing that puts Shere Khan just about up there with the best- I just don’t see anything else that makes him stand out compared to other Disney villains.

Speaking of great voice acting however, there are some fantastic performances from a range of actors, many of whom would go on to do many more voices for Disney in this era. This includes of course Phil Harris as Baloo, Sterling Holloway as Kaa, Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera and Louis Prima as King Louis.

In terms of the main characters, until the climax of the film Mowgli is whiny and irritating at his worst and passive enough to be a bit dull at best.

 …And that’s all there is to say on the Jungle Book really. It is certainly enjoyable enough to deserve its classic status, but there are better films which also went on to earn that title.

Rating

Good guys: Mowgli is not particularly interesting for a lot of the film, but Baloo and Bagheera are fun enough to put the good guys at a 6/10

Bad guys: Shere Khan and Kaa are both ok villains, whilst not being the best Disney have produced, so the bad guys get a 7/10

Animation: The rough, scratchy style of these films often fits their fun and charming atmosphere, but they lack the beauty of Disney’s previous work, so the animation gets a 6/10

Music: The Jungle Book’s music is probably its greatest asset- based on The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You alone, the music gets a 9/10 (because none of the other songs are particularly memorable to be honest).  

Plot: It’s ok, but nothing about this particular story stands out for me, so the story gets a 5/10

Overall Rating: 32/50

Next review: The Aristocats