Swinging its way back into UK cinemas this weekend to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Walt Disney Pictures is the delightful animated movie, The Jungle Book. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, the film features the voice talents of Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, and Bruce Reitherman.
Based on Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name, and originally released in 1967, The Jungle Bookfollows the story of a young boy called Mowgli who befriends a happy-go-lucky bear named Baloo.
In the film, it has been ten years since Mowgli was orphaned in the jungle and raised by wolves, but in this time he has lived a happy existence. However, his time amongst the wolf pack is shortly set to end, due to the arrival of Shere Khan – a Bengal tiger.
Khan has a significant dislike for humans, which puts Mowgli’s life in danger, so to ensure the boy’s safety, a black panther named Bagheera offers to escort Mowgli to a village populated by humans. Along the way, Mowgli meets various jungle creatures, including Baloo the bear, who becomes a big influence on the young boy and who teaches him one or two life lessons.
Featuring terrific animation, an excellent voice cast, and a whole bunch of memorable characters (Kaa, Colonel Hathi, the quartet of vultures etc), The Jungle Book is an animated Disney movie which continues to delight. The film serves up a fairly simple story, but it’s one which provides plenty of room for fun and laughs, as well as a great deal of heart.
The Jungle Book is a whimsical picture, which is fairly carefree, but it’s loaded with lots of sentiment. The film also contains some truly entertaining songs, which continue to stand the test of time.
And when it comes to the songs, The Jungle Book has a couple of true toe-tappers. The first is ‘The Bare Necessities’, while the second is the equally brilliant (if not even better) ‘I Wan’na Be Like You’.
Baloo takes the lead on ‘The Bare Necessities’, and presents an advice-filled tune with a chilled beat. Meanwhile, ‘I Wan’na Be Like You’ comes courtesy of King Louie the orangutan, and is a hip-swingin’ jazz and scat-infused piece, accompanied by some wonderful animated sequences.
These two songs are the standout stars of The Jungle Book, but some additional fun is had with ‘Colonel Hathi’s March’, as well as the bewitching ‘Trust in Me’. The entire soundtrack of The Jungle Book is light and playful, perfectly matching the tone of the film, and it makes this picture such an enjoyable way to spend 80-minutes.
The rest of the fun can be found in the animation, including the character designs and the exquisite painted backgrounds. The Jungle Book is a work of art, with stylish visuals, and a colour palette that pops.
There are many, many great animated Disney movies out there, and plenty of them are superb (they don’t call them Disney Classics for nothing), but The Jungle Book is certainly one of the best. It may be 56-years-old this year (wow), but it’s not lost any of its charm.
Should you wish to watch The Jungle Book on the big screen, the movie will be playing in select UK cinemas from Friday 15th September. The screenings are limited, so be sure to check your local listings for availability.
And if you can’t make a screening of The Jungle Book, but you want to revisit the movie, the film is available on DVD and digital download. The Jungle Book is also streaming on Disney+.
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