BACKGROUND
After years of Disney animated films increasingly becoming average and uninspiring, Walt Disney decided to get his Animation Department back on track. Walt had been distracted with other pursuits, like his Disneyland theme park and the world of television, however, after the disappointment of The Sword in the Stone (1963), he wanted to be fully involved in their next picture: The Jungle Book.
This turned out to be a good call, as The Jungle Book was well-received on its release in October 1967, becoming Disney’s second-highest-grossing animated film in the US and Canada at the time; a much better response than the Disney Studios’ previous release of The Sword in the Stone.
With all that being said, though, The Jungle Book is also remembered for an entirely different reason. Sadly, The Jungle Book was the last animated feature that Walt personally oversaw, but Walt never even saw the finished picture. He died in December 1966, almost a year before the film was released.
The Jungle Book therefore signified an ending at the Disney company. Walt Disney had been such an important figurehead to everyone at the Studios that it meant, with his passing, they all felt a bit lost. Many people were affected by Walt’s death. They appreciated and needed his wisdom in overseeing their projects.
The Jungle Book was also the last film to be released during the “Silver Age” of Disney Animation, and was considered to be the last “good” one for a while, as both pre-1967 and post-1967, Disney Animation released some movies that entirely missed the mark, in terms of both their story and animation quality, especially as the “Bronze Age” began.
When I was younger, though I liked some of the songs, I never thought much of the movie. It is about animals, after all, and I’m much more interested in stories that predominantly involve people. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve found I like The Jungle Book much more than I used to. It’s still not one of my favourites, but I do enjoy the music and the friendships between the characters. I have more appreciation for the history of the movie now, and know just how important it was to the Disney company, and to Walt Disney himself.
PLOT
As most people know, Disney’s The Jungle Book follows Mowgli, a “man cub” who is separated from his parents and raised in the Indian jungle by wolves. Ten years later, the wolfpack is made aware that the tiger, Shere Khan, is returning to their part of the jungle. As Shere Khan has a deep hatred for man, due to their hunting and his fear of fire, the wolfpack are certain that Shere Khan will try to kill Mowgli and insist he leaves the jungle for his own protection. Bagheera, a black panther, volunteers to take Mowgli to the “man village”. They leave on their journey, despite Mowgli’s constant protests about wanting to stay in the jungle. They sleep up in a tree on their first night, where Mowgli and Bagheera meet Kaa, a hypnotising python, who tries to eat Mowgli. Bagheera manages to stop him, and Mowgli then pushes Kaa out of the tree, to keep him away from them.
The next morning, Bagheera and Mowgli are woken by Colonel Hathi and his elephant patrol marching and singing “in a military style”. Mowgli wants to join them, and befriends the smallest elephant, Hathi’s son, however, Mowgli doesn’t have the discipline or military know-how to fit in and besides, Hathi doesn’t want a human in his patrol, so Bagheera takes him away again and continues the journey. The two argue as Mowgli still does not want to go to the village, so Bagheera, frustrated, leaves him on his own. Mowgli then meets Baloo, a sloth bear, who teaches Mowgli how to live in the jungle and just relax. Bagheera hears a bear growl and rushes back to help Mowgli, only to find that the growl was just Baloo, who he thinks is a “stupid jungle bum” anyway, and leaves them to it; Baloo can take care of Mowgli instead. Except he can’t, because shortly after, Mowgli is kidnapped by a group of mean monkeys, and Baloo has to ask Bagheera for his help in getting him back.
Mowgli is brought by the monkeys to King Louie, who lives in some old palace ruins. King Louie makes a deal with Mowgli that he can stay in the jungle if Mowgli tells him how to make “man’s red flower”, fire. Bagheera and Baloo soon come to rescue Mowgli, which is handy because Mowgli doesn’t know how to make fire, but in the chaos of this fight, King Louie’s palace comes crumbling down. Oops… Bagheera and Baloo then discuss Mowgli’s future, where Bagheera convinces Baloo that Mowgli must go to the “man village” for his own safety, to protect him from Shere Khan. Baloo reluctantly agrees and plans to take Mowgli there himself. But as they set off, Mowgli gets angry at Baloo for trying to trick him and runs away. Bagheera and Baloo try to find him before Shere Khan does, however, as Bagheera is asking for the elephant patrol to look out for him, Shere Khan is actually listening in on the conversation and now knows Mowgli is alone.
Shere Khan suspects Mowgli has been “detained” again by Kaa, the python, as he hears the snake singing to someone. Shere Khan warns Kaa off trying to keep the “man cub” for himself, and leaves. Mowgli escapes Kaa’s coils and pushes him out of the tree again, much to Kaa’s annoyance who thinks he’s too much hassle to eat now, and slithers off. Mowgli then finds himself in a deserted part of the jungle, where four vultures are arguing about what to do today. They spot Mowgli and go over to talk to him, teasing him, where Mowgli reacts angrily. The vultures apologise and offer to be his friend with a very catchy song. However, Shere Khan comes in at the end to spoil the party. Mowgli stands up to Shere Khan, saying he isn’t afraid of him, and won’t run away. Shere Khan doesn’t care, and lunges at him, only for Baloo to arrive at the perfect time to pull him back and away from Mowgli. Baloo tries to hold the tiger off, but soon Shere Khan viciously attacks Baloo. At that point, lightning strikes a nearby tree, setting it on fire. The vultures distract Shere Khan so Mowgli can grab a burning branch. Mowgli quickly ties the stick to Shere Khan’s tail who reacts in horror, and runs off scared, deep into the jungle.
Baloo is seriously hurt, believed to be dead by Bagheera, who laments his death. Baloo wakes up just as Bagheera has finished his speech. Despite the fact this should be a happy moment, Bagheera is furious and embarrassed that he has been caught saying nice things about Baloo! The trio find their way to the village, but Mowgli still doesn’t want to go. That is until he sees a pretty young girl collecting water from the lake just outside. Curious, Mowgli gets closer to take a look at her. The girl has already spotted Mowgli and “accidentally” drops her pot of water. Mowgli refills it and offers it back to her. The girl simply walks into the village, and Mowgli follows, carrying her water pot. He smiles back at Bagheera and Baloo and goes into the village. Baloo is upset at losing Mowgli, wanting him to come back, but Bagheera tells him it was the right thing to do. Baloo and Bagheera head home again, as friends, glad that Mowgli will be safe now.
Disney’s version of The Jungle Book is nice and simple, basically just Mowgli having funny encounters with different animals in the jungle on his way to this “man village”. The Disney movie has very little resemblance to the original source material: the novel The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling, first published in 1894, which consists of multiple stories and poems that link together. The vultures and King Louie are not characters in the novel but created by Disney for the movie. As King Louie is an orangutan, he shouldn’t even be in the Disney movie as they are not native to India, but oh well! Shere Khan arrives at the very start of the novel, being fought off by Mowgli’s wolfpack family. He is more of a scary presence in the movie as Disney needed to create a real villain for the story. Kaa has more of a use in the novel though, actually saving Mowgli from the monkeys that capture him. Mowgli also joins the human village about halfway through the novel rather than at the end, like in the film. There are many more characters in the novel than there are in the Disney movie, but the biggest difference is that the Disney film, unsurprisingly, is much lighter in tone, with the overall mood of the novel being quite dark and brooding[1].
CHARACTERS & CAST
Obviously, Mowgli is the central figure of both versions of The Jungle Book. He’s around eleven years old at the time of the movie, which means he’s a bit petulant and stubborn. Mowgli just wants to stay in the jungle, and nobody can tell him otherwise, even if it’s for his own safety. He doesn’t seem to like authority much, so he struggles to listen to Bagheera – even if it puts him at risk of being killed by a tiger with a grudge! The friendship he has with Baloo is very sweet though, and the end scene where he believes Baloo is dead is heart-breaking to watch. Mowgli just wants to be a kid and have fun, and because he comes across as being quite innocent, you can forgive him for being a bit difficult!
Bruce Reitherman voices Mowgli. Bruce is the son of director Woolie Reitherman, and had voiced the role of Christopher Robin in the Winnie the Pooh shorts, though he had no formal acting experience. He replaced the original voice actor, David Alan Bailey, whose voice had broken during the four years of production so could no longer voice the role. This is quite a common occurrence. Bruce Reitherman had fun recording his lines, and being involved in the movie, though he found the hardest part was laughing on cue[2].
Bagheera is a black panther, and the authoritarian figure in the film. Having said that, he is caring towards Mowgli as we see multiple times throughout the film, including at the beginning where he finds Mowgli the wolf family to live with, and when he volunteers to take Mowgli to the “man village” and protects him from harm numerous times on the journey. Bagheera gets frustrated with Mowgli, yes, and doesn’t think much of Baloo, who he thinks has too much fun and is too relaxed for his own good, but, by the end of the movie, Baloo and Bagheera actually become friends, and Bagheera learns to not be so uptight all the time. They are the two best characters for me. Bagheera is voiced by Sebastian Cabot, who voiced Lord Ector and narrated The Sword in the Stone (1963), as well as narrating the Winnie the Pooh shorts in the 1960s and 1970s. Cabot also narrates The Jungle Book.
Baloo is a fun-loving, carefree sloth bear, who spends most of his time just relaxing, eating, and sleeping! Him and Mowgli become close very quickly in the movie, and he becomes a sort of fun uncle figure to Mowgli, saying he can stay with him and Baloo will keep him away from anyone that’s forcing him to go to the village, though he does eventually recognise that Shere Khan is a threat to Mowgli and that he isn’t safe in the jungle. He doesn’t want to take Mowgli to the village, but he feels like he has to, and you can see just how devastated he is by it. Baloo protects Mowgli fiercely, even more so than Bagheera, as he throws himself into the path of Shere Khan and gets hurt quite badly from the tiger’s attack, and also barrels in to the palace of King Louie to try to distract the apes so Bagheera can rescue Mowgli. He’s quite impulsive but his heart is definitely in the right place.
Phil Harris is the voice of Baloo. The team had been struggling to find a convincing voice for Baloo the bear, until one day, Walt heard Phil Harris at a party, telling jokes, and instantly knew he’d be perfect for Baloo, so they brought him in. Initially, Harris was reluctant to voice the role, and ended up improvising many of his lines to make them feel more like something he’d naturally say. This was the first time that a Disney movie had used “celebrity actors”, and Phil Harris was one of those, as he had such a recognisable voice, thanks to his roles in radio comedy and from his time as a band leader. Phil Harris would go on to voice two more notable Disney characters: Thomas O’Malley in The Aristocats (1970) and Little John in Robin Hood (1973).
Louis Prima voices King Louie, the orangutan. King Louie is quite a flamboyant sort of character; he’s loud and talkative, always singing or dancing. He’s determined to find out the secret of how to make fire, even going so far as to kidnap the “man cub” to try to make a deal with him to find out. It’s a bit creepy if you think about it, but he’s so much fun and his song, “I Wan’na Be Like You”, is one of the catchiest in the movie, so you just have to go along with it all, like Mowgli does. The character was very much based on Prima’s own expressions when leading his band, and both his and the band members’ movements when recording the song were used as inspiration for many of Louie and the monkeys’ dance moves. Louis Prima was a famous singer, bandleader and trumpeter at this time, and was a frequent performer in Las Vegas in the 1950s, with his jazz, swing and “big band” music.
Then there’s the villain of the film, Shere Khan, the tiger. Disney decided they wanted to make him a straight, evil character, who is overly confident and calm, and feels superior to others. It’s a great idea for a character who is a tiger, as most people would think to make that character very vicious and angry. Shere Khan is completely different because he seems so above everything, and lets his reputation precede him. Walt Disney thought of George Sanders for the role instantly after seeing the drawings of the character and hearing about the personality choice. George Sanders was a British actor and singer, known for his bass voice and upper-class English accent. He is known for playing the role of Jack Favell in Alfred Hitchcock’s Rebecca (1940), and Addison DeWitt in All About Eve (1950), where he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1951. He was another recognisable “celebrity voice” that Disney used for this movie[3].
Kaa the python is a funny sort of sidekick character. He isn’t menacing, though he frequently tries to hypnotise multiple animals into falling asleep so he can eat them; he’s just hilarious because he fails so often, and has a very soft sort of voice so you can’t even take him seriously as a villain. This is more evidence of clever character personality choices by the team at Disney, much like Shere Khan, by veering away from the obvious idea. Kaa is voiced by veteran Disney voice actor Sterling Holloway, who is best known for voicing the Cheshire Catin Alice in Wonderland (1951), and, of course, Winnie the Pooh.
Rounding out the cast, there is J. Pat O’Malley who voiced multiple characters in other Disney films such as the Walrus and the Carpenter in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Jasper and Colonel the Sheepdog in One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961). O’Malley voices Colonel Hathi, the leader of the elephant patrol, obsessed with relieving his glory days in the service, despite the reluctancy and obvious annoyance of the other elephants, including his wife Winifred, who is voiced by Verna Felton, another known Disney voice actor, who brought us The Fairy Godmother in Cinderella (1950), the Queen of Hearts in Alice in Wonderland (1951), and Flora, one of the three Good Fairies, in Sleeping Beauty (1959). The Jungle Book would be her final film, released after her death in 1966.
MUSIC
As well as having memorable characters, the music is a vital part of The Jungle Book. The music was written by the Sherman Brothers, Richard and Robert Sherman. The duo had worked on numerous Disney projects before this film such as the live-action movies The Absent-Minded Professor and The Parent Trap in 1961, and Mary Poppins in 1964. They also wrote the music for The Sword in the Stone (1963). The Sherman Brothers had written some Disney attraction theme songs by this point too, such as “It’s a Small World (After All)” for the boat ride of the same name, and “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow” for the Carousel of Progress, both attractions at the 1964 New York World’s Fair.
The Sherman Brothers wrote five songs in total for The Jungle Book, with George Bruns composing the score. Kaa’s song, “Trust in Me”, came about from a scene that animator Floyd Norman had developed. Kaa is hypnotising Mowgli to sleep, and then moves Mowgli over his coils, turning them into stairs, a slide, and a hammock. I both love this scene and the song; it should be a scary scene as Mowgli is about to get eaten by a python, yet Disney made it funny. The song was inspired by an unused song that was originally written by the Sherman Brothers for Mary Poppins (1964), called “The Land of Sand”. It’s a mysterious tune that fits perfectly into this scene with the sneaky antics of Kaa.
“That’s What Friends Are For” is performed by the group of vultures that Mowgli meets near the end of the movie, who may seem familiar to some, with their floppy hairstyles and Liverpudlian accents. The song was originally meant to be recorded by the Beatles, so it was created as a soft rock song, however, when the Beatles’ schedule meant they could not be involved in the picture, it became a barbershop quartet instead, with other actors coming in to voice and perform the vultures’ lines. It was also thought that having a Beatles-style song included might date the movie. This is another great song, the harmonies are excellent, and I particularly like the final line that Shere Khan sings solo.
For “I Wan’na Be Like You”, the Sherman Brothers had Louis Prima in mind for the part of King Louie when they wrote the song. The Sherman Brothers specifically went to Prima to play him the song to try to get him on board with the role. Luckily, he didn’t need much convincing! They wanted it to feel very “Vegas”, and quite wild and crazy, which Prima and his band managed to do very successfully in their recording.
To round out the Sherman Brothers’ contribution to the movie, they also wrote “Colonel Hathi’s March”, for the elephant patrol scenes, which was inspired by both of the brothers’ military service, and “My Own Home”, the song sung by the girl from the village at the end of the movie. “My Own Home” became a reprise of George Bruns’ main theme of the score, which is woven throughout the film, so it became a fitting end to the story to write a song based on that. I actually like all of the songs in The Jungle Book, and some of them get stuck in my head for days!
The score by George Bruns is good too, never being too scary even in the final fight scene with Shere Khan, and upbeat in other places. The main theme is my favourite instrumental piece though. Bruns had composed the score for many other Disney movies, including Sleeping Beauty (1959) and The Sword in the Stone (1963).
PRODUCTION
Walt Disney first became interested in the story The Jungle Book in the 1930s, yet Disney only managed to get the rights to adapt the novel in 1962[4]. Walt Disney had leaned on one of his best story men, Bill Peet, to develop ideas for new animated features, especially when other things had taken Walt’s attention. Bill Peet was instrumental in the Animation Department, and was used to having to adapt storylines for the new features. He had practically storyboarded the whole of The Sword in the Stone (1963) on his own. Peet was given the go-ahead by Walt to start adapting The Jungle Book. Staff numbers had been reduced around this time so there was a Master Animator, Woolie Reitherman; Art Director, Ken Anderson; and four Supervising Animators, including Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas; and then Bill Peet, as the Story Man, as opposed to around forty people working in Animation during Disney’s “Golden Age”, so naturally, Bill Peet would have had much of the control around the movies at this time.
However, Walt was not going to let Peet take all the creative reins as he had done with The Sword in the Stone (1963), as that had not gone well and Walt was not happy with the final product. This was ultimately his reasoning for being so involved in The Jungle Book. Walt found out that Bill Peet had kept very true to the original novel, but Walt didn’t want that; it was too dark. They couldn’t agree on how to move forward so Peet left the studio and never returned. Larry Clemmons was brought it to put together the story instead, along with other new talents, such as Floyd Norman. Walt wanted to make his version of The Jungle Book that wasn’t focused on the book. He wanted it to be a fun adventure, without the heavy stuff, but with plenty of heart[5]. The Sherman Brothers took over the music from Terry Gilkyson, whose compositions had matched the dark, mysterious tone of Peet’s version of the story, though one of Gilkyson’s original songs remained in the movie by popular demand: “The Bare Necessities”, which embodies heart and fun, so fit the new tone well. I’m glad it was kept in the movie as it is one of the most recognised songs.
Floyd Norman said in an interview, along with Richard Sherman, that when they were brought on to the team to make The Jungle Book that Walt had initially asked everyone if they had read the original novel. They admitted that they had not, expecting Walt to be annoyed that they “hadn’t done the homework”, but he was glad they hadn’t so they wouldn’t be influenced by anything in the novel, and would be on board with Walt’s tone for the story, of being bright, full of story, music, sight gags, and strong characters with personality[6].
For the look of the movie, some previous methods from other Disney movies of the 1950s and 1960s were used, such as xerography and hand-painted backgrounds, which would’ve made the animation process easier and less costly. There was also strong emphasis on creating the right background styling, specifically requested by Walt Disney, as Walt had not been a fan of the styling in The Sword in the Sword (1963), as he felt there was too much colour in the backgrounds, and wanted the backgrounds to be more monochromatic for The Jungle Book to give a nice backdrop for the characters[7].
Furthermore, The Jungle Book reused previous footage from other Disney animated films, such as Mowgli being licked by the wolfs, which came from a scene in The Sword in the Stone (1963) with Arthur and the dogs, and the wolf cubs originally being puppies from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)[8]. This favour was returned though as Baloo would be used as strong inspiration for the character of Little John in Robin Hood (1973), as well as some of the dance sequences from “I Wan’na Be Like You” being copied into that film.
Production continued, and many comical sequences had been completed, with Walt’s vision for the movie being realised. However, as is natural, some scenes and ideas ended up on the “cutting room floor”. Firstly, there was a character called Rocky the Rhino. Rocky would’ve been in the scene with the vultures. Rocky was meant to be half-blind and dumb, with character actor Frank Fontaine to be the voice. The original idea was for Mowgli to meet Rocky, and for the vultures to coerce the rhino into attacking Mowgli. As the rhino was blind, he would keep missing Mowgli until Mowgli punched him, at which point, the vultures would ask Mowgli to be part of their group and they would sing the original version, the rock, Beatles-inspired version, of “That’s What Friends Are For” together, with Rocky joining in at the end. Walt did not like the character, and went off the idea of Rocky and the voice of Frank Fontaine so the character was dropped[9]. I agree; it doesn’t sound like the best scene!
Secondly, there was an alternate ending to the film, which involved Bagheera taking Mowgli to the village, where it was guarded by a man with a gun, who goes to shoot Bagheera, but misses and then tries to shoot Mowgli as he reaches the gates to the village. Luckily, the villagers protect him, as the hunter thinks Mowgli is a leopard enchanted to be a boy, and Mowgli’s real parents rush to him. One day, Mowgli hears the hunter lying about killing Shere Khan, and jumps in to say that it wasn’t true as he’d encountered Shere Khan and that he’d tried to kill him. Mowgli also recounts some other tales from his time in the jungle, though nobody believes him, so he runs out of the village, carrying a lit torch. He uses the fire to scare the other animals, including Shere Khan and decides to live in the jungle, using the fire to protect him. Bagheera and Baloo are horrified to find he’s brought fire into the jungle and leave him. Shere Khan waits for the fire to go out, but just as he is about to attack, the village hunter appears and orders Mowgli to take him to the treasure at the palace ruins, where King Louie lives. Mowgli is ordered to carry the treasure back to the village. Then, the hunter suddenly stops, and tells Mowgli to go into the jungle, where he will set it on fire. Mowgli grabs the torch and throws it into the lake. Then, Shere Khan attacks the hunter, killing him, before turning on Mowgli. Mowgli finds the hunter’s gun and shoots Shere Khan dead. Bagheera and Baloo find Mowgli and escort him back to the village, proud of what he’s done. Mowgli is now a hero, and spends time in the village and the jungle[10].
That sounds way too dark for a Disney film, so I’m glad they settled on the ending with the little girl. But this wasn’t an easy decision. They had struggled to think of an ending originally, not knowing how best to finish the story. It was actually Walt’s idea to have a little girl encourage Mowgli to follow her into the village. Not many people were convinced it would work, but Walt insisted they tried it and it did. Walt loved the ending and the song, but would unfortunately not be able to see the full movie[11].
Nobody knew Walt was as unwell as he was during production on The Jungle Book. They knew he was going into hospital, but they assumed it was for an old polo injury in his neck. Walt would actually be diagnosed with lung cancer. In December 1966, Walt visited the studio for what would be the last time. He was thin, gaunt and grey, and it was quite clear he was very ill. A week later, the team were told that Walt Disney had died. With Walt’s passing, the mantel of animation was passed onto the remaining “Nine Old Men”, with Woolie Reitherman taking over the Animation Department. They completed The Jungle Book in the way Walt had wanted[12].
RECEPTION
The Jungle Book premiered in theatres on 18th October 1967, to overwhelmingly positive reviews, praising its simple storyline, use of colour, and for its music, with “The Bare Necessities” even being nominated for Best Original Song at the 40th Academy Awards. It lost out to “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Dolittle (1967). The Jungle Book grossed approximately $23.8 million against a budget of $4 million during its initial release. It is impossible to tell whether Walt’s death may have increased the popularity of the movie, with audiences wanting to see the last film he had been a part of, but either way, it was a hit.
LEGACY
The movie was such a success that its characters and music continue to feature at the Disney theme parks. At Disneyland Paris, during Summer 2019, they held an event titled The Lion King & Jungle Festival. For The Jungle Book, there was a show and parade that travelled all over the park with floats, dancers, and performances of some of the songs from the film, as well as characters like King Louie, Mickey, Minnie, Donald and Daisy. It was called The Jungle Book Jive. Also in Paris, in Adventureland, there is a restaurant named Colonel Hathi’s Outpost Restaurant, formally named The Explorer’s Club. Despite the vaguely jungle theming, it serves Italian fare, such as pizza and pasta.
At Disneyland in California, at the Fantasyland Theatre, there was a stage show titled Mickey and the Magical Map, which ran from May 2013 until 2020, when the park was closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak; it did not return. This show had King Louie sing “I Wan’na Be Like You” alongside dancers and a trumpet player in a short segment. Also as part of Disneyland’s version of the nighttime show Fantasmic!, King Louie appears on a floating barge with his monkeys, whilst a 100-foot-long puppet of Kaa slithers over the stage.
At Shanghai Disneyland, the stage show Mickey’s Storybook Adventure features a section themed to The Jungle Book. Within this “magic book” that Mickey finds, Baloo appears to perform “Bare Necessities”, followed by King Louie who sings “I Wan’na Be Like You”. This show opened in June 2021. The same show, but with the title Mickey and the Wondrous Book, also exists at Hong Kong Disneyland and opened in November 2015. Also at Hong Kong Disneyland, within their version of the it’s a small world attraction, you can see figures of Baloo and Mowgli. At Tokyo Disneyland, there is a shop named Jungle Carnival within Adventureland themed to The Jungle Book. The building features two different carnival-style games which guests can play to win prizes.
Finally, at Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, at Epcot, during the now-defunct fireworks show Harmonious, during the “India” section of the show, the song “I Wan’na Be Like You” was re-recorded to give it more of an authentic Indian film, and dancing puppets of characters from the film were shown on the screens on the barges.
At Disney’s Animal Kingdom. there were multiple references to The Jungle Book, however, sadly they have all since closed. One of these was the hilarious KiteTails show, with The Jungle Book being one of two different stories reenacted via huge inflatable kites at the Discovery River Theater from October 2021 to September 2022. Guests particularly enjoyed seeing the kites crash-land on to the empty stands so they could be deflated!
There was also a stage show at Animal Kingdom in the Theater in the Wild, which now houses Finding Nemo: The Big Blue…and Beyond!, called Journey into the Jungle Book. It opened with the park in April 1998 before closing a year later in April 1999 to make way for a new show, Tarzan Rocks! There was also a brief show held over Summer 2016, which was a nighttime show, called The Jungle Book: Alive with Magic. It used lit-up barges, dancers, water effects, and musical performances of songs from the film. It was a temporary show to fill in until the delayed Rivers of Light nighttime show could debut, which it finally did, running from February 2017 to March 2020. Still at Walt Disney World, at the Pop Century Resort, within the 1960s area of the park, you can find a huge statue of Baloo and Mowgli outside one of the buildings. For any fan of the film, it makes a good photo opportunity.
In terms of character meet-and-greets, at Walt Disney World, you are most likely to meet King Louie or Baloo at Animal Kingdom. Mowgli even appeared here back in 2013, but this was an unannounced, very rare appearance. Baloo was also spotted in the lobby of the Art of Animation Resort in June 2022. King Louie and Baloo from TaleSpin have been announced as appearing at the Jollywood Nights event for the holidays in 2024 at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. At Disneyland, it looks like characters from The Jungle Book are only likely to be seen at Special Events, though again, it is likely to only be Baloo and Louie. At Disneyland Paris, there appears to be a dedicated meet-and-greet location for Baloo in Adventureland, though Louie has also been seen with him at times. At Hong Kong Disneyland, Baloo and Louie were seen in the last year or so, whereas at Shanghai Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, it seems that these two are rarer characters, though at Shanghai, Louie and Baloo are listed on their website as characters that appear at the Meet Disney Jungle Characters at Happy Circle location in Adventure Isle.
When I was younger Baloo and Louie were so easy to meet at Walt Disney World, but it seems like they aren’t as prevalent now, perhaps due to other more recent movies having more in-demand characters. However, The Jungle Book does still feature in Disney merchandise, through clothing, bedding sets, mugs, accessories, and ornaments.
As well as this, The Jungle Book had a direct-to-video sequel in 2003, The Jungle Book 2. Since the sequel was released thirty-six years after the original movie, many of the original voice cast were no longer with us. John Goodman replaced Phil Harris as the voice of Baloo; Jim Cummings, current voice of Winnie the Pooh, replaced Sterling Holloway as the voice of Kaa, naturally, as well as that of Colonel Hathi; Tony Jay, voice of Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), took over from George Sanders as the voice of Shere Khan; and child star Haley Joel Osment became the voice of Mowgli. Voice actor Bob Joles replaced Sebastian Cabot as the voice of Bagheera. The Jungle Book 3 was pitched in 2005 but was not made.
There was also the animated television series TaleSpin that aired from 1990 to 1991 originally. It primarily followed Baloo, and a cast of new characters, however Louie and Shere Khan also appeared at times too, as versions of themselves from the movie. Tony Jay and Jim Cummings voiced characters here. This was followed by another animated television series Jungle Cubs (1996-98), which was a prequel to the movie and showed all the animals of the jungle, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, and Shere Khan, as “cubs”. Jim Cummings voiced Kaa here. I remember watching this show on weekend mornings in the UK.
There were also three live-action films that followed the animated The Jungle Book. The first was the 1994 film Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, or simply The Jungle Book. It adapted the stories more closely than the animated film, and the animals here do not talk. It starred Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli, who later went on to voice the part of David in the Lilo & Stitch franchise. He also portrayed Böri Khan in Disney’s live-action Mulan (2020), as well as Benny, Lahela’s father, in the Disney+ series Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. (2021-23). The Jungle Book also starred British actors John Cleese, Lena Headey, and Jason Flemyng, as well as New Zealand actor Sam Neill.
In 1998, another live-action movie was made by Disney titled The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story. This time the animals did talk, as Eartha Kitt, voice of Yzma in The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), voiced the character of Bagheera. Wallace Shawn, Brian Doyle-Murray (as Baloo), and Stephen Tobolowsky also voiced animal characters.
Then in 2016, the big live-action remake happened. This time The Jungle Book became a live-action/CGI remake of the animated film. Voice and motion capture work was used for the animal characters, with big names voicing roles, such as Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and Christopher Walken as King Louie. The film was directed by Jon Favreau. It received positive reviews and grossed around $960 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016. The Jungle Book won the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and the BAFTA for Best Visual Effects. It also won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, amongst other accolades. A sequel to this film is currently in development.
FINAL THOUGHTS
The Jungle Book is a big part of Disney Animation history with it signifying both an ending and a new beginning for everyone. It is one of those “must-see” Disney films, which everyone has seen, no matter their age. It’s a great movie, with catchy music, lovable characters, and an easy-to-follow plot; it doesn’t take itself too seriously. I think that is why it’s continued to stay popular throughout the decades.
It is plain to see that Walt Disney’s version of The Jungle Book embodied his love of story and characters with strong personalities, and his involvement and passion for the project come through strongly. That, along with the success of this movie, gave the company confidence in animation again, and the determination to move forward without their respected leader.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Emily Whittingham, ‘Disney’s The Jungle Book: 10 Differences Between The Book And The Animated Movie’, ScreenRant (online), 6th August 2021.
[2] Credit: Anna Tims, ‘How we made The Jungle Book’, The Guardian (online), 29th July 2013.
[3] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).
[4] Credit: Disney, Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (1997).
[5] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).
[6] Credit: Disney, Music, Memories & Mowgli: A Conversation with Richard M. Sherman, Diane Disney Miller and Floyd Norman (2014).
[7] Credit: Bri Bertolaccini, ‘The Jungle Book (1967): A Disney Hand-Drawn Animation Masterpiece’, The Walt Disney Family Museum (online), 28th September 2022.
[8] Credit: Brittany DiCologero, ‘Today in Disney History, 1967: ‘The Jungle Book’ Debuted in Theaters’, WDW Magazine (online), 18th October 2022.
[9] Credit: Disney, Deleted Scene: The Lost Character – Rocky the Rhino (2014).
[10] Credit: Disney, Alternate Ending: Mowgli and the Hunter (2014).
[11] Credit: Disney, Walt Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’: The Making of a Musical Masterpiece (1997).
[12] Credit: Disney, The Bare Necessities: The Making of ‘The Jungle Book’ (2007).
The Disney Purist 