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Hello, everybody! I’m back! Well, with everybody waiting for the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book coming out next week…I’m honestly less then happy. Yep, I’m one of the people who is not looking forward to the remake. The trailers looked so ridiculous I almost thought it was one of those YouTube parody trailers! I guess they’re trying to stay close to the original book, but when you find out Walt Disney’s entire idea for his version was to stay far away from the book as possible, it sounds like a bad idea! So, I decided to look back at the 1967 classic and see why it holds up so great. Now, let’s begin!

The Imagery:

What can you expect from six of Disney’s Nine Old Men (Wolfgang Reitherman (Directing), Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, John Lounsbery and Milt Kahl)? While the backgrounds of the jungle and the different places it goes look very nice, the true star of the imagery is within the character animation. And you can tell that each animator was 100% confident in making these characters look alive. Two scenes in particular I want to talk about are when Baloo tells Mowgli he has to go back to the man village, and when Shere Khan visits Kaa. All the expressions, gestures and emotions go through with each character and it looks great. It’s not like the remake where the CGI characters look like regular animals with celebrity voices slapped on them! 5/5, Amazing

The Writing:

The story is about an orphaned boy named Mowgli who was raised by wolves in the jungle. But when the ferocious, man-hating tiger, Shere Khan returns to the jungle, Bagheera the panther thinks Mowgli should go to the man village. But Mowgli doesn’t want to go and prefers life in the jungle, and along his way he meets numerous characters, one of which being Baloo, the care-free bear who is more then happy to watch over Mowgli and teach him the ‘Bare Necessities’ of life. I should probably say that the original book by Rudyard Kipling is not only dark, but INTENSELY dark. And while I do love dark imagery, I didn’t really feel a balance in the story. And yes, it’s a huge understatement that Walt wanted to stay far from the original as possible, in fact when his story crew said they didn’t read the original book, Walt encouraged them not to do so. And people may disagree with me, but I highly prefer Disney’s version over the original. And like said, the book doesn’t always have to be the superior version. Much like Alice in Wonderland, it doesn’t have a huge story, but the characters are truly what makes it work. And it does put in a bit of darkness to the story, mostly when building up the villain, Shere Khan or with the spooky visuals with the hypnotizing Kaa. The songs, what can I say, some of Disney’s best, ‘The Bare Necessities’, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, ‘That’s What Friends Are For’, some of the most memorable and beloved Disney songs of all time. I should also point out that Gregory Peck of To Kill A MockingBird fame, kept wanting people to nominate this film for Best Picture, but nobody wanted to simply because it was animated. Yeah, there’s no surprising I side more with Peck here, because, have you guys seen what the Oscar’s are like nowadays? 5/5, Amazing

The Cast:

I think the reason why Walt still wanted to make his own telling of The Jungle Book is because he saw strong possibilities with the characters and how they can be used. And let me tell you, Walt delivered! All the characters in this movie are all so memorable and fun. Let’s start with Mowgli. While he can act stubborn at times, he still is a kid and not wanting to leave his home is understandable. Bagheera is a strict panther thought even if acts stern and serious, does care about Mowgli’s safety. Baloo is one of my favorite Disney characters ever, he has such a happy-go-lucky personality, always tends to look on the positives, but at the same time, knows when to be serious, as his relationship with Mowgli is one of the many highlights of the film. I also really love Shere Khan, one of the most underrated Disney villains. He was built up BIG TIME throughout the film, on how dangerous he is and how nothing can stop him from it. And when we finally do see him acting calm, classy and gentleman-like, it makes him even more intimidating, making you wonder when he’s going to strike. The other characters are too many to count, from Kaa to King Louie to Colonel Hathi to the Vultures, all of these characters not only have fun and interesting personalities, but have great actors to play them like Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders and Sterling Holloway. 5/5, Amazing

Final Rating:

The Jungle Book is not only a great Disney film, it’s one of my Top 10 Favorite Disney Films. It has great animation, strong writing, memorable songs and lovable characters. Go check this out if you haven’t already! 5/5, Amazing

Description
Hello, everybody! I’m back! Well, with everybody waiting for the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book coming out next week…I’m honestly less then happy. Yep, I’m one of the people who is not looking forward to the remake. The trailers looked so ridiculous I almost thought it was one of those YouTube parody trailers! I guess they’re trying to stay close to the original book, but when you find out Walt Disney’s entire idea for his version was to stay far away from the book as possible, it sounds like a bad idea! So, I decided to look back at the 1967 classic and see why it holds up so great. Now, let’s begin!

The Imagery:

What can you expect from six of Disney’s Nine Old Men (Wolfgang Reitherman (Directing), Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston, Milt Kahl, John Lounsbery and Milt Kahl)? While the backgrounds of the jungle and the different places it goes look very nice, the true star of the imagery is within the character animation. And you can tell that each animator was 100% confident in making these characters look alive. Two scenes in particular I want to talk about are when Baloo tells Mowgli he has to go back to the man village, and when Shere Khan visits Kaa. All the expressions, gestures and emotions go through with each character and it looks great. It’s not like the remake where the CGI characters look like regular animals with celebrity voices slapped on them! 5/5, Amazing

The Writing:

The story is about an orphaned boy named Mowgli who was raised by wolves in the jungle. But when the ferocious, man-hating tiger, Shere Khan returns to the jungle, Bagheera the panther thinks Mowgli should go to the man village. But Mowgli doesn’t want to go and prefers life in the jungle, and along his way he meets numerous characters, one of which being Baloo, the care-free bear who is more then happy to watch over Mowgli and teach him the ‘Bare Necessities’ of life. I should probably say that the original book by Rudyard Kipling is not only dark, but INTENSELY dark. And while I do love dark imagery, I didn’t really feel a balance in the story. And yes, it’s a huge understatement that Walt wanted to stay far from the original as possible, in fact when his story crew said they didn’t read the original book, Walt encouraged them not to do so. And people may disagree with me, but I highly prefer Disney’s version over the original. And like said, the book doesn’t always have to be the superior version. Much like Alice in Wonderland, it doesn’t have a huge story, but the characters are truly what makes it work. And it does put in a bit of darkness to the story, mostly when building up the villain, Shere Khan or with the spooky visuals with the hypnotizing Kaa. The songs, what can I say, some of Disney’s best, ‘The Bare Necessities’, ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, ‘That’s What Friends Are For’, some of the most memorable and beloved Disney songs of all time. I should also point out that Gregory Peck of To Kill A MockingBird fame, kept wanting people to nominate this film for Best Picture, but nobody wanted to simply because it was animated. Yeah, there’s no surprising I side more with Peck here, because, have you guys seen what the Oscar’s are like nowadays? 5/5, Amazing

The Cast:

I think the reason why Walt still wanted to make his own telling of The Jungle Book is because he saw strong possibilities with the characters and how they can be used. And let me tell you, Walt delivered! All the characters in this movie are all so memorable and fun. Let’s start with Mowgli. While he can act stubborn at times, he still is a kid and not wanting to leave his home is understandable. Bagheera is a strict panther thought even if acts stern and serious, does care about Mowgli’s safety. Baloo is one of my favorite Disney characters ever, he has such a happy-go-lucky personality, always tends to look on the positives, but at the same time, knows when to be serious, as his relationship with Mowgli is one of the many highlights of the film. I also really love Shere Khan, one of the most underrated Disney villains. He was built up BIG TIME throughout the film, on how dangerous he is and how nothing can stop him from it. And when we finally do see him acting calm, classy and gentleman-like, it makes him even more intimidating, making you wonder when he’s going to strike. The other characters are too many to count, from Kaa to King Louie to Colonel Hathi to the Vultures, all of these characters not only have fun and interesting personalities, but have great actors to play them like Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders and Sterling Holloway. 5/5, Amazing

Final Rating:

The Jungle Book is not only a great Disney film, it’s one of my Top 10 Favorite Disney Films. It has great animation, strong writing, memorable songs and lovable characters. Go check this out if you haven’t already! 5/5, Amazing