My Movie Review on The Jungle Book (1967)
Good evening, my friends.
This is your jolly-as-always film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another film review.
And today, I've decided to review an animated Disney film that's an absolute favorite of mine and is very special to me: "The Jungle Book (1967)".
Here's the summary of this beloved tale:
In the jungles of India, a man cub named Mowgli has been living with a wolfpack since he was a baby, having been found and taken to them by a black panther named Bagheera.
However, when a malicious tiger named Shere Khan decides to return to the part of the jungle Mowgli's staying in and kill Mowgli, Bagheera makes it his mission to take Mowgli to a Man-Village where he'd be safe, despite the man-cub continually wanting to stay in the jungle.
Along the way, Mowgli encounters a wide array of jungle neighbors: Baloo the Bear, King Louie the Orangutan, Kaa the Python, a herd of elephants, and a quartet of vultures.
Ever since I was a child, this movie has been among the many that played a very big role in my life. When I eventually found out that this was the last animated film to be produced by Walt Disney himself, and that he went all-out in lending his own creative hands into the film before his death, it became something I grew all-the-more close to. But there are tons of reasons besides that involving why this movie is amazing.
The voice acting, casting, characters, and character development were astounding!
Each and every cast member featured fit their parts like a glove, and their performances inserted terrific personality and dimensionalism into the characters. For instance, Sebastian Cabot gave his character of Bagheera a lovable sense of wisdom and authority; Sterling Holloway gave his character of Kaa an entrancing, yet unpredictable, personality; and George Sanders gave his character of Shere Khan a charming and dignified, yet unexpectingly cruel and malicious persona.
The best of them, obviously, is Phil Harris and his character of Baloo. Harris's comedic chops and improvisation gave Baloo a lot of the funniest moments and best lines, and he incorporated such a lovable and innocent personality. Baloo's character development throughout the film, consisting of how fond he's grown of Mowgli, and how much he has to think about what's best for Mowgli and come to terms with Mowgli being a human, made him all-the-more full of dimension.
Admittedly, Mowgli does at times act rather bratty, but yet...Bruce Reitherman gives the character a lovable sense of innocence. The jungle has been the closest place to Mowgli for much of his life, and so he finds moving somewhere relatively new to him, like the Man-Village, to be a really scary idea. He wants to stay in the jungle because it's the place he's familiar with the most and it's where the ones he knows and loves lives, which people can relate to. The lessons he learns about friendship, and his growing protective and caring side for others make him a fantastic focus all-the-more.
The story and plot line by Larry Clemmons, Ken Anderson, Ralph Wright, and Vance Gerry was also fun. True, it may not have been the most faithful adaption to the original stories by Rudyard Kipling, but that hardly matters. If it was all dark and broody, this film would've been a bomb for Disney. The film's lighthearted and upbeat tone was something that helped give this film more heart. Walt Disney's fingerprints and creative mind appeared throughout the film too, and the results of it are amazing.
To boot, the writing team, along with Walt Disney and his contributions, did a marvelous job at making the story so character-driven, with fantastic dialogue on the side. It's especially to the point of where one would say "The plot isn't the characters. The characters are the plot".
The direction by Wolfgang Reitherman, and the animation done by him and his army of animators, was also remarkable. For a film from the 60s', Reitherman and the animators remarkably made the environment so lush, and they gave a perfect storybook feeling to it all to match the opening book at the beginning. Along with that, they helped what Disney and the writers envisioned come to life wonderfully while even adding flair of their own into the mix.
The film also has a flawless balance of humor, heart, and emotion.
The comedy aspect of the film was just so hilarious! Unlike most comedies of today, the gags were given much creative thought. Among others, the humor was also innocent, not relying on disgusting or political sort of jokes. I like how the production team likewise took the time to incorporate emotional or heartfelt moments, which especially helped the story be taken seriously by audiences and for them to relax from the comedic moments.
Finally, it all comes down to the music and songs for this film.
The songs by the Sherman brothers, Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman, were wonderfully melodious! Every lyric that they created was instantly memorable, giving extraordinary bounce with every beat thrown in, especially when a rhyme comes up. The score that was made by George Burns was likewise entrancing, projecting a unique Indian Jungle feel.
It's hard to pick which songs that I think are the best, but if I have to choose, it would be "That's What Friends Are For", "I Wanna Be Like You", and "The Bare Necessities", the latter whom Terry Gilkyson did an amazing job at creating.
In conclusion, "The Jungle Book (1967)" a solid five out five stars. Stay tuned for my review of "The Jungle Book (2016)" coming soon.
Also, FYI, I read the actual story book by Rudyard Kipling once. But, in all honesty, I like this movie better.
