I remember seeing this at the drive-in probably not too long after its release, so I would have been about 7 years old. For some reason I didn't have good memories of it the way I did with other Disney features, so when I recently had an opportunity to see it again I figured it would be interesting to take a second look at it.
Honestly, I still don't like it. I can understand how I was bored at age 7 in the back seat of my dad's Studebaker, and I was just as bored in my living room last weekend in my early fifties.
So what's the problem with Jungle Book? Well, we can start with the disjointed storyline: Mowgli is sent off to the man-village without so much as a 'so long, son' from his wolf-parents, and viewers never really get an idea what it is that he's leaving or why he should feel bad about not being there anymore. He encounters several jungle creatures, including King Louie who has a long drawn-out musical number and then vanishes from the storyline altogether. Why was he even there, except to eat up ten minutes of screen time? The villain, Shere Khan, doesn't even appear until the film is half-over. And the stand-by villain, a huge snake, just isn't very scary with Winnie The Pooh's voice coming out of his mouth.
The musical numbers and some of the characters are also extremely dated: there are beatnik vultures with Liverpool accents, and King Louie himself is also pretty full of late 1960's attitude. And when Mowgli decides to join the man-village just because a pretty girl winks at him well, Mowgli's around 10, right? A little young for that kind of thing, isn't he?
Some reviewers have criticized the animation; I didn't have a problem with that myself. I'm familiar with the slightly rougher style and as it's a product of its time, it worked for me. I also don't mind when animals and humans speak English together, or when bears sing and dance (ARE there bears in the jungle, by the way?). The story just wasn't very good. One catchy song and that's it. Disney had much better efforts in that era, and I'd recommend just about any of the others over this one. If you liked it as a child you might still like it today, but this kid needed prodding from her parents just to stay awake for the end.
Honestly, I still don't like it. I can understand how I was bored at age 7 in the back seat of my dad's Studebaker, and I was just as bored in my living room last weekend in my early fifties.
So what's the problem with Jungle Book? Well, we can start with the disjointed storyline: Mowgli is sent off to the man-village without so much as a 'so long, son' from his wolf-parents, and viewers never really get an idea what it is that he's leaving or why he should feel bad about not being there anymore. He encounters several jungle creatures, including King Louie who has a long drawn-out musical number and then vanishes from the storyline altogether. Why was he even there, except to eat up ten minutes of screen time? The villain, Shere Khan, doesn't even appear until the film is half-over. And the stand-by villain, a huge snake, just isn't very scary with Winnie The Pooh's voice coming out of his mouth.
The musical numbers and some of the characters are also extremely dated: there are beatnik vultures with Liverpool accents, and King Louie himself is also pretty full of late 1960's attitude. And when Mowgli decides to join the man-village just because a pretty girl winks at him well, Mowgli's around 10, right? A little young for that kind of thing, isn't he?
Some reviewers have criticized the animation; I didn't have a problem with that myself. I'm familiar with the slightly rougher style and as it's a product of its time, it worked for me. I also don't mind when animals and humans speak English together, or when bears sing and dance (ARE there bears in the jungle, by the way?). The story just wasn't very good. One catchy song and that's it. Disney had much better efforts in that era, and I'd recommend just about any of the others over this one. If you liked it as a child you might still like it today, but this kid needed prodding from her parents just to stay awake for the end.
