A little baby boy is discovered in the jungle by Bagheera the black panther. The baby is taken to a wolf and raised as one of her cubs. Ten years later, Shere Khan, the man-eating tiger returns to the jungle and Bagheera knows Mowgli must return to the man village for his own safety and be with his own kind. That’s the last place the jungle-loving boy wants to go and it takes the efforts of Bagheera, a free-spirited bear named Baloo, a jungle filled with animals and a pretty girl to keep Mowgli safe from Khan while they convince him to return to human civilization.
Based very loosely on the Mowgli stories by Rudyard Kipling, “The Jungle Book” is essentially a “road” movie of Mowgli’s journey through the jungle and its dangers until he reaches civilization. It’s a fun, and occasionally frightening, treat with lively animation, terrific characters that are well-voiced by veteran actors like Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Saunders and musician Louis Prima as King Louie.
The infectious songs are by Disney stalwarts Robert and Richard Sherman. The song “The Bare Necessities,” which was not written by them, was nominated for an Academy Award.
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