19 – The Jungle Book
From medieval Europe to the Jungle. You
can't say that Disney only makes one kind of movie. In a weird way,
though, 1967's The Jungle Book
has a lot more in common with The Sword in the Stone
that I would have thought before watching it.
The
story is about a young boy named Mowgli. He was found in the jungle
as a baby and was taken to a pack of wolves to be raised. Ten years
later, he is forced out of the pack when it's discovered that the
Bengal Tiger Shere Khan has returned to the jungle and Mowgli's
presence puts them all in danger. Mowgli's character is established
pretty early on. He loves the jungle he lives in and is very brave.
Almost to a fault. He is constantly getting himself into trouble and
his bravery doesn't help him get out of much of it. This is mostly
because he is constantly trying to prove himself throughout the whole
movie. I really like Mowgli. His personality is a bit different for a
main character than we've seen before. He's a young kid and I think a
lot of people can identify with that feeling of wanting to prove
yourself when you're little and ignored.
The
one who brings Mowgli to the wolves and generally looks out for him
is the Black Panther Bagheera. It's clear from the beginning that he
cares a great deal about Mowgli. When Mowgli is kicked out of the
pack he tries to convince Mowgli to go live in the nearby human
village to keep him safe. Mowgli, of course, hates the idea. Out of
all the characters, Bagheera seems to be the most level headed and
mature. He is always thinking practically about Mowgli and only seems
to lose his cool when Mowgli is ignoring him or when Mowgli gets into
trouble. He can be a bit of a stick in the mud, especially in
Mowgli's opinion, but he is only thinking about what's best for him.
I really liked their relationship.
Later
on, Mowgli meets the Sloth Bear Baloo. Baloo shows Mowgli a new way
to live life, to live without worries and just take things as they
go. This, of course, is very different than Bagheera's way of
thinking. Baloo and Mowgli quickly become friends and Baloo decides
that he wants Mowgli to be his cub. Bagheera really doesn't want this
to happen because he knows Baloo is incredibly immature. I really
liked Baloo's relationship with Mowgli too. It was interesting to see
the differences in how Bagheera and Baloo handled Mowgli. They both
care deeply for Mowgli but have different ideas on how to do so.
Baloo thinks that Mowgli doesn't need to go to the village and that
he can protect him. Ultimately, Baloo would do anything to protect
Mowgli, even if it's not in his own best interest.
One
thing that Mowgli definitely needs protection from is the Snake Kaa.
Kaa is definitely a bit of a creepy character. He has the power to
hypnotize anyone who looks into his eyes. His power is really cool
and seems to work on (almost) anyone. Despite that, he isn't really
utilized very much. He only appears in a few scenes and tries to eat
Mowgli. He is definitely an antagonist but, thankfully, not the only
one. I would have liked to see him used a bit more, though.
The
main antagonist of this movie is definitely Shere Khan. I really
liked that we hear a lot about him before actually seeing him. Any
time someone mentions his name everyone gets very scared and nervous.
It really gives us a good idea of how dangerous he is before we
actually see him. Unfortunately, his first scene isn't really that
great. He suddenly shows up and is just eavesdropping on elephants
where he overhears that Mowgli has run away. This wouldn't be such a
big problem, except that Khan hates humans and immediately wants to
make Mowgli his target. Again, I really wish they would have used
Shere Khan more. I wanted to know why he hated humans so much. I
wanted to see him get into a crazy fight with Baloo and Bagheera.
None of that really happens. There's a little scrap at the end but
they introduce a weakness for Shere Khan very suddenly that ends the
fight a bit anti-climatically.
That
really seems to be a big problem with this movie. They do so well to
have great awesome characters but then they don't end up doing
anything with any of them. In addition to all those characters there
were even more that pop up. There are the Elephants that show up a
bit. When they're introduced they help illustrate how Mowgli is being
rejected by most groups in the jungle. Later on, they help by trying
to send a search group after Mowgli but they don't actually show up
after that. After he meets the elephants, Mowgli ends up getting
kidnapped by a bunch of monkeys and ends up meeting King Louie. The
scene is pretty fun with a big rescue scene but it doesn't really do
much except give them an excuse for a music number. This happens
again later on when we meet the Vultures whose appearance was based
off The Beatles. Again, they don't do very much but give the movie
another opportunity for a musical sequence.
This
movie really ended up reminding me of The Sword in the
Stone. Just like that movie,
this one didn't really have an overarching plot to keep us invested
in all the events. Mowgli basically just keeps getting himself into
danger with Baloo and Bagheera saving him. On top of that, I don't
think the action scenes were as exciting as One Hundred and
One Dalmatians. That's a real
shame to me too because I think the characters they introduced all
had so much potential. If they could have focused on the relationship
between Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera and really played up the danger
that Shere Khan presented them and tried to give the movie some
momentum toward a goal, it really could have benefited from it. Most
of the movie was just excuses for music sequences. To be fair, this
movie did have some of the best music I've heard in a Disney movie.
When all is said and done, however, I think this movie is at least a
step above The Sword in the Stone. The
characters are all interesting and unique and I think the movie just
has this awesome style that I think is really cool.
Tomorrow,
we step foot into the 70s.
19
down. 34 to go.
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