THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967)
Film Review
As a Disney fan, Disney’s The Jungle Book is an amazing animated movie. The movie’s story involves a young orphaned-boy who was raised by wolves in the jungles within India for 10 years, but had to be brought to a Man-Village because the evil Shere Khan, a tiger who deeply hates humans, had returned to the part of the jungle where Mowgli dwells. However, Mowgli does not want to leave the jungle which launches the incredible and amusing adventure Mowgli and his two guardians, Bagheera, a black panther, and Baloo, a bear, go into. This movie can be described with two words: fun and funny! The actors did an amazing job voicing their respective characters which contributed in making this film enjoyable to watch. Also, the film is able to successfully exhibit a world of comedy thanks to its constant funny moments.
My favourite characters of the movie are Baloo and King Louie, an orangutan who is the king of the apes. I like them because they are entertaining, amusing and cool. The songs that they sing, the Bare Necessities and I Want to be Like You, are the best songs of the movie. I would give this credit to their voice actors: Phil Harris, Baloo’s voice actor who was a film, tv, and radio actor, and Louie Primas, King Louie’s voice actor who was a music artist nicknamed The King of the Swing. They performed those roles fabulously and brought out the best of them to make them not just likeable characters to the main character, Mowgli, but also to the viewers. My favourite part in the movie is when those two characters are dancing together in the ancient ruins.
In addition to enjoyable, this film gives an amazing vibe of comedy. I have watched this film many times since I was a child and its funny moments still make me laugh today. Examples are when Bagheera is trying to get Mowgli up into the tree for them to rest for the night and when Baloo is trying to teach Mowgli how to fight like a bear. Even during serious moments like in the battle against Shere Khan and when Baloo is believed to be dead, the comedy remains just to help make moments like those less unpleasant, which works. Even the main villain, Shere Khan the tiger, is able to add comedy to the film by himself when he comically, out of nowhere, finishes the vultures’ song.
With the voice actors giving more than just a voice to the animated characters and with constant moments of laughter, Disney’s The Jungle Book can take viewers on a fun and funny adventure!
Review by Dean Attari