Swing it, daddy! The Jungle Book is given the two-disc Platinum treatment from Disney and boy is it worth it for all you bears and swingers. This edition is a treasure for both the cubs and fans of Disney animation and one that you have to have for your DVD collection.
Bagheera (Sebastian Cabot), the panther, finds a baby abandoned in the woods. Instead of making a meal of it he takes pity on the boy and takes him to a mother wolf that has just had cubs. They take in the foundling and raise it as their own. Mowgli (Bruce Reitherman) is raised as a wolf and behaves as such. The pack learns that Shere Khan (George Sanders, providing a silky villainy), a man-eating tiger, is back in the jungle and would make a quick meal of the “man cub.”
Bagheera is attempting to take the less than willing Mowgli to the man village so that he’ll be safe. On the way Kaa (Sterling Holloway), the python, tries to put the squeeze on Mowgli as he tries to escape Bagheera to keep from leaving his beloved jungle. Mowgli eventually joins up with the fun-loving Baloo (Phil Harris), the bear, who thinks that Mowgli can be his cub and live a lazy life in the jungle.
However, Mowgli is kidnapped by the monkeys and taken to King Louie (Louis Prima), the orangutan and King of the monkeys, because he wants to be a man like Mowgli and know the voodoo behind making fire. Baloo rescues Mowgli from the deranged monkeys, but before the night is through they’ll have to face Shere Khan.
The Jungle Book is just jazzy fun. Sadly, it was the last animated film that Walt Disney was involved in before his death in 1966 as he died during the production. The songs by the Sherman Brothers have rightly become classics in the pantheon of Disney music, especially the “Bare Necessities.” Which is somewhat ironic since it was not written by the Sherman’s but by Terry Gilkyson (I always forget that and many people do as Sherman attests to on the commentary).
However, they did write my favorite song “I Wanna Be Like You” as well as the others used in the soundtrack. Those songs wouldn’t be classics if an expert vocal cast didn’t perform them and Jungle Book has it in spades. Phil Harris is just superb as Baloo and is the embodiment of a good time (though you might not think it looking at the real Harris who looks like a tough character). Sebastian Cabot also is grand as the constantly flustered Bagheera.
Louis Prima is just Louie Prima and that’s a good thing… talk to me daddy. I’ve also been a sucker for Disney villains and George Sanders goes down as one of the smoothest as the slick Shere Khan. Sterling Holloway also goes down as one of the nuttiest. The film is grand stuff and excellent voice work by all. The only downfall might be that the show just sorta stops. I guess it does make sense but the ending has never really worked for me, especially when compared to the jazzy proceedings.
The Jungle Book is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features are spread out across two discs. The first disc has a commentary with composer Richard M. Sherman (obviously in front of a piano – a natural setting for him), current Disney animator and fan Andreas Deja, and Bruce Reitherman, with archival contributions from animator Ollie Johnston, director Wolfgang Reitherman, writer Larry Clemmons, and animator Frank Thomas.
There’s also a 6-minute featurette about a deleted character called Rocky the Rhino. The “Music and More” section has the 2 minute “I Wan’na Be Like You” music video by the Jonas Brothers (Oh brother is it terrible), 13 minutes of songs from the with or without subtitles (for singing along), and 21 minutes of audio of deleted songs. Disc two is divided into the Man Village (Backstage Disney) and Jungle Fun (Games and Activities). The Man Village starts off with the great 46 minute “The Bare Necessities: the Making of the Jungle Book.”
Next is the 15 minute “Disney’s Kipling: Walt’s Magic Touch on a Literary Classic” which is ironic since Disney discouraged the animators from reading the book, but it’s about how Bill Peet and Walt adapted the story both for the unfinished version and the completed film. The 9-minute “Lure of the Jungle Book” interviews animators who were inspired into the field thanks to the film. The 3-minute “Frank & Ollie” has the two animators talking about animating the characters (I think this is from the VHS Anniversary edition).
Finally there is a great selection of Art Galleries. The Jungle Fun section has the “Baloo’s Virtual Swingin’ Jungle Cruise” game, the 14 minute “Disneypedia: Junglemania!” which tells you about the jungles of Asia, and “Fun with Language” is two more sets of games (one for DVD and one for DVD-ROM).
The Jungle Book is a fabulous addition to the Platinum series and is one that you’ll definitely want to add to your DVD collection since it has a jazzy film and some swinging special features. Highly recommended daddy-o.
The Jungle Book (Two-Disc 40th Anniversary Platinum Edition) is now available at Amazon . It is available at for pre-order at AmazonUK for a Nov. 5th release. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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