Too Juvenile, Innocent & Sugarcoated For My Taste.

Rating: Null/10 (4 May 2016)

Disney's adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's legendary book of the same name does filter out the dark tone of its source material in an effort to make it more family friendly and certainly was a cinematic gem of its time but looking back now, it's a tad too juvenile, simple & innocent for my taste.
The story of The Jungle Book follows Mowgli, a feral child raised by a family of wolves who is being escorted by Bagheera the panther to his own kind & for his own safety as Shere Khan has returned to the jungle. On their way, they meet Baloo the Bear who takes the young kid under his wing.
Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, this is one of those lighthearted, sugarcoated musicals that are in tune with Disney's early animated classics & is clearly aimed at kids. The hand-drawn animation is admirable but the plot becomes repetitive after a while, is slow despite its 78 minutes runtime & nothing interesting ever happens in it.
The songs aren't catchy, the dance numbers are distracting, and the overly juvenile portrait makes it a tedious film to sit through. Leaving me bored for the most part & unmoved by everything it had in store, The Jungle Book is a film that very much belongs to its era and the only way I can imagine it working today is on the strength of nostalgia.