Walt Disney Goes Out With a Bang, "The Jungle Book" is marvelous

Rating: Null/10 (31 July 2006)

"The Jungle Book" is a classic Disney film that will go down in history as an important milestone in the history of Disney animation. For starters, this was the last animated film that Walt Disney himself personally supervised. This film ended Walt Disney's animated features with a bang, a fine film that's an improvement over the previous Disney animated feature, "The Sword in the Stone". The film is not without its flaws, but it is an effort that is much more confident than the previous Disney animated films that came after the box office disaster that was "Sleeping Beauty". Disney took several liberties with Rudyard Kipling's classic. It was originally planned to be a very faithful adaptation of the two books, with Bill Peet outdoing himself on the original treatment. The complex, and rather dark version of "The Jungle Book" that he wrote screamed potential, but Walt did not approve and Peet left the studio.
The result is a more comedic musical take on the books, and the liberties taken with the book are there. This allowed the animators to outdo themselves, which they did not do with "The Sword in the Stone". The character changes allowed the animators to have a lot of fun with the film, and it can be easily seen. It's more exuberant than the previous two films and it boasts a strong selection of songs. The plot is episodic, but it works for the most part. The characters are well-developed and the animators masterfully get the audience to love them. Baloo is a delight to watch, and Shere Khan might be one of Disney's finest villains with his sophistication and his attitude. Kaa has comic genius written all over. King Louie is probably the best character, and his musical number "I Wanna Be Like You" definitely shows it.
One surprising element in the film is how very 1960s-esque it is. Four great vultures resemble The Beatles, and being a Beatles fan, I personally love that. There's some 60s-style slang and dialogue like that. It somewhat makes the film a bit dated, especially with its then-celebrity voice cast. However, the cast perfectly fits each character, so that's not a major complaint. Everything works well, except for one thing. In the 1960s, Walt Disney was losing interest in animation after "Sleeping Beauty"'s performance in 1959 and his hatred of Xerography, used on Disney films since "One Hundred and One Dalmatians". Animation from other Disney films and shorts is recycled, and parts of the film feel slightly rushed. However, Walt wanted the animators to deliver a great picture, and that they most certainly did.
"The Jungle Book" is a musical masterpiece and an important film in animation history, and it's success after the death of Walt Disney convinced the studio to keep going at a time when animation seemed to be on its way out as the 1970s rolled in. Despite some slight flaws (some dated elements, some lazy moments and a couple other flaws with the story), "The Jungle Book" succeeds on all fronts. I can excuse these criticisms, and personally for me, the film is one of my favorite Disney films.
A 9.8 out of 10.