Walt Disney's Flawed yet Memorable Swan Song

Rating: 6/10 (8 May 2020)

If there's any film that truly marked the end of an era, it would have to be Walt Disney's film adaptation of The Jungle Book, as it was the last feature made under his involvement before he passed away almost a year before it was released. When it did come out, not only was it a critical and commercial success, but it helped spark the company to move forward in animated features, and more than 50 years later, it's gone through ups and downs to become the animation powerhouse we remember it as. But as for the movie itself, while its legacy remains as strong as ever, I wouldn't place it among the studio's strongest efforts.
Now the film's main storyline involving the little human boy Mowgli being forced to go back to the man-village is well remembered, not because of Mowgli himself, but because of the bizarre characters he encounters along the way. From the snooty cynical panther Bagheera trying to do what's best for Mowgli in spite of their differences, to the upbeat slacker bear Baloo showing him the fun of living carefree in the jungle, to the crazed scat-singing King Louie, so on and so forth. What's funny is that these characters have been cherished by audiences for decades for their exuberant personalities and specified voice actors whom the crew based off to form them, from the hip Phil Harris, to the stuffy Sebastian Cabot, to the energetic Louis Prima, to even the pompous George Sanders. However, the one that people care about the least is Mowgli himself, as he's the most forgettable and annoying character in the whole feature due to his whiny demeanor and obnoxious personality. Similar to Walt's Alice in Wonderland from the 50s, the main protagonist is so bland that everyone else around them sticks out way better.
Another strong quality of the feature are the musical numbers by the Sherman Brothers, as even the ones that don't carry the story forward are entertaining enough on their own. Some are utilized as character exposition like Colonel Haiti's March, I Wanna Be Like You, and My Own Home, whereas others show both the positive and negative sides of the jungle like Trust in Me and the Oscar-nominated Bare Necessities. Speaking of Bare Necessities, it was the only song written by Terry Gilkyson, as it spawned from an previous version of the movie that wasn't produced. That leads into how distinctive the movie was from the original Rudyard Kipling novel, down to where Walt told the head story writer on the film Larry Clemmons to not even read the book. Whether or not the original draft of the movie would have been better is certainly debatable, but Disney's reputation with their animated films has often consisted of going in altered directions from literature with their own twist, and considering this film was uncle Walt's swan song, none can deny the charm it displays with what it offers differently.
As for the overall visuals, some of Walt's finest animators really put their "all" into each character. Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston once stated that presenting emotions onto the fun loving Baloo proved to be difficult after Walt had died, and yet they managed to pull it off very well through subtle gestures. However, as fun and expressive as the animals are in the movie (seriously, Milt Kahl really hammed up Shere Kahn), Mowgli's more realistic animation is somewhat of a weird contrast, although that may be due to inconsistent rotoscoping and minimal facial variation. On the other hand, the backgrounds are gorgeously painted and composited within each shot, as they feel like 18th century British literature images brought to animation. In addition to some scratchy looking effect work that blend well with the environments, the Xerox-handled characters stick out distinctly from the backgrounds to give better contrast to their flat albeit bold features. Even though Walt himself never cared for the Xerox process, it certainly gave the animated movies for the next decade a unique style to say the least.
So is The Jungle Book the greatest Disney film of all time? At least in my eyes, not exactly. However, even with its straight forward narrative, uninteresting main protagonist and deviations from its original source material, what the movie does offer on its own is very entertaining in its own right. Even for the next century, there's high doubt we'll forget about the charming animal characters and timeless songs that left an impact after a legend's death. Of course the Rudyard Kipling novel will go down in history as a classic too, but this feature will always remind the world why Walt Disney's passing meant so much to it.