Certainly a Disney classic but perhaps not one of the best

Rating: 7/10 (20 April 2012)

"The Jungle Book" was the last animated feature that Walt Disney worked on before his death, and the film's immense success probably helped prove there was an audience for Disney animation. The character animation is superb; it's no wonder why so many of today's top animators cite this as being among their favourite films. The laid-back, episodic nature of the story (far removed from Kipling's highly strung original, which Disney actually advised his staff NOT to read) allows for some delightfully entertaining scenes; the encounters with King Louie and the Liverpudlian vultures spring to mind. The characters also have a certain warmth about them that hasn't been seen in many Disney films before or since. The score is equally wonderful, and a good number of the songs - "I Wanna Be Like You" and "The Bare Necessities" in particular - have become standards.
Having said that, I can't help but find "The Jungle Book" to be rather slight, and perhaps even overrated. As far as I'm concerned, the aforementioned individual elements seem better than the film as a whole. In particular, the lack of structure is as much a curse as it is a blessing; for every engaging scene or two, there can be a truly boring scene. Regardless of these inferior aspects, "The Jungle Book" is a good film that rightly deserves the label of "Disney classic".