The Last Gasp

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 2010)

The Jungle Book is, for me, the last gasp of classic Disney. It's the last Disney movie until the latter half of the eighties that I would qualify as the least bit good, yet, it also suffers from many of the problems of the seventies films. This may also be the first case of mass celebrity voice casting, which works fine here but would set a horrible precedent for American animation that lasts to this day. Thankfully, while it's not quite the sum of those parts, many of its parts are highly entertaining...masterful even.
As Disney himself was now fully committed to other projects, and died before the film could be completed, this is easily the most episodic and scattershot of the Disney projects under his rule. It takes Rudyard Kipling's Mowgli stories, strips them of its issues on human nature, ignores all the later stuff, and instead uses them as a vague suggestion to set up a bunch of characters and fun situations. It particularly hurts the character of Bagheera, whose commitment to getting the child home doesn't make quite as much sense, and Shere Khan's delayed entrance, though well foreshadowed, doesn't have quite the weight or the mythic sort of relationship with Mowgli. Mowgli himself is the cute little scamp Disney requires by this point, which has its value but isn't' as interesting as if they'd made better use of his whole "raised by wolves" thing like in the book. Not Disney's forte, perhaps, but one reason why this isn't as good as Princess Mononoke to me (strange comparison, I know).
Animation wise, thoughts are liable to be mixed on this one. There's more shortcuts here than in any previous Disney movie. Reused animation aplenty, funky relationships with the cels and the backgrounds, lots of the kind of stuff director Wolfgang Reitherman would abuse in the seventies. There's one bit in particular that's a straight lift from Mr. Toad's Wild Ride.
What at least mostly makes up for this, however, is the fact that this is a tour-de-force of master animators doing some of the best work of their career. Ollie Johnston and Milt Kahl do a great bit with Bagheera trying to get Mowgli into a tree that has no real plot significance but which is a masterpiece of timing. Bear Necessities is an iconic number, but would it be so memorable without Ollie Johnston's fantastic work on Baloo? Johnston also does a remarkable job with Baloo's more emotional moments, such as the scene where he tells Mowgli that he has to leave the jungle. John Lounsbery gives a wonderful feeling of weight and caricature to the elephants, arguably his masterpiece. King Louie works mostly because of his animation by Frank Thomas and Kahl, which is so intricately composed and full of personality that it looks easy (even though it's a monstrous bitch to pull off something like that, especially with his hyperactive movement). However, my favorite bit is the restrained yet perfectly controlled, Picasso-influenced work on Shere Khan by Milt Kahl. It's not the most bombastic of these pieces, but his graceful movement combined with his sinister presence (George Sanders' voice work helps quite a bit). The exchange between him and Johnston's Kaa is brilliant animated acting between two of the greatest animators who ever lived.
Yet, while all these moments are wonderful to watch, there comes a point toward the end where things seem to just fall apart. Three Beatles-influenced Vultures sing a silly barbershop toon that doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the movie. This scene was finished after Disney's death, and hints at the kind of goofiness that would undo the next few Disney pictures.
Overall, The Jungle Book is problematic, but remains an enjoyable picture if one can get past its rough edges. It's the last gasp of the golden age. That's right, folks, my next few reviews are going to be pretty negative, but since very few Disney picture are completely bad and some great work does go into even some of the worst of them, I'll point those elements out too. The Jungle Book, to me, is the mildest example, since the good elements still make this movie work, but the practices of this film never really worked again.