Disney - The Jungle Book

I know this movie has been out for a long time, since 1967 in fact. I was watching the special features and decided it was worth a brief review. The Jungle Bookhas long been one of my favorite Disney movies.

This movie, as most of you know, is based on Rudyard Kipling's story of the same name. It tells the story of a boy named Mowgli. In Disney's version, the animals all talk and sing and dance, which makes it a hit with kids.

The music is what makes it a hit with adults too. Most of the songs are catchy, and I have seen adults get excited about the songs when they come on, myself included. Knowing that the music is one of the reasons this is among my favorite Disney cartoons, I watched the special feature about deleted songs. Let me tell you, I was pretty surprised.

Some of these songs were plain awful. The original demo of "The Bare Necessities" sounds like it belongs in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland. The original version of "That's What Friends Are For" involved a Beatle's/British Invasion inspired tune and included a character that was also deleted. It was okay as far as copying the Beatle's style, but that character that was axed was awful to.

I can't imagine what would have happened if these songs stayed in the movie. I certainly would not have enjoyed it as much as I do. I was glad to see Rocky the Rhino didn't make it to the final version. I was glad "The Bare Necessities" was transformed into its current version. I am glad the vultures sing a barbershop "That's What Friends Are For" and not the Beatle's-based version. I am glad that Disney had the wisdom to cut the bad parts and leave in the good. If only George Lucas had used the same level of discernment.

I liked this movie a lot before, and I like it even more now. It could have been much worse, as the special features can attest. I highly recommend this for your family's movie collection.

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