Review of The Jungle Book (1967) by Axet — 02 Jun 2016

The animals are magnificent. The kid… not so much. While talking animals including a ferocious tiger, pack of wolves, black panther, big grizzly bear, huge gorilla, giant snake and more are all stunning in detail; the kid's mouth should have been closed a lot more in this. Actually, what would have made this very interesting and a daring more artful movie would have been no dialogue at all as in a silent animated extravaganza (well not silent but full of great sound design and music score). That of course would be too risky for a major Disney family release, but certainly more original than this highly formulaic remake that's moderately amusing some of the time. The story makes sense, but sure isn't fresh.

A note on stars doing voices in animated movies: it's better not to know who they are, at least until after it's over. Otherwise it blows the suspension of disbelief. I don't think anyone ever goes to one of these movies to hear any star's voice, ever! They are going for the story and animation and music solely.