Review of The Jungle Book (1967) by Uditha D — 26 Feb 2012

The annoying thing about The Jungle Book was that it was rather too short, even at eighty minutes. I would certainly have wanted it to continue for some more time, and thus felt that it suffered from the same inertia-prone weakness in most Disney features - a fast pace.

Nevertheless, it has to be said that this was a simply lovable animated film to watch, and indeed some mementos from this, such as Kaa the snake and Baloo's comic, hedonistic nature, have become staple fodder for Disney fans.

With the inclusion of Jazz-era musicians to voice some of the characters in it (most notably Louis Prima as King Louis), things got even more catchy. By far however, it was really George Sanders' performance as Shere Khan that really caught my eye: with his ever-present baritone voice and English accent, I was exceptionally awed by his one-of-a-kind villainous role.

And though, in later years, Jeremy Irons (in my view) somewhat exceeded Sanders' role in this by voicing Scar from The Lion King, I still was impressed by him. In all, with some catchy tunes, lively characters, energetic caricatures (that Beatles-parodying set of vultures for one thing), and definitely some very funny scenes (especially the ending), this made up one enjoyable viewing experience for me.

And one more thing - Gregory Peck (who was AMPAS' President at the time) lobbied extensively for this to be nominated for the Best Picture Oscar. In the end, he was unsuccessful, but that was one appropriate act to take on behalf of this lovable gemstone.