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DVD Features
- DVD Release Date: October 2, 2007
- Original Theatrical Release: October 18, 1967
- Running Time: 78 Minutes
- 1.75:1 Anamorphic Widescreen (Matted Theatrical Ratio)
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater mix, Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
- Subtitles: Closed Captioned
- Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
The Movie
Most grown-ups like myself (I happen to be a 40th anniversary edition as well, thanks very much) remember The Jungle Book for two reasons; it was the final movie Walt Disney was directly involved with, and the immortal anthem to beardom “The Bare Necessities.” I’m sure you’re humming it even as you read this. Even young animated fans who do not own the video or DVD can recite every word from “The Bare Necessities” and “I Wan’na Be Like You” thanks to abundant marketing of Disney Mania CDs.
I must admit that, along with The Black Cauldron and The Sword in the Stone, The Jungle Book was not in my Disney movie collection. I did buy an actual movie ticket in 1984 and again in 1990 when the film was re-released theatrically, but I never appreciated the film for any other reason besides the two listed above. That’s why this lovely Platinum Edition of The Jungle Book has been such a pleasure to delve into; through the commentaries, features, and the restored film itself, I’m beginning to understand why so many contemporary animators and experts have a high regard for the movie.
The storyline is very simple; so simple that it is considered the weakest part of the film. Baby Mowgli is abandoned in the jungle and rescued by compassionate panther Bagheera (Sebastian Cabot), who delivers the baby to a pack of wolves. They raise up Mowgli to be a good little jungle boy until the pack is threatened by Shere Kahn the Tiger (George Sanders).
Image © Disney. All Rights Reserved.
It is decided that Mowgli must return to the man village, but he runs away alone into the jungle and has approximately 55 minutes of adventures, including meeting one of the most beloved Disney characters ever created. Baloo, voiced by Disney veteran Phil Harris, takes Mowgli under his giant paw and teaches him how to survive bear-style in the jungle. Eventually, Mowgli makes his way to the man village. But the story hardly matters in The Jungle BookThe Jungle Book a masterpiece and worthy of the Platinum Edition treatment.
The Goodies
There are interesting special features on both of the discs. Some of the notable ones include:
Disc One
Audio Commentary
The Jungle Book commentary is led by Bruce Reitherman (who was the voice of Mowgli and the son of director Wolfgang Reitherman), current Disney animator Andreas Deja, and composer Richard Sherman. It sounds like Reitherman and Deja were recording their commentary together, with Sherman’s comments interspersed between. Reitherman also introduces archival commentary from his father, animator Ollie Johnston, and others who directly worked on the film. The result is a fascinating and detailed look at every aspect of the movie as well as personal memories of Walt Disney and the studios during the time the movie was being produced. It’s a wonderful example of how the careful blending of various technical authorities and interesting personalities can make a DVD commentary a true pleasure to experience.
Image © Disney. All Rights Reserved.
Lost Character: Rocky the Rhino (6:35) – Rocky was cheated out of a place in the Disney lexicon by Walt himself, who disliked the voice work that had been recorded. He also felt Rocky’s scene was coming too close on the heels of the two action scenes on either side of it, and so cut all references to him out of the film. Only the voice tracks and story boards remain. Poor Rocky.
Music Video: I Wan’na Be Like You (2:45) – The Jonas Brothers are hotter than Miley Cyrus’ scalp under that blonde wig. They even have musical talent, unlike some of the other Radio Disney bands cut and pasted on to DVD releases. However, their remake of “I Wan’na Be Like You,” complete with cheesy plywood Jungle Book characters scattered around the stage, is dreadful. Poor Louis Prima.
Disney Song Selection
Disney Song Selection is an easy way to watch the best parts of the film: the musical numbers. The lyrics are available in sing-along form as an option as well.
Deleted Songs
Image © Disney. All Rights Reserved.
This is an interesting bonus, as it contains all of the discarded songs composed by Terry Gilkyson as demo tracks, including the lone song they kept in the film, “The Bare Necessities.” After listening to a few of the songs, I have to say that Walt was on track when he jettisoned these tunes; talk about your dark and dreary compositions! Even “The Bare Necessities” underwent a drastic refurbishment to get to the cheery tune we know and love today.
Disc Two
The Making of The Jungle Book
This is the most memorable feature on the disc, as Walt’s contemporaries reminisce about Disney’s hand-on role in developing The Jungle Book and his untimely death before the production was finished. Disney did not like the original storyline put forward by Bill Peet who left the studio over the dispute, and Walt reworked most of the story elements in the film before giving it over to director Wolfgang Reitherman. All the commentators in this feature seem to agree that the story takes second place to the memorable characters, voice work and music of The Jungle Book.
The feature has some excellent footage and (sometimes vintage) interviews from all the voice cast, especially Phil Harris who immortalized the voice of Baloo, as well as Louie Prima, Sebastian Cabot, and Sterling Holloway, interestingly cast as the villain Kaa. The feature explains how Bruce Reitherman had a little “in” in the production, as he was the son of Jungle Book director Wolfgang Reitherman; however, he voiced the character of Mowgli only after doing some excellent work as Christopher Robin in the first Pooh feature. He and Clint Howard, who I was surprised to learn was the voice of Jr., had some nice memories of working with Disney and the production team at the studios. The feature also looks at the extraordinary friendship between Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston and how it mirrors the on-screen friendship of Baloo and Mowgli. Even more touching is the production team’s memories of Walt’s last visit to the studios and the shock over his passing. The Jungle Book‘s release a year later in theatres was like a tribute to Disney that the studios worked hard to complete and make a fitting tribute to the man who started it all.
Disney’s Kipling (15:00) – This is an interesting comparison between Kipling’s original tale, Bill Peet’s treatment of the story, and Walt’s final, filmed version. Peet’s story has much more detail, and complications, most of which Walt deleted in favor of furthering the relationships between the main characters. A lost treasure under King Louie’s city, an evil hunter, and a different conclusion to the story are carefully developed on Peet’s storyboards and discarded by Disney.
Image © Disney. All Rights Reserved.
The Lure of The Jungle Book (9:26) – I was amazed to find how many contemporary animators recall The Jungle Book as their childhood inspiration to pursue a career in art and animation. It was also eye-opening to hear artists tell of how they would go back to the Disney archives to research animal movement and character drawings from original artwork from The Jungle Book. Brad Bird, Andreas Deja, Glen Keane, link some of their most famous characters to groundbreaking work done by Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston, who animated over half of the characters in the film.
Frank and Ollie (3:45) – This is a little stroll back in time as Frank and Ollie explain a little of what goes into creating a great character on paper. I wish there had been some introduction as to when and why this short featurette was filmed, but overall it’s a nice look at some of the work on The Jungle Book from the very source.
DisneyPedia: Junglemainia (14:19) – Junglemania is a featurette about the real-life wild animals in India with some great footage of the beautiful jungles and ruins that inspired the animators. The information is pretty basic and geared towards kids, but the scenery is appealing to all ages.
Baloo’s Virtual Swingin’ Jungle Cruise
Here we have a group of groan-worthy extras. Some poor voice actor trying to approximate Phil Harris sings the iconic “Bare Necessities” as a newly animated Baloo floats down a newly animated jungle river, interspersed with clips of the original movie. I still shudder remembering it. The song leads into four remote-driven games: Kaa-Zen-Tration, Hathi’s Boot Camp, Buzzard Shop Quartet, and Louie’s Lounge. As the titles suggest, they are all based on situations and characters from the film. As most of the remote driven Disney games have been, these are extremely, mind-numbingly simple for all but the very youngest viewer. My tween girls have learned to have nothing to do with the games on the Disney releases for this very reason. “For babies,” they sniff. And I must agree with them. It would make the games more appealing to a wider range of viewers if they would include various skill levels.
Audio, Video and Interface
The Jungle Book has two audio options; Dolby Digital 5.1 Disney Enhanced Home Theater Mix, and Dolby Digital Mono 1.0. The mono option is for the purists who like to watch their DVDs as they remember hearing them in the theatre, albeit the hissing and spitting of the old soundtrack has been removed. The Disney Enhanced version sounds very layered and clear and will appeal to those with some nice surround sound speakers. The movie is presented in 1.75:1 Anamorphic Widescreen and looks better than it ever did in the theatres or in previous releases. Colors are vibrant and rich, contrasts are crisp, and the backgrounds blend in a beautiful jungle of hues. Even better, the colors do not look altered so much as brought back to the artists’ original vision. The interface is jungle-detailed on both discs, and even the secondary menus have short animated clips from the movie accompanied by the movie soundtrack.
The Final Evaluation
John Lassiter has said that building great character is the most important thing in the movies, referring to Buzz and Woody as characters that will live on in people’s minds. It’s obvious he has taken a page from the master’s playbook. Walt Disney understood that strong, memorable characters will never grow old, even those painstakingly drawn by hand before the age of computers. Yes, the storyline is simplistic, especially by today’s standards, but don’t overlook this gem; The Jungle Book paved the way for some of today’s most beloved characters like The Beast, Mr. Incredible, Simba, Ariel, and yes, even Buzz and Woody. The Jungle Book deserves a place in every Disney fan’s collection, especially with such a nice Platinum Edition treatment. We won’t see another Platinum Edition until the Spring when 101 Dalmations is released, so enjoy The Jungle Book for the next few months.
