The Adventure of the Bare Necessities

In which I wax lyrical about The Jungle Book...

For reasons that I may eventually discuss, I recently found myself watching Disney's 1967 animated classic The Jungle Book. It's a film that holds a very special place in my heart. This would be my go-to VHS for many years. As long as I can remember, The Jungle Book was there. Even now, I kind of want to be Mowgli. 

The animation is superb. It's a really clever balance between managing to make the animals look very much like animals whilst being able to anthropomorphize them at the same time. The designs reflect the characters really effectively too- Baloo really looks friendly and laid-back. The animation of Mowgli is really good too, allowing him to be able to attempt to replicate the other animals and also giving him facial expressions which give him more personality- he's one of the most expressive central characters in Disney history. 

The film also contains some of Disney's best voice work. Sterling Holloway, who had already provided voices for multiple Disney films, is great as Kaa the snake, really playing up the sibilance. The highlight though is Phil Harris as Baloo. Harris isn't particularly well known to a modern audience but he was a famous comedian at the time so the Baloo character in the film is based on his persona. What a fun persona that is with Baloo being impossible not to love. 

Looking back, I wonder if in my child's mind I unconsciously connected Baloo with my own father. Baloo is so much fun and made me laugh in a way not dissimilar to my Dad did. Baloo seems to love music, again something I always associate my Dad with. Though Baloo is mostly a very comic character, there are moments when he shows his deep love and care for Mowgli by trying to do what is best for him even if it breaks his heart. Baloo is very protective of Mowgli too, saving him from the monkeys and Shere Khan. In my childhood nightmares about being pursued by a hideous wolf, my Dad would often be the person who would prevent me from being consumed. If you were going to make a cartoon character based on my Dad, he wouldn't be too far off Baloo. 

Shere Khan is also brilliantly voiced by George Sanders. Khan is a great character, superbly animated and embued with a real sense of threat. He's teased from very early on in the film which helps build up the threat of him and we also see him casually take on the previous biggest threat, Kaa. For a film that is largely laid-back, the climax where Mowgli takes on Shere Khan feels wrought with danger and the teased death of Baloo is utterly heart-breaking. 

The King Louie sequence is sometimes discussed as being racist for portraying jazz singers as primates. It's a valid interpretation but not one I go along with. Certainly, as a child, it's something you would likely never consider and there is no way it is the same heights of problematic as other Disney moments such as the crows in Dumbo, the Siamese cats in Lady and the Tramp and The Aristocats and the Native Americans in Peter Pan. Part of the issue seems to be that people think King Louie was based on Louis Armstrong but that's not the case. In a similar way to how Baloo is based on Phil Harris, King Louie is based on popular Jazz musician Louis Prima who was a white American who was well known for using his Sicilian roots in his work. This to such an extent that Disney weren't able to use the character for some time as Prima's widow threatened to sue them for using his likeness. 

Speaking of Louis Prima, the music is utterly fantastic. It has two of the best songs from any Disney films, "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You" which are so lively, catchy and fun. The other songs are also really great and suit the characters that sing them really well. The lyrics are ingrained in my head, especially those of "Bare Necessities" which I can recite without even having to concentrate. What a lovely concept for a song too- essentially it tells you to stop worrying about life and the things you don't have and enjoy what you do have. Now that's a mantra I can get behind. 

Another thing that evokes that atmosphere is the backgrounds. This was not a period where Disney had the resources to create elaborate, detailed backgrounds so here they give us hazy jungle colours which actually work really well in the context. I also think the haziness of them gives the film something of a dreamlike feel and as an adult almost lift you back into your childhood memories of watching this film. 

When I watched The Jungle Book the other day I was transported right back to the family living room. It was probably first thing in the morning and I was sitting right in front of the TV with a plate of toast with marmite sat on my lap, impatiently waiting for the video cassette to be rewound to the beginning. Eventually, that familiar, exotic feeling score begins and I'm back in the jungle with Mowgli. 

The Jungle Book developed an early interest in animals in me and that in turn developed into the enormous love of nature I have today. It introduced me to what a film could be and to what joy music could bring. It's a very special film that holds a very dear place in my heart.