This one of Disney's underratted films, and also the last that he himself supervised on (he died around that time). It is a favorite in my family and it always will; I not one compare to with bonified Jungle Book fans (the original book), but I love this film and the animated film version from Russia; and the original stories. And also I love movies/stories that are setted in Asia (the film is set in India).

I love the main-title theme, it sets off the mood of the jungle. I love a scene at the beginning when Bagheera plays stork; You know "deliver" baby Mowgli to the wolf family like the stork. I also love the scene with the monkey whacking Baloo (who thought the monkey was Mowgli) on the nose (that's was funny).

Overall this is a very entertaining film, and a song-filled celebration of friendship, fun and adventure set in a lush and colorful world; I am still SHOCKED by the negativity towards it.

Well, I just watched this film after buying the PE release and I realized how much I enjoyed it.

The plot is simple enough, and is set up quite quickly within the first five to ten minutes: Mowgli, an orphaned Indian boy, is found by Bagheera the panther as a baby and given to a nearby wolf pack to grow up. Ten years pass, and for the safety of the pack from the threat of the vicious tiger, Shere Khan, it is agreed that Mowgli should make his way to the nearest man-village so that he will grow up instead of becoming a tiger's lunch. Naturally, the boy refuses to go, but after over an hour's worth of silly songs, colorful characters, and a final brawl against the one that wishes to kill him, Mowgli is whisked away into the man-village, thanks to the temptation of a young Indian girl's song.

Strange. This film is just plain fun, and there's hardly any seriousness about it IMO. I loved it as a child (which wasn't that long ago), but I don't love it as much as I used to. The cast of characters - mainly Baloo, Bagheera, and a few others - make the experience interesting.

I will agree that this isn't Disney's best film, but it's not one of the worst either. However, I still found it enjoyable enough to buy the DVD version (I have the 1992 VHS release) once it came out as a Platinum Edition.

Great for kids, enjoyable for adults - clearly this is something that belongs in every Disney fan's collection, especially since this was Walt's final animated film before his death (I do believe that was right . . . I may be wrong though).

My rating - 3 stars.

I do not get why so many people consider this to be 'best Disney movie ever.' For me, it was never one of my favourites. It's not really bad, but I do not consider it to be that good either, especially when compared to Walt's earlier efforts such as Snow White. To be honest, I feel that some of Disney's so-called 'dark age' efforts such as The Rescuers are better than this.

The animation is alright-ish. The backgrounds are beautiful but seem rather scratchy and flat. There are a few zany sequences, but not really enough to keep me entertained. There is hardly any plot, and most of it doesn't even stay true to the book. It's a shame, because there were some wonderful characters that had real potential. The character development was the only real strong point here, unless you include the fact that for once, wolves are not portrayed as ferocious man eaters. But if I wanted to see that, I could just go and watch Balto, which is better. There are a few good songs, but most of them seem forced and out of place. There's none of the beautiful synchronisation like in Bambi and other such films. Here, I think that they were used just for the sake of having a song, just for the sake of lightening up what is a very dull affair.

As I said before, The Jungle Book isn't the worst movie ever, but it certainly isn't the best. This is something that could have been so much more.

Not only does Disney's version of The Jungle Book follow a completely different path from the original source material(much like, say, almost every non-original story they've done), but it dates really horribly. The sketchy 60s animation that was so stylized in 101 Dalmatians is now really unconvincing in The Jungle Book. It also comes off as a laid back, almost exceedingly jokey movie. Perhaps its fault is that it's too laid back, like a lazy summer's day that's just one hour too long. There are also random, haphazard scenes that seem to be there just to be there. The vultures bug the heck outta me, and the ending is a cop out. Fortunately there are strengths to balance out the weaknesses. First of all, Baloo is a really likable character. I mean how you can you not like his attitude? He's basically the template for Thomas O Malley of The Aristocats. I also love the banter between him and Bagheera. The elephants are amusing even if they are pointless. Then there are the songs. Oh the songs. King Louie's "I Wanna Be Like You" sequence is just red hot good fun, and the part where Baloo busts in and starts scatting just about seals the deal. All in all, not a terrible movie, but I find it ironic that this weak sauce film decades later goes on to inspire one of the best cartoons of all time in the form of Tale Spin.

Probably the first Disney movie I ever saw. Sadly, no matter how much I liked it as a kid, it just doesn't stand up today. It's an OK movie, but too much about it is just adequate. Take the backgrounds, for instance. Compare them to the beautifully drawn forest of 'Bambi' 25 years earlier, or the eye-popping jungle of 'Tarzan' 30 years later. By comparison the best you could say about the Jungle of 'Jungle Book' is that it's there and it's alright.

Too much about the rest of the film is sloppy, too. The voice characterisations, whereas most of them are ok, just often don't really make sense. Why do nearly all the jungle animals have British accents (they seem particularly out of place on the wolves)? Why do the four vultures seem to be some sort of vague reference to The Beatles? Why would a panther be instinctively protective of a human baby? What's the point of Mowgli meeting the monkees, other than an excuse for a song? Why are the elephants wandering around doing a military 'drill' every morning, and what's the point of them anyway?

The sloppiness shows up in other areas, too. When Bagheera is stalking, the soundtrack uses plucked strings to correspond to his limb movements - but there are too many or two few of them, and they aren't synchronised with the movements anyway. Warner Brothers had this down pat in cartoon shorts twenty years earlier, so why couldn't Disney manage it in a feature?

Ok, it's not all bad. Baloo is a likable character, even if his cool lingo sounds about 10 years out of date. The wolves look nice, and clearly influenced the facial designs in 'Balto Wolf Quest'. You might argue that George Sanders as Sher Khan is the progenitor of Jeremy Irons as Scar, too. But that's another trouble. Even where the voices are good, they're too stereotyped. And the ending of the film was a real emotional flop too, which undercut the film's messages about the importance and permanence of friendship. After saying he loves him like his own cub, Baloo just shrugs off the emotional impact of being seperated, and goes off singing happily.

Probably the strongest thing the film has going for it _are_ the songs, several of which are pretty decent. Without them, there wouldn't be a lot to hang this film on.

'Jungle Book' was a huge hit at the time, but it had been four or five years since Disney had made an animated feature, and it had no competition. It's a film I really want to like, but looking at it now it's pretty obvious that one thing that wasn't swinging in the 60's was Disney. Even their 70's stuff was better than this.

The situation is set up...Mowgli is lost in the forest, raised by wolves, and then, for the safety of the pack, he is to be sent back to the human village. Mowgli doesn't want to go.

So, Mowgli (accompanied by Bagheera and Baloo) wanders around the forest meeting interesting characters who sing pretty good songs.

Very low on plot, Jungle Book has good music and interesting characters. Kaa the snake (voiced by the immortal Sterling Holloway) is particularly fun, singing to Mowgli to 'Trust in me' as he prepares to eat the boy. And Shere Khan is a threatening and formidable villain.

It's clear, though, that the animation budget was running very low, as several segments of xeroxed-style animation were visibly reused. 'Running gags' they might be called, if they weren't so feeble.

I've heard that the original concept of the Jungle Book was going to be much darker and more serious, but Walt told them to lighten it up. Interesting to think what this film might have been.

Good for kids, the younger the better. Adults will probably be rather bored.