THE JUNGLE BOOK (1967) **1/2 Louis Prima-typecast as King of the Apes! Now there's an idea worthy of Rudyard Kipling...not that it's Kiplingesque, only that it's of satisfactory magnitude. I don't remember all of these musical interludes in Kipling either, and they do more to ruin the rhythm and spirit of the thing (with the obvious exception of Mr. Prima's number) than contribute anything. Children really are capable of watching cartoons that don't take time out for musical numbers every ten minutes, I assure you. Some of the characters are great, Louis obviously (enjoy his work or be doomed to frown lines before you're 30), but also Baloo the Bear and the Liverpudlian Vulture. I have to say that hanging out with bears and vultures looks like a lot of fun. I mean, animals couldn't make a film about hanging out with judges and insurance salesmen half as appealing. Is man superior because he's capable of trying to make such a film, but doesn't because he knows he would fail; or are the beasts of land and air superior for not caring anything about it? That's what I wonder. No I don't, I wonder why man is so tormented that he has to project his own greatest virtues onto animated animals. No, no, that's not it either, I wonder why we must go on and on, long after our audience realizes that we don't have much of a point. No, not that's not it either...I wonder why anyone would read a philosophical deconstruction of a cartoon. No, that's not it either. No, wait, we're almost there, really! We've come so far... There is also, incidentally, a pretty cool board game based on this film based on some of the stories in The Jungle Book.
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