Jungle Book
If I had to choose one Disney film to go in my collection then I think this would have to be the one (I don’t count the Pixar releases as Disney films). It was one of the first DVD’s I bought. The main reason for this was that at the time it was a time-limited release, I believe that it’s on general release now though...
If I had to choose one Disney film to go in my collection then I think this would have to be the one (I don’t count the Pixar releases as Disney films). It was one of the first DVD’s I bought. The main reason for this was that at the time it was a time-limited release, I believe that it’s on general release now though.
The film is based loosely on the Jungle Book story by Rudyard Kipling and although I suspect just about everyone knows the story I’ll just run through a brief plot outline.
Plot
A baby (Mowgli) is discovered in the forest by Bagheera the Panther and Bagheera takes the baby to be raised by a family of Wolves. The baby grows into the young boy Mowgli and is happily living with the wolf pack until the day that Shere Khan the Tiger returns to the forest. Shere Khan hates humans and would kill Mowgli the first chance he got. The Wolves decide that the safest place for Mowgli would be back in the man village, of course Mowgli doesn’t want to go.
Bagheera offers to take Mowgli back and they set off on their journey. Upon the way they meet many characters and face many dangers. Mowgli makes a new friend in Baloo the bear and faces several foes including Kaa the Snake, King Louie the Orang-U-Tang and of course Shere Khan.
Video / Audio
When discussing the video quality I think it’s important to remember that this film was created in 1967. There were of course no such thing as CG effects back in those days so everything is hand drawn and painted. Although it shows its age in comparison to modern animations I think it still works as well today as it did back then. Although the colour may seem a little drab and dull, for me this is just all part of the nostalgia of the film.
Anyway the picture is in a 1.33:1 full frame format and they’ve obviously used a well-preserved source, as I could see no trace of any film scratches or anything else that comes from using old film prints. This is by far the best that this film has ever looked.
On the audio side the soundtrack comes in a Dolby Digital 2.0 format. Although it would have been nice to get a remix with more channels, the soundtrack is still effective enough. The dialogue is all very clear and the great songs sound the best I’ve ever heard them.
Extras
He He, you are joking right. This is a Disney release, so you can forget getting any extras for your money. Unless you count a chapter index, language tracks and some film recommendations as extras then this is a film only release.
Conclusion
This to me has to be the definitive Disney Film. It’s got everything that makes a good Disney, great characters, lively songs, plenty of humour and of course a happy ending. As a child I could have sat and watched the King Louie scenes again and again. I watched it last night and for me it just brings back so many memories of childhood.
If I was to give it a mark based solely on the film itself then I would probably give it at least a 4.5. However because of the lack of extras and Disney’s over-inflated pricing I’m going to give it a 4.
This page has been read:
24469
times