The Jungle Book

1 9 6 7 (USA)

Boy-cub Mowgli enters the jungle as a shipwrecked orphaned baby, is picked up by a kindly panther named Bagheera and adopted by a pack of wolves. Once the boy is raised to young manhood, Bagheera decides it's time the man-cub was returned to his own kind. But ' little Mowgli still thinks he'd be happier among the beasts.

After run-ins with a hypnotic snake called Kaa, and a herd of military elephants, Mowgli runs away from Bagheera, taking up with a freewheeling, lazy bear named Baloo. The two pals share an idyllic existence, which is interrupted when Mowgli is captured by King Louie, an orangutan who wants the secret of man's fire. Mowgli's friends come to his aid, but the greatest danger still lurks hidden in the jungle: a man-eating tiger named Shere Khan.

The character voices are superb and very effective, while some jazzy tunes (including The Bare Necessities) ensure easy-going fun all round. This was the last cartoon feature supervised by Walt Disney himself. The Disney organization released a live-action follow-up in 1994.