Ruyard Kipling

(On DVD, February 2018) I can’t say that I got much out of my first beginning-to-end viewing of Disney’s classic The Jungle Book. Do understand that the film was practically written in my DNA as a child—I must have seen the film in French at some point, but more importantly was deluged with related materials, read the original Kipling novel as a boy scout, and have since then seen bits and pieces of it and its live-action remake (in French) with my child. The plot? Utterly familiar. The characters? Even more so. What’s left? Well, at least two songs in their original glory: “The Bare Necessities” is an instant humming favourite, while “I Wanna Be Like You” reminded me of the catchy Big Bad Voodoo Daddy cover version. Otherwise, I know Mowgli and Baloo and Bagheera and the rest of the gang. It’s a fun movie. It’s occasionally long. The animation isn’t as good as some other Disney movies (you can see the in-between marks), but still works well most of the time. I’ll watch it again without too much boredom.