The Jungle Book

One of Disney's most beloved animated features, The Jungle Book has already been previously released on DVD. So what does this two-disc “platinum edition” bring to the party? Besides a pristine picture superior to previous releases, this version boasts a wealth of extras. Loosely based on Rudyard Kipling's classic story about Mowgli, a “man-cub” raised in the jungle by wolves, The Jungle Book is not usually ranked with such Disney masterpieces as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Bambi, but it is particularly embraced by children of the ‘60s as their own. In “The Lure of The Jungle Book,” one of the newly-produced bonus features, animators such as Brad Bird (Ratatouille) pay tribute to the film's personality-oriented animation, which owed much to the indelible voice work provided by a dream-team ensemble, including Phil Harris as jungle slacker Baloo the Bear, Sebastian Cabot as the more dignified panther Bagheera, Sterling “Winnie the Pooh” Holloway as hypnotizing snake Kaa, Louis Prima as the swinging, scat-singing orangutan King Louie, and George Sanders as the menacing tiger, Shere Khan, who is bent on killing Mowgli. Bruce Reitherman, whose father Wolfgang—one of Disney's famed Nine Old Men—directed the film, is the voice of Mowgli (another featurette, “Mowgli's Return to the Wild,” finds Bruce all grown up and working as a director of nature documentaries). The lively audio commentary—which includes archival interviews with legendary animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas—coupled together with a wildly entertaining “making-of” documentary, offer a definitive and comprehensive look at the film's production. Two additional segments highlight a character (Rocky the Rhino) and songs that were deleted from the film. Highly recommended. (D. Liebenson)[Blu-ray Review—Feb. 11, 2014—Walt Disney, 78 min., R, $14.99—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1967's The Jungle Book boasts a great transfer and a DTS-HD 7.1 soundtrack. Extras new to this release include an “I Wan'na Be Like You” segment filmed at Disney's Animal Kingdom (19 min.), a “Music, Memories & Mowgli” conversation with composer Richard M. Sherman, Diane Disney Miller, and story artist Floyd Norman (10 min.), “@DisneyAnimation: Sparking Creativity” with Disney animators (9 min.), an alternate ending (9 min.), brief intros by Sherman and Miller, a “Bear-E-Oke” sing-along option, and bonus DVD and digital copies of the film. Also included are earlier DVD features. Bottom line: a beloved Disney classic makes a welcome debut on Blu-ray.]