The Jungle Book (1967)
84%RT Audience Score: 82%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
33 wins & 55 nominations total
With expressive animation, fun characters, and catchy songs, The Jungle Book endures as a crowd-pleasing Disney classic
The Jungle Book is a classic that has stood the test of time, and for good reason. The characters are lovable, the songs are catchy, and the animation is top-notch. Sure, the plot may be a bit lazy, but who cares when you have Baloo the bear singing about the bare necessities of life? It’s a fun and enjoyable movie that will make you smile every time you watch it. Plus, who doesn’t love a good lip-licking post-mortem from a bear?
Production Company(ies)
Plattform Produktion Film i Väst Essential Filmproduktion, GmbH,
Distributor
Buena Vista Pictures
Release Type
Filming Location(s)
Los Angeles, California, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG for some sequences of scary action and peril
Year of Release
1967
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Datasat Dolby Digital Dolby Atmos Auro 11.1 SDDS
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:1h 18m
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Language(s):English, Hindi, Bengali, Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Assamese, Urdu, Oriya, Punjabi, Malayalam, Marathi, Rajasthani, Haryanvi, Nepali
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 18, 1967 Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 12, 2006
Genre(s)
Adventure
Keyword(s)
starring Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, Louis Prima, George Sanders, Sterling Holloway, J Pat O’Malley, directed by Wolfgang Reitherman, written by Ken Anderson, Larry Clemmons, Ralph Wright, Vance Gerry, inspired by Rudyard Kipling’s book, G-rated, adventure, Disney classic, expressive animation, fun characters, catchy songs, man-eating tiger, abandoned child, raised by wolves, panther, carefree bear, jungle’s many perils, box office success, budget, reviewed by Howard Thompson, Keith Phipps, Variety Staff, Ian Nathan, Dave Kehr, Eric Henderson, Mike Massie, Mattie Lucas, Rachel Wagner, Andrew Collins, James Plath, Phil Harris as Baloo, Sebastian Cabot as Bagheera, Louis Prima as King Louie, George Sanders as Shere Khan, Sterling Holloway as Kaa, J Pat O’Malley as Col Hathi, produced by Walt Disney, Buena Vista Pictures, released in theaters on October 18, 1967, released on streaming on September 12, 2006
Worldwide gross: $966,554,929
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $1,191,277,562
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 76
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 129,910,312
US/Canada gross: $364,001,123
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $448,630,861
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 92
US/Canada opening weekend: $103,261,464
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $127,269,606
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 55
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $175,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $215,687,249
Production budget ranking: 83
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $116,147,583
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): $859,442,730
ROI to date (est.): 259%
ROI ranking: 516
Sebastian Cabot – Bagheera – Voice
Louis Prima – King Louie – Voice
George Sanders – Shere Khan – Voice
Sterling Holloway – Kaa – Voice
J. Pat O’Malley – Col. Hathi – Voice
Director(s)
Wolfgang Reitherman
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Walt Disney
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
33 wins & 55 nominations total
Academy Awards
All Critics (40) | Top Critics (8) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (5)
Smple, uncluttered, straight-forward fun.
April 15, 2016
Howard Thompson
New York Times
TOP CRITIC
Every one of the bunch is memorable, and each plays gracefully into the action of the film.
February 14, 2014 | Rating: 3.5/5
Keith Phipps
The Dissolve
TOP CRITIC
The standout song goes to Harris, a rhythmic ‘Bare Necessities’ extolling the value of a simple life and credited to Terry Gilkyson.
November 3, 2009
Variety Staff
Variety
TOP CRITIC
It’s a slight tale, of course, and incredibly short, but the characters and songs are pretty much perfect viewing time and again.
March 10, 2008 | Rating: 5/5
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
TOP CRITIC
A serious disappointment, recommended only for inveterate Disney fans and very young people.
March 10, 2008
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
TOP CRITIC
The literally last-minute stab at domestic foreplay is simply unbelievable, but Baloo’s lip-licking post-mortem (“I still think he’d a made one swell bear”) is what sticks.
October 3, 2007 | Rating: 2.5/4
Eric Henderson
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
The characters are effectively conceptualized and flawlessly realized.
August 24, 2020 | Rating: 7/10
Mike Massie
Gone With The Twins
May be one of their lesser classics, but there is a reason why it has endured for so long.
August 7, 2019 | Rating: 2.5/4
Mattie Lucas
From the Front Row
Written by the Sherman Brothers, the songs are catchy and make me smile every time I hear them.
February 6, 2019 | Rating: 7/10
Rachel Wagner
Rotoscopers
The period’s feathery drawing style abounds, and an all-round warmth pervades.
April 15, 2016 | Rating: 5/5
Andrew Collins
Radio Times
The plot and pacing may be nearly as lazy as the sloth bear Baloo (Phil Harris), but animators use that to their advantage, developing the characters so that even minor ones seem majorly entertaining.
April 3, 2016 | Rating: B+
James Plath
Family Home Theater
Here’s yet another animated feature from Disney’s mostly barren stretch between its two golden ages, a film that plays better in nostalgia-tinged memories than in the here-and-now.
April 18, 2014 | Rating: 2/4
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing…
Plot
Living among the wolves in the jungle, young man cub Mowgli quickly learns to live life among his wolf pack and all the animals that inhabit the jungle, but when the villainous tiger Shere Khan threatens Mowgli’s life, black panther Bagheera offers to take Mowgli to a nearby man village where he will be safe from the tiger’s wrath. Along the way, Mowgli gets tangled up in a series of encounters with a sly snake named Kaa, a swimmingly ruthless gigantopithecus named King Louie and a lazy bear named Baloo, who quickly becomes his guide to the ‘bear necessities’ of life.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels doesn’t say anything goofy or funny about The Jungle Book, but it does mention the voice actors, including Phil Harris as Baloo and George Sanders as Shere Khan.
Wolfgang-Reitherman.jpg
