I must admit I have not been a big supporter of this community in the past (only one other post, in fact). But when I saw this post about a contest for talking about your favorite childhood movie, I figured..."what the heck, why not?".
When I was growing up (over 50 years ago), there was no Dreamworks or Pixar. Your main source of kids movies were Looney Tunes (Warner Brothers) and Disney. And while I always enjoyed Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, and the other noteable characters, I was always drawn to animated movies put out by Walt Disney.
As I think back to some of the ones I enjoyed the most, movies like Pinocchio, Bambi, Peter Pan, and Lady and the Tramp, come to mind. But I have to say my favorite was always The Jungle Book.
Part of the reason I love this story so much is due to all of the memorable characters. From Mowgli and Baloo (the bear), to Bagheera (the panther), Shere Kahn (the tiger), Kaa (the snake), King Louie (the orangutan), Colonel Hathi and the rest of the elephants, and Flaps an the rest of the vultures, there were so many unforgetable personalities.
I think something else that made this movie entrench itself in my memory was the music. I can still sing a lot of those songs word for word today. I have to let you in on a litlle secret, though. My parents purchased a few of the soundtrack records from Disneyland Records for my siblings and I for Christmas one year. The Jungle Book was one of the ones we got. I cannot tell you how many times I played that record. I don't know how my parents put up with it. My favorites have to be Kaa (the snake) trying to convice Mowgli to "Trust In Me" as he tries to hypnotize him so he can eat him, Baloo (the bear) teaching Mowgli "The Bare Necessities", King Louie (the oragutan) explaining to Mowgli "I Wan'na Be Like You", and the vultures trying to cheer Mowgli up in "That's What Friends Are For". As I sat and watched this movie on video with my daughter while she was growing up, I would always sing along with each of the characters. I think she knows all of these songs by heart, as well.
When it comes to memorable moments in the movie, I have to say my three favorite scenes (listed chronologically) are:
- When Kaa (the snake) is trying to hypnotize Mowgli and while interacting with Bagheera, gets pushed off the tree branch. As he falls through the tree, he ends up with a knot it his tail that get caught between a couple of bamboo shoots as he slithers off.
- The whole song and dance sequence when King Louie (the oragutan) tries to convice Mowgli that all he needs to be human is for Mowgli to bring him some fire.
- The whole scene with the vultures. Between their British accents and their indecisiveness always brightens my day. I can still quote many of the lines of this scene...
These are a few of the reasons this movie rocked my childhoold.