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This animated short by Chuck Jones is said to be the most faithful adaptation of The Jungle Book to date, telling the first chapter of the book almost word for word. I tried reading the book in my teens, but the writing style lost me very quickly, so I decided this would be a good way to see the original story, how it started out and what Disney changed from the source material.
My favourite moment was the explanation for the term "red flower": because the animals are so terrified of fire that they don't like to use its real name.
Roddy McDowall tells the story admirably, and of course Chuck Jones' animation is brilliant.
The only thing I didn't like was the ending. I get the message it was going for, but I don't understand why Mowgli started acting the way he did.
On the whole, not my favourite version of the story, but still an entertaining and interesting experience.
(And on a side note, I have to wonder what the upcoming Jungle Book directed by Andy Serkis is going to be like, how closely it'll follow the book.)
My rating: 75%
