Western Animation / The Jungle Book (1967)

aka: The Jungle Book

The Jungle is JUMPIN'!

"Here's the novel. Now the first thing I want you to do is not read it."

— Walt Disney to his writing staff

The 19th entry into the Disney Animated Canon, released on October 18, 1967.

Based on a collection of stories of the same name published around 1893 by Rudyard Kipling, Disney found The Jungle Book and loved at least some of its ideas, so they chose it for one of their Animated Adaptations. The result was and is widely considered a great Disney film, the best and perhaps most original animated Disney film of the 1960s. That said, this adaptation of The Jungle Book was one of the greatest cases of Adaptation Displacement in history, so great a case that Disney felt free to use some of Mowgli's friends and foes and rivals far, far away from the books and jungles where they were conceived, and so it considers them its own.

One of Disney's most publicized features, the film spawned two Animated Series Spin-Offs: TaleSpin, an Anthropomorphic Shift Animated Series that puts three of the main characters from Disney's version of The Jungle Book into an Alternate Continuity, and Jungle Cubs, which focuses on the infant lives of the animal residents of the film. The Jungle Book also received its inevitable sequel titled The Jungle Book 2. In 2013, a stage version was produced; Disney was not directly involved (but might get involved if the show does well enough to get a Broadway run).

This film marks a turning point in Disney's history, and not for the better. Walt Disney, who had produced every film in the Disney Animated Canon up to that point, died partway through the making of The Jungle Book in 1966; following the then-recent success of Mary Poppins, Walt's interest in animation experienced a brief resurgence, rendering his involvement in this film more hands-on than with its direct predecessors. While it wasn't the last he greenlit, that being The Aristocats, his passing marked a commercial and artistic downturn for the studio that would last until the release of The Little Mermaid in 1989. The films released between those two are still loved by fans and critics, but are generally thought of as being noticeably below the standard of the Walt-produced films, and this slump is generally seen as indicative of the atmosphere surrounding The Dark Age of Animation. Much of the quality of the films released during this period are widely attributed to creative stagnation caused by the presence of stalwart executives trying to make the House of Mouse's work adhere to the standards of the movies Walt produced, and only after the firing of these executives by Jeffery Katzenberg (following the near-Creator Killer failure of The Black Cauldron in 1985) did Disney begin to pick itself back up by their bootstraps.

On April 15, 2016, Disney released a CG/live action hybrid adaptation of the film, with an All-Star Cast featuring Bill Murray as Baloo, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Christopher Walken as King Louie and Scarlett Johansson as a gender-flipped Kaa.

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The Jungle Book provides examples of:

• Actor Allusion:
  • King Louie is played by Louis Prima, whose nickname was "The King of the Swing". In King Louie's song, "I Wanna Be Like You", he refers to himself as the "King of the Swingers".
  • It gets better. Prima was notorious for many songs extolling his preference for bigger women such as "The Bigger The Figure" (featured in Igor). Now, knowing that, observe his character's reaction to Baloo's disguise.
  • Baloo's personality is basically Phil Harris' comic persona developed on The Jack Benny Program, minus the heavy drinking. In fact, this movie is much more entertaining if you're familiar with Phil on that show before seeing it.
• Actually Quite Catchy: Mowgli is initially angry at King Louie after being kidnapped by his monkey minions. When King Louie sings "I Wanna Be Like You", Mowgli starts enjoying the song and eventually is seen dancing with the monkeys. Baloo has a similar reaction when he and Bagheera want to rescue Mowgli from King Louie:
  Baloo: I'll tear him limb from limb, I'll beat him, I'll.. I'll.. (dancing) ummm, yeah, well, man, what a beat!
• Adaptational Badass: Shere Khan in the film is far more menacing than he was in the original stories, in which he wasn't so much feared by the other animals as disdained for being lame and a man-eater; not because man are respected, but because they're seen as easy prey. On the other hand, the books' Shere Khan is a lot more influential, succeeding in turning almost the entire wolf pack against Mowgli and Akela.
• Adaptational Comic Relief: The movie is intentionally Lighter and Softer than the book it was based on, so this happens to a number of characters who are as much In Name Only similar to the book's as the script is.
  • Baloo in the books is a serious law teacher. In the Disney film he became the exact opposite, a lazy, fun-loving character who loves to sing silly songs, including a scatting duel with an orangutan.
  • Kaa combines this with Adaptational Villainy. Whereas in the book he's an old, wise snake who is respected and feared by everyone in the jungle, in the film he's a sniveling literal Smug Snake who attempts to eat Mowgli multiple times, but always ends up suffering Amusing Injuries.
  • Hathi in the books is a mighty elephant respected by every animal in the jungle. In the Disney film he's a bumbling, absent-minded military commander.
  • Downplayed with Bagheera, who remains a serious character but often ends up becoming The Comically Serious and the Straight Man to Baloo.
  • Zigzagged with Shere Khan, who becomes much more menacing than his book counterpart, but also gains some Faux Affably Evil mannerisms.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: In the original The Jungle Book, while Baloo genuinely loved Mowgli, he was a Stern Teacher to the man-cub who did not shy away from Corporal Punishment to discipline him. Here, he's a laid-back Big Fun character who would never hurt Mowgli.
• Adaptational Villainy: Kaa was one of Mowgli's allies and mentors in the original book, saving him from the Bandar-log, giving him advice for battle against the dholes, and never threatening to harm him. In fact, Mowgli was the only character able to resist his hypnotic dance (implied to be because he's human). In the movie, he's a more comical villain, but is a genuine threat to the level that Bagheera is afraid of him when he's angry. All the while, the python threatening to predate Mowgli sounds for all the world like Winnie the Pooh with a lisp, and well he should considering they're both voiced by Sterling Holloway and (currently) Jim Cummings.
• Adaptational Wimp:
  • Mowgli doesn't do much besides interacting with the more colorful animal characters and ultimately tying a flaming branch to Shere Khan's tail. In the original book his entire life is full of lessons and hardships about how to become a formidable predator, even though he's at a big disadvantage since he lacks the claws, fangs and muscles of the animals of the jungle, and in the end he's able to survive to grow into a man by becoming one of the smartest and strongest creatures the jungle has seen.
  • Kaa, who is a powerful badass and much more deserving of respect in the book. He's the only animal in the jungle that the monkeys fear, and even Baloo and Bagheera are wary when approaching him. Downplayed, as he is still a credible threat despite this and very nearly kills Mowgli twice, with Bagheera being too terrified to move when the python directs his anger onto him after he slaps him to protect Mowgli.
  • Colonel Hathi is a bungling leader to his troop in both films. In the original book he was an aggressive elephant who once destroyed a human village.
  • Bagheera is noticeably less formidable in the movie. In the book, he's one of the jungle's most feared and respected inhabitants — not so much in the movie, where he's more of a Comically Serious Butt-Monkey.
  • Akela and the wolves also get this, as in the opening of the film they give Mowgli to Bagheera because they feel that they cannot protect him from Shere Khan. In the book, Shere Khan himself comes to demand the child, and the pack stands up to him. Akela remains an important ally to Mowgli until the wolf's death.
• Adaptation Personality Change: Many. Most obviously, Baloo and Bageehra essentially switch personalities, and Kaa becomes a conniving villain rather than a wise mentor for Mowgli.
• Adapted Out: Several picture/story book adaptations remove Mowgli's second encounter with Kaa, and some even remove the vulture quartet entirely, in favor of skipping directly to the showdown with Shere Khan.
• Affectionate Nickname: After the two befriend each other, Baloo refers to Mowgli as "little britches" and Mowgli in turn refers to him as "papa bear".
• All There in the Manual: A story book based on the film revealed that Shere Khan's primary hatred for man comes from having been shot by a hunter. It made no mention whether the hunter had shot him in self-defence or not.
• All Up to You: Bagheera says this to Baloo to take Mowgli to the man-village because he would listen to Baloo. It backfires because once Baloo tells Mowgli he needs to go to the man-village, Mowgli won't listen even to Baloo and runs away.
• Amusing Injuries: Kaa, when pushed off the branch, gets extreme whiplash, a knot in his tail, and has to painfully crawl his way off-screen. Twice.
• Analogy Backfire: When discussing the idea of letting Mowgli stay in the jungle...
  Bagheera: The jungle is not the place for him.
  Baloo: I grew up in the jungle. Take a look at me!
  Bagheera: Yes, just look at yourself! Look at that eye!
• Animal Gender-Bender:
  • Colonel Hathi leads the troop of elephants. In Real Life elephant bulls are solitary, and only enter a herd to mate, then leave once they've done their business.
  • King Louie is drawn without floppy cheekpads or flanges, making him look more like a female orangutan
• Animal Talk: One of the few things that's more or less exactly the same as Kipling's original book is that all animals (and Mowgli) can talk to one another.
• Animation Bump: Milt Kahl's work with Shere Khan is a notable version of this.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Bagheera delivers a particularly powerful one, as he discusses the danger Mowgli is in with Baloo, who is reluctant to let him go.
  Baloo: [sniffing] 'I love that kid. I love him like he was my own cub.
  Bagheera: 'Then think of what's best for Mowgli and not yourself!
• Art Shift: Kaa undergoes this between scenes. Compare his more snakelike appearance in the first act to his more stylized appearance in the third act. The change can be generalized as Kaa's eyes coming together in the third act when they were far apart in the first act. Through reused animation from the first act, he shifts back after Shere Khan leaves to resume his wild goose chase.
• Ascended Extra: Baloo was originally supposed to only be a small part in the original movie, but Walt Disney was so impressed with Phil Harris's vocal performance that the bear was promoted to a major character.
• As You Know: Bagheera reminds Baloo that the reason Shere Khan hates humans is because of their weapons and fire.
• Attractive Bent-Gender: Baloo's female orangutan disguise.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Mowgli has no nipples.
• Beary Friendly: Baloo. Despite Bagheera's fears of his Toxic Friend Influence on Mowgli, he's not an example of Bears Are Bad News.
• Big Bad: Shere Khan, whose reputation for killing humans is the reason Mowgli has to go to the man village when the tiger returns.
• Big Damn Heroes: Just as Shere Khan is about to kill Mowgli, Baloo grabs him by the tail.
• Big Friendly Dog: Two members of Mowgli's wolf family. At the beginning of the film, we see them tackle Mowgli and give his face a good licking when he comes home.
• Big Good: Bagheera.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: The main trio in the film; Baloo (big), Bagheera (thin), and Mowgli (short).
• Bittersweet Ending: Mowgli leaves for the man-village, and is now with his people. Baloo is absolutely heartbroken, but Bagheera reassures him that Mowgli is safer now. In the end, Baloo and Bagheera stroll away into the sunset, singing a reprise of "The Bare Necessities". It's made more bittersweet once realizing that this was the final film Walt Disney ever saw completed in his lifetime. Fortunately, Mowgli does see Baloo and Bagheera again in the sequel.
• Bloodless Carnage: Baloo gets multiple facefuls of tiger claws (and they're CLEARLY digging in!) during his "fight" with Shere Khan without a single drop of blood shed or mark left.
• Both Sides Have a Point: The reason Shere Khan wants to kill Mowgli is because the former doesn't want the latter to grow up to be just another hunter. Mowgli thinks this is a silly notion since he doesn't have any intention of hunting on account of growing up in the jungle. In addition, jungle animals don't typically come across weapons like that lying around in the wild, much less have the dexterity to use them. On the other side of the equation, while threatening harm on a child isn't the best way to go about it, Shere Khan's fear of man's gun and man's fire is a reasonable one, and there are some hunters out there who hunt for the sake of hurting animals instead of for food, something that's elaborated more in the deleted Villain Song "The Mighty Hunters".
• Bratty Half-Pint: Mowgli, who refuses to leave the jungle and continuously runs from his guardians in a stubborn fit (usually straight into danger).
• Break-Up/Make-Up Scenario: For the reasons said above, Mowgli has one with Baloo.
• Butt Biter: In a slightly more serious context than usual. Shere Khan bites Baloo in the backside at one point during his battle with him.
• Captain Obvious: Baloo with his indignant comment "She did that on purpose!"
• Casting Gag: Verna Felton provides the voice of Winifred, an elephant. This isn't the first time, as it also happened with the previous Disney film Dumbo.
• Cats Are Mean: Shere Khan's very name is enough to bring a chill down the other animals' spines. Bagheera however is a key protagonist and one of the most rational and benevolent characters in the jungle.
• Cats Are Snarkers: Bagheera the panther is easily the snarkiest character, and Shere Khan the tiger, though he doesn't get many lines, comes across as at least somewhat snarky as well.
  Mowgli: You don't scare me. I won't run from anyone.
  Shere Khan: Ah, you have spirit for one so small. And such spirit is deserving of a sporting chance. Now, I'm going to close my eyes and count to ten. It makes the chase more interesting... for me.
• Celibate Hero: Baloo is implied to be this; When Mowgli first sees Shanti, he dismissively remarks that females are "nothing but trouble".
• The Chew Toy: Bagheera, somewhat, in part thanks to him being The Comically Serious of sorts.
• Closer to Earth: Winifred, the only shown female resident of the jungle is much less befuddled and pompous than her husband. Though Bagheera seems to act as the Only Sane Man no contest.
• Cloudcuckooland: The jungle seems to be filled with a rather dominating amount of bizarre and whimsical residents, especially in the original film.
• Comically Missing the Point: Baloo does this several times when Bagheera talks to him about Mowgli.
  • First, during Mowgli's fighting lesson with Baloo:
    Bagheera: Fine teacher you are, old iron paws.
    Baloo: (brightly) Oh, thanks, Bagheera.
  • Second, when Bagheera urges Baloo to return Mowgli to the man-village, though this may be more him teasing Bagheera:
    Bagheera: Baloo, birds of a feather should flock together. You wouldn't marry a panther, would you?
    Baloo: I don't know. (amused) Come to think of it, no panther ever asked me.
• The Comically Serious: Shere Khan, particularly during his confrontation with Kaa.
  • Also Bagheera, who is the Only Sane Man but is also the Chew Toy.
• Company Cross References: Near the end of the film, Bagheera delivers a eulogy to the apparently dead Baloo as a somber organ music plays. Surprisingly, the background music is a Grief Song and a shout-out to "Chorale for Snow White" from the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• Composite Character:
  • Kaa's more villainous characterization has a few notable character traits more similar to, ironically, Shere Khan's book incarnation (a cunning Manipulative Bastard who is, however, somewhat arrogant and pathetic). His characterization, particularly his sniveling, cowardly personality and the way he sucks up to Shere Khan, also recalls Tabaqui, Khan's jackal sidekick from the book, who is absent from the movie.
  • Much lower scale example, Mowgli's father (merely Father Wolf in the book) is referred to as Rama, the name of an unrelated bull character in the original stories.
• Conspicuously Light Patch: During the chase scene through the temple, the pillar Louie accidentally breaks is differently animated than the previous one he and Baloo ran past.
• Covers Always Lie: The original poster depicts Baloo as brown, while he's gray in the movie. Also, he's seen grasping Kaa by the throat on the VHS cover, despite the fact that the two never interact.
• Cowardly Lion:
  • The vultures are terrified of Shere Khan, but that doesn't stop them from directly attacking him when he goes after Mowgli and Baloo.
  • Despite his pyrophobia, Shere Khan attempts to take out the fire before finally panicking.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Baloo doesn't have a chance against Khan in the climax.
• Deadpan Snarker:
  • Bagheera possesses a very dry sense of humor and repeatedly expresses sarcasm towards Mowgli and especially Baloo.
    Baloo: Oh, stop worrying, Baggy! Stop worrying! I'll take care of him.
    Bagheera: Yes, like you did when the monkeys kidnapped him, huh?
  • One of the members of Hathi's herd is an elephant with plants dangling from one of his tusks, who repeatedly makes derisively snide aside remarks during the dawn patrol's marching song.
• Demoted to Extra: The wolves, despite their prominent role raising Mowgli in the original book, only appear at the beginning of the film and do not appear at all in the sequel or spin offs. Akela in particular: easily one of the most important characters in the book, here he appears for only a single scene and winds up being incredibly forgettable (he also gets a key appearance in an episode of Jungle Cubs however).
• Didn't Think This Through: Kaa answering Bagheera's call for Mowgli to remain quiet til morning wasn't a bright idea, especially since he would've gotten away with eating the man cub if he hadn't done so.
• Disney Death: Baloo is thought to be killed by Shere Khan, but he turns out to be alive while Bagheera is eulogizing him.
• Disneyfication: Disney was aiming for a Lighter and Softer flick instead of following Kipling, to the point where the film is an In Name Only adaptation of the first book.
  • Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Books (yes, two of them) depict the orphaned Mowgli growing into a strong and intelligent young man whose jungle upbringing makes him something of a Noble Savage. Baloo was a sleepy Stern Teacher with a Hidden Heart of Gold, rather than a kindly Gentle Giant. Kaa, while large, intimidating, and alien, is one of Mowgli's allies, not enemies. Hathi the elephant is wise and powerful and when he tells Shere Khan to clear off ("How Fear Came"), the tiger does so — he's not a pompous ass who fancies himself a Victoria Cross-winning British Army colonel.
  • There's quite a lot of violence, too. At one point Kaa hypnotizes a troupe of monkeys into becoming his helpless (ahem) dinner guests; later on, Mowgli and the wolves kill Shere Khan by a stampede of water-buffalo over him. (In the Disney version he doesn't even die!) The story "Red Dog" has Mowgli cause the marauding dogs of the title to be attacked by millions of angry bees; those who jump in the river to survive are attacked by Mowgli with a knife; and those left then face Mowgli and his enraged wolf pack. And incidentally, Mowgli does most of this while he's naked. It should come as no surprise that none of the violence or nudity makes it into the Disney version, but Disney not only censors the story but effectively throws out every last original plot thread.
  • A documentary on the DVD explains how Disney's writers "improved" on the original, but in fact it becomes clear that what they really did was to whittle away at the original storyline until there was almost nothing left except for a few almost coincidental similarities. They can't even pronounce Mowgli's name right. ("Mow rhymes with cow", says Kipling.) All this can be easily explained by the fact that Walt Disney specifically told the production crew not to read the book. He gave an outline on the characters and plot ideas he wanted and didn't want the book itself to be used as a reference - specially as the original script and songs, inspired by the book, had a bit more darkness than is usual in a Disney film (to the point that the writer was ditched despite a long story with Disney, and the only song kept before changing composers was a cheery tune that became the Signature Song of the film, "The Bare Necessities").
• Distracted by the Sexy:
  • Mowgli instantly loses all control of his mental faculties the moment he sees Shanti, a reaction she quite deliberately uses to lure him into the village when she also becomes smitten with him when he watches her and falls in the river - by the time she blinks her eyes at him he's gone, man: solid gone.
  • King Louie on seeing Baloo disguised as a big, beautiful ape.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Baloo is a lazy, good-natured slacker who lives in harmony with nature, loves music to the point that if he hears it playing he can't resist dancing, thinks human civilisation is severely corrupting, and is profoundly irresponsible. Although the film was made in the mid-late 60s and Baloo talks like a 40s hipster, his characterisation reflects Uncle Walt's loathing of the counterculture.
• A Dog Named "Dog": A bilingual example, since Baloo means "bear" in Hindi; hence, "Bear the bear". Likewise, Hathi is the Hindi word for Elephant hence he is "Colonel Elephant".
• Doomy Dooms of Doom: After being interrupted in his meal of Mowgli, but before receiving extreme whiplash when Mowgli shoves his coils off the tree branch:
  Kaa: (to Bagheera) You have just sealed your doom.
• The Door Slams You: Baloo does this to Bagheera when the latter is employing Nobody Here but Us Statues.
• The Dreaded: Shere Khan.
• Dumbass Has a Point: Baloo points out that Shere Khan's reasons for going after Mowgli is stupid for several reasons: there are no guns in the jungle, Mowgli doesn't know how to use or get one, and that Mowgli himself has no intention of growing up to be a hunter at all. Despite agreeing with Baloo's points, Bagheera points out that the tiger doesn't care as the latter is still prejudiced against mankind.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The elephants in this film actually all made an appearance in the short subject Goliath II before actually making their official debuts here.
• Elephants Never Forget: Played with. Colonel Hathi, the leader of the elephants, claims that an elephant never forgets. However, after a conversation with Bagheera, who is trying to bring Mowgli to the Man Village since Shere Khan has returned to the jungle and is trying to hunt him down, Hathi's son, Junior, befriends Mowgli and stays behind as Hathi leads the rest of the herd away. As Hathi leads his herd, his wife, Winifred, asks him if he's forgetting something. Hathi assures her that as an elephant, he never forgets anything, but she reminds him that he forgot their son. As Hathi goes back to Junior to scold him for not following the rest of the herd, the rest of the herd crashes into Hathi because as Junior points out, he forgot to say "Halt!". This amuses Mowgli, but not Bagheera.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Kaa dislikes Shere Khan's wrathful reasons for hunting Mowgli rather than hunting merely for food and criticizes him for "picking on that poor defenseless boy" once he's out of earshot. Then he remembers that he's currently got that "poor defenseless boy" in his coils.
  Mowgli: You told me a lie, Kaa! You said I could trust you!
  Kaa: (scornfully) It's like you said: you can't trust ANYONE!
• Everybody Lives: There's no deaths in the film, which is admittedly odd for a Disney adaptation.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Shere Khan.
• Exact Words: "I can see to it that you never have to leave this jungle."
• Excuse Plot: Enforced: Walt Disney specifically told the story artists to not read or follow the book, and even chewed them out when they had concerns over the simplistic story, saying the characters and entertainment were more important. Floyd Norman, who worked on the film, summed it up on his blog:
  "With Pixar's string of successful movies it became popular among animation buffs to quote the familiar mantra, story, story, story. But, I remember it was no less than Walt Disney himself who chewed us out back during the development of "The Jungle Book." Because we thought we had legitimate concerns about the films' simple plot line. Well, we caught the wrath of the Old Maestro head on. "You guys worry too much about the story," Walt shouted. "Just give me some good stuff." And, what was that good stuff Walt Disney was talking about, you ask? Fun, humor, entertainment. In a word, Walt was speaking of gags. "The Jungle Book" didn't need a more involved story line because we already had great characters to work with. Let the humor come out of the situation, the characters, and the story will take care of itself."
• Eyelash Fluttering: Shanti (named in the sequel) seduces Mowgli into the village this way.
• Family-Unfriendly Death: Subverted at the end, where at first Baloo appears to have died a gruesome death at the hands of Shere Khan, but then turns out to be alive.
• Following in Relative's Footsteps: During their scenes together, Hathi Jr. (the baby elephant) says to Mowgli, "When I grow up, I wanna be a colonel, just like my [father]."
• Force Feeding: A relatively humorous example occurs when, upon capturing Mowgli, King Louie holds his mouth open to feed him a banana.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: You can see Mowgli's buttcrack during both wedgie scenes if you pause at the right frames.
• Friendly Tickle Torture:
  • Mowgli tickles Baloo after the both have a play-fight in their first encounter. In the midst of his laughter, Baloo tells Mowgli that one did not do that in the jungle. Ironically, Baloo himself later commits the unfriendly version against King Louie, thereby bringing down the building.
  • Averted in The Jungle Book II in the deleted song, "I've got you beat". When Mowgli tries to explain to Shanti about how a beat works when singing and dancing, he briefly tickles Ranjan to demonstrate.
• Friendship Song: "That's What Friends Are For", sung to Mowgli by a quartet of vultures (who bear an astounding resemblance to The Beatles) in the style of a barbershop quartet.
• Gray Rain of Depression: During Baloo's Disney Death scene.
• Hakuna Matata: Baloo's way of life, as he looks "for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities".
• Hand Gagging: A monkey does this to Mowgli.
• Helpless Kicking: Played for Laughs when Mowgli tries fighting Baloo, who effortlessly lifts him off the ground with both paws, pinning his arms to his side so all Mowgli can do is try repeatedly to kick at him, even though his legs clearly can't reach that far.
• Holy Pipe Organ: Heard during the scene where Bagheera, the vultures, and Mowgli think that Baloo is dead and Bagheera delivers a eulogy for him. Surprisingly, the organ music is a Grief Song and a Shout-Out to "Chorale for Snow White" from the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
• Honorable Elephant: Colonel Hathi and his troops. Particularly Hathi, himself.
• Humans Are the Real Monsters: Shere Khan's attitude towards humans, which is why he wants to kill Mowgli.
• Human Knot: Happens to Kaa. He's a rope-like snake, which helps.
• Human Traffic Jam: Happens to the elephants when they're ordered to halt.
• Humiliation Conga: Happens to Kaa - he's pushed off of a tree, hitting his head several times, gets a knot in his tail, and the momentum causes him to fold up like an accordion. Mowgli is quite amused.
• Hypnotic Eyes: Kaa.
• Ignorant About Fire: Shere Khan is noted to have a very strong fear of fire, which proves to be his undoing. Mowgli ties a flaming branch to Shere Khan's tail, which causes the former to panic. He just tries to stomp on the flames (which does nothing) before dashing away.
• I'll Kill You!: Shere Khan's last spoken line, uttered right before he attacks Baloo.
• Incoming Ham: "That's what frieeeeeeeeends...aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare for."
• I'm Melting!: Implied to be Shere Khan's ultimate fate.
• Indy Ploy: Baloo's plan to rescue Mowgli from the monkeys.
• Ink-Suit Actor: Baloo, Shere Khan, and King Louie are heavily based on their respective voice actors (Phil Harris, George Sanders, and Louis Prima). Also, Mowgli's animation is based on Bruce Reitherman, at times employing Rotoscoping.
• In Name Only: The film bears little resemblance to Kipling's original. To Wit:
  • It turned Kaa into a literal Smug Snake, Baloo into a hedonist, and Bagheera into something of a godfather.
  • Mowgli is changed from a Noble Savage to a Bratty Half-Pint.
  • At one point in the Kipling stories, Kaa hypnotizes a troupe of monkeys into becoming his helpless (ahem) dinner guests; later on, Mowgli singes Shere Khan's fur with a burning branch, and when that fails to get rid of him, Mowgli and the wolves stampede a herd of water-buffalo over him. As if that wasn't enough, in the story "Red Dog", Mowgli causes the marauding dogs of the title to be attacked by millions of angry bees; those who survive this by jumping into the river are attacked by Mowgli with a knife, and any that are left must then face Mowgli and his enraged wolf pack. Incidentally, Mowgli does most of this while he's naked. It should come as no surprise that none of this makes it into the Disney version.
  • Using fire against Shere Khan does show up in the movie. The branch was tied to his tail, but he was never directly singed. Well, not that we see, at least...
  • Hathi is a bumbling but benevolent Modern Major General, rather than the heavily scarred, human-hating Shell-Shocked Veteran from the stories.
  • Shere Khan is a suave and dangerous badass, rather than the crippled but occasionally dangerous shadow of a once great predator from the book.
  • King Louie is an original character; the monkeys in the book, called Bandar-log, have no leader. The vultures aren't present in the book either; the most prominent bird character is Chil the Kite.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Baloo and Mowgli, and Bagheera and Mowgli.
• Involuntary Smile of Incapacitation: Many if not all of Kaa's victims develop a dopey smile when he mesmerizes them.
• Irony: This exchange:
  Bagheera: But Shere Khan the tiger! He's sure to pick up the boy's trail!
  Hathi: Shere Khan? Nonsense, old boy. Shere Khan isn't within miles of here!
  Shere Khan: (in the brush behind them) (laughs)
• I Will Tear Your Arms Off: When Baloo and Bagheera are trying to rescue Mowgli from King Louie and the apes, Baloo actually tells himself, "I'm gonna tear him limb to limb..."
• Job Song: "Colonel Hathi's March" is sung by the elephants about their job of patrolling around the jungle.
• Joke of the Butt: The aforementioned Butt Biter moment aside, the main sequence with Hathi's troop is in large part a volley of elephant butt gags, culminating in the iconic Elephant Traffic Jam scene where Hathi's entire troop is subjected to the rump of the elephant in front of them rammed in their face and Hathi winds up getting sat on by Winifred.
• Jungle Jazz: This movie, like with a few other Disney films, contains some upbeat jazz numbers. In this case, sung by the more fun-loving jungle animals. Most noteworthy are "The Bare Necessities" sung by Baloo the sloth bear, and "I Wan'na Be Like You", sung by King Louie and his apes. The latter was sung by Louis Prima, who also lent his name to Canon Foreigner King Louie as well as played him. Prima also played the Trumpet Solo while his band, Sam Beutera and the Witnesses, performed the initial lyrics. The scat exchange between Louie and Baloo was originally supposed to be Baloo repeating Louie's scat, but actor Phil Harris' improvised Scat impressed Prima enough to be included in the song. The soundtrack version has Beutera in the role of Baloo and merely repeating the scat of Prima's Louie.
• Jungles Sound Like Kookaburras: A kookaburra laugh is heard in the opening scene, just as Bagheera narrates that the story takes place in the jungles of India.
• Knight of Cerebus: Shere Khan. As Affably Evil as he is, his appearance in the original film stops much of the fun and silly mood and makes things more tense and dark.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: It's one thing for Mowgli to claim he doesn't run from anyone to Shere Khan's face. But when the tiger actually attacks, Mowgli flinches.
• Large Ham: King Louie, at least during "I Wanna Be Like You".
• Line in the Sand: The elephant brigade all step back, (except for one, who immediately steps back, as well), when asked to volunteer.
• Load-Bearing Hero: Baloo and King Louie are stuck holding up the ruins that Louie uses as his headquarters. (Louie might count as a Load-Bearing Boss, though).
• Loincloth: Mowgli's standard outfit. It's proven to be pretty tough, too, since it didn't get damaged when Bagheera bit down on Mowgli's loincloth trying to pull him off the tree. It just stretched three feet back and went back in its original position when Bagheera lost his grip.
• Look Behind You: Dizzy says it word-for-word to Shere Khan after Mowgli ties the burning tree branch to his tail.
• Lost in Imitation: A lot of later adaptations of the original stories, while usually more faithful to the original source material, tend to borrow elements from the Disney movie. Variations of King Louie appear in the live-action movie and Shonen anime for example. Characterizations such as that of Shere Khan and Baloo are also occasionally borrowed vaguely from their Disney interpretations.
• Magic Pants: Mowgli loincloth is shown to be made out of pretty tough material. When Bagheera bites down on it to try to drag him to the man village, it stretches three feet back. Once Bagheera loses his grip, it just snaps back without any damage.
• Maniac Monkeys: King Louie's monkeys end up kidnapping Mowgli to bring to him, and end up making a monkey out of Baloo when he tries to stop them.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The vultures when Shere Khan interrupts their song and thanks them for leading him to his "victim".
• Mercy Lead: Impressed by Mowgli's lack of fear of him, Shere Khan decides to give him a ten second head start. But when he gets to four, as soon as it becomes clear that Mowgli really isn't scared of him and plans to fight back, he quickly counts down the rest and attacks Mowgli. If it wasn't for Baloo, Mowgli would most likely be tiger food at that very moment.
• Mildly Military: The elephants. Their theme, "Colonel Hathi's March", is even a parody of military marches.
• Mind-Control Eyes: Anyone Kaa hypnotizes. Also Baloo when caught up in the music of King Louie and the monkeys.
• Misplaced Wildlife:
  • Orangutans are only found in Borneo and Sumatra (although they did live in India in prehistoric times, but probably went extinct long before the arrival of mancubs).
  • The other monkeys have prehensile tails like New World monkeys, and their body proportions resemble spider monkeys which are native to South America.
• Misplaced Vegetation: Baloo sings about taking the prickly pear. While cacti do in fact grow in jungles, Cacti are native to the western hemisphere... and they usually don't grow in humid environments like the movie's setting.
• Mistaken for Dying: Baloo at the end.
• Mood Whiplash
  • The celebration after Shere Khan's defeat very quickly changes gear to solemnness over Baloo's Disney Death.
  • And this one line at the beginning.
    Bagheera: (narrating) No man-cub was ever happier. And yet, I knew that someday he would have to go back to his own kind.
• Musical World Hypotheses: Alternate universe. The monkeys taunt Baloo with lyrics from "The Bare Necessities", and Shere Khan overhears Kaa singing "Trust in Me".
• Naïve Animal Lover: The Disney version of Mowgli insists he has all the necessary skills to survive in the jungle when he clearly doesn't, and as such, he thinks he can handle animals that want to kill and/or eat him on his own. The most notable example of this is before the final battle with Shere Khan. Despite the Vultures' insistence to run away, Mowgli refuses to move. Khan probably would have succeeded in killing him, too, if not for Baloo holding him back by his tail at the last second.
• Narrator: Bagheera in the opening.
• Nasal Trauma: Baloo asks Mowgli to flick a fly off his nose, only for the monkey who'd taken Mowgli's place to hit him right on the nose.
• Naturally Huskless Coconuts: Subverted in one scene where Baloo picks coconuts from a palm tree. The coconuts are shown to have their husks cracked open.
• Nerves of Steel: When Mowgli meets Shere Khan face to face, he states straight out to the tiger that he isn't scared, and when Shere Khan decides to give him a Mercy Lead, Mowgli instead grabs a stick and tries to fight him directly.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Mowgli being alone in the jungle made him an easy target for Shere Khan. Shere Khan found out Mowgli was alone in the jungle because he was eavesdropping on a conversation between Bagheera and Colonel Hathi. Later, the Vultures' singing catches his attention and he finds Mowgli. In both cases, Mowgli would have been safer from Shere Khan if the characters had kept silent. On the other hand, if Shere Khan hadn't gone looking for Mowgli after he ran away and come across Kaa singing, Mowgli likely would have been devoured by Kaa.
  • Before that, Baloo, albeit reluctantly, went back on his word that Mowgli can stay in the jungle with him, when he takes Bagheera's advice and tells Mowgli he needs to go back to the man-village. This causes Mowgli to run away and put himself in even more danger than ever. Baloo even comments that he'd never forgive himself if something happened to Mowgli.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Shere Khan unwittingly saved Mowgli's life. Kaa had Mowgli fast asleep and in his clutches, just as Shere Khan dropped by and asked Kaa about Mowgli's whereabouts. This distraction was enough for Mowgli to wake up and escape.
• Noble Wolf: The wolf pack that took in Mowgli when he was a baby and raised him as one of their own, only to have to cast him out thanks to Shere Khan.
• Nobody Here but Us Statues: Bagheera does this, as there are a bunch of statues of panthers in the ruined human city, with one conveniently empty spot for him to sit in and assume the same pose as the statues. Even though he's solid black and they're light gray, he goes unnoticed by the monkeys who pass right by him. But then Baloo opens a door onto him.
  • To be fair, they weren't really paying attention as they walked by. They all had their eyes closed as they were grooving to the music.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Shere Khan, claws extended, fighting Baloo near the end:
  Shere Khan: I'll kill you for this!
• Nothing Is Scarier: Shere Khan doesn't even show up until the beginning of the third act, and even when he does, he's Affably Evil except for his fight with Baloo. His reputation is what sets the plot into motion.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Colonel Haithi refuses to help Bagheera find Mowgli, Winifred goes to the front of the line and starts calling him out on his pigheadedness and ask him how would he like it if their son was lost and alone in the jungle. He tells her that it's a different matter, but Winifred says that Mowgli is no different than their own son.
  Winifred: That little boy is no different than our own son.
• Odd Friendship: Baloo and Bagheera, who start the movie knowing but not particularly close and end the movie good friends through taking care of Mowgli - though if Jungle Cubs is to be believed they were always friends but not too close in the movie's beginning. Whether or not they're the Odd Couple or just an Odd Friendship depends on whether one considers them or Mowgli the major protagonists.
• Ode to Food: "Trust in Me" is sung by Kaa to mesmerize Mowgli so that he can eat him.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Baloo, after his orangutan disguise falls completely apart at the end of "I Wanna Be Like You".
  • King Louie upon noticing that the temple is about to crumble due to having (accidentally) knocked down a support pillar.
  • Epically with Shere Khan after he discovers a big burning bush on his tail.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: When Baloo notices that one of the columns in King Louie's domain has come loose and is about to collapse, he smiles this way as he waves goodbye to Louie vainly holding up the ceiling.
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Bagheera when Colonel Hathi first appears.
  Bagheera: Oh, no... the dawn patrol again.
• Old Windbag: Col. Hathi.
• Only Sane Man: Bagheera.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Baloo, as the epitome of Big Fun, is jolly and cheerful throughout the whole movie, and even after the monkeys kidnap Mowgli, he remains loud, brash, and energetic. But when Bagheera first tells him that Shere Khan is looking for the man-cub, Baloo's happy demeanor instantly drops—his voice becomes dead serious ("The tiger? What's he got against the kid?") and he stops ignoring Bagheera. The sudden shift in tone is remarkable, and reminds the audience that Shere Khan is an incredibly dangerous foe.
• Pale Females, Dark Males: The wolves and the elephants.
• Papa Wolf: Rama the wolf is a literal example, as he and Raksha raise Mowgli for 10 years as one of their own along with their own wolf cubs, deeply caring for Mowgli's safety, and as a result, Mowgli is entitled to the pack's protection. He protests at the thought of sending his "son" to the man-village.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Baloo in drag with the monkeys.
• Parental Substitute: Baloo acts as this to Mowgli for the brief time they're together. Prior to him, he was Raised by Wolves, his adoptive father Rama even referring to him as being "like a real son".
• Pigeonholed Voice Actor: Phil Harris would go on to play Little John in Disney's Robin Hood (1973) (which was basically Baloo again in both appearance and attitude) and a similar character in The Aristocats as O'Malley.
• The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Colonel Hathi's "military band" does little else than march around obnoxiously while singing their song. How did Colonel Hathi get his Victoria Cross? In the movie, Hathi reminisces about being part of a British elephant troop and was presumably released into the wild when he got older; he just kept up his military habits with the herd he became part of (never mind that bull elephants are almost always loners in the wild).
• Please Wake Up: Mowgli tells this to Baloo, after Shere Khan knocks out the latter.
• Premature Eulogy: Bagheera does this when he thinks that Baloo is killed by Shere Khan. It turns out that Baloo is rendered unconscious by the injuries inflicted on him... for a short while.
• Real Award, Fictional Character: Colonel Hathi claims to have gotten the Victoria Cross while serving in the British Army.
• Recycled Animation: As seen here, the movie copies from a few other Disney movies and was reused in later ones.
  • The scene where Mowgli is tackled and licked by the two wolves uses the same animation sequence from The Sword in the Stone where Wart gets tackled and licked by Tiger and Talbot, the castle dogs. The scene differs in that while the dogs are yanked away from Wart by Sir Ector, the wolves willingly back off of Mowgli.
  • Shere Khan spends some time sneakily stalking a deer whose death had already traumatized a generation of Disney Kids. (Thanks again, Bambi). Various shots were also recycled within the movie, chiefly those involving the elephants and Kaa.
  • Watch closely at the animation of almost all the scenes involving the wolf pups. Seem familiar?
  • Also, animation from The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad was actually reused for the scene where Baloo and Bagheera rescue Mowgli from the apes.
  • Much of the elephant scenes (and their designs in general) are lifted from Goliath II, including the famous Elephant Traffic Jam sequence.
• Recycled Soundtrack: The film's overture was a piece called "Serengeti Serenade" written for an exhibit of miniatures Disney created as part of the Ford Pavilion at the 1964 New York World's Fair
  • A few cues from 101 Dalmatians (also by George Bruns) are reused. Notably, the music heard before "Colonel Hathi's March", and the music when the sun rises during Baloo and Bagheera's conversation.
  • The Sherman Brothers wrote a song for Mary Poppins called "The Land of Sand," which got left out of the final cut, but they liked it enough to rework it into Kaa's song, "Trust in Me."
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: Baloo is Red, Bagheera is Blue.
• Reused Character Design: The elephants are visually based on the elephants from the animated short "Goliath II". In fact, all of the elephants' designs from this short were actually reused for this movie!
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: When Bagheera states that Baloo is incapable of protecting Mowgli after letting the monkeys kidnap him, Baloo tries to defend himself saying "Can't a guy make one mistake?". Bagheera bluntly replies " Not in the jungle."
• Rump Roast: The defeat of Shere Khan, who has a major fear of fire. Khan has his butt singed after Mowgli ties a burning branch that came from a tree struck by lightning, causing a brush fire, to Khan's tail.
• The Runt at the End: Colonel Hathi's son, who brings up the end of the column of marching elephants.
• Scatting: "I Wanna be Like You" devolves into a scat duel between Louis Prima and Phil Harris. Also, Baloo's opening line:
  Baloo: [singing] Well it's a doo-bah-de-doo, yeah it's a doo-bah-de-doo, I mean a doo-bee, doo-bee, doo-bee, doo-bee, doo-bah-de-doo!
• Scavengers Are Scum: Averted with the vultures. They're good-natured, somewhat lazy individuals who are introduced when they can't agree on an activity to do. They later try to stand up to Big Bad Shere Khan. The keyword being "try".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Bagheera loses his temper with Mowgli and leaves him to fend for himself twice over. He quickly darts back at the thought of leaving him with Baloo however.
• Shipper on Deck: Bagheera is extremely happy about Mowgli's interest in Shanti.
• Shoo the Dog: The whole plot centers around Mowgli's adoptive family and friends trying to convince him to leave the jungle and stay in the man village for his own safety. It takes a tiger nearly killing him and his best friend for it to even start to sink in that they might be right.
• Show Some Leg: Shanti blatantly does this to Mowgli at the end of the movie. Lampshaded by Baloo and Bagheera.
  Baloo: (furious) She did that on purpose!
  Bagheera: (smiling) Obviously.
• Sidekick Song: "The Bare Necessities"! Also, "I Wan'na Be Like You" and "That's What Friends Are For".
• Singing Voice Dissonance: In the one line he gets to sing in "I Wanna Be Like You," King Louie's grey-haired attendant has a voice that's much deeper than his otherwise screechy monkey vocalizations would imply.
• Sissy Villain: Kaa and to a lesser extent, Shere Khan. Both are genuinely feared predators of the jungle (Shere Khan mentioned as being stronger than the entire wolf pack combined) however in both cases, their wrath is hidden in an amusingly flamboyant, playful and soft spoken demeanor.
• Smug Snake: Kaa is a literal example. Shere Khan is debatable too.
• Snakes Are Sinister: Kaa got this treatment by Disney. He was originally written by Rudyard Kipling as a friend and mentor to Mowgli; a wise, old, and very noble being who was second only to the elephants in terms of size and strength, and whom even Shere Khan feared. Disney turned him into a cowardly Smug Snake who only wanted to eat the man-cub.
• Sound Off: "Colonel Hathi's March", sung by the Elephant Patrol whenever they make their entrance in the film.
• Spanner in the Works: Kaa and Shere Khan each accidentally foil the other's attempts to catch Mowgli simultaneously. Kaa comes across Mowgli and pulls him up into his lair just as Shere Khan passes through hunting for him, and his lie causes Shere Khan to just miss him. At the same, Shere Khan distracts Kaa just as he's about to eat Mowgli, which allows Mowgli to escape.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • In the original book Shere Khan was killed by Mowgli, to the point of he almost Dropped a Bridge on Him. However the tiger survives in most of Disney's adaptations of the stories and character to date, except in the 2013 stage version and Disney's own remake film.
  • Also Akela, albeit owed more to the shortened timespan and the fact he appears all of once.
  • In the original book, a large number of the Bandar Log are eaten by Kaa. In the film, though their temple collapses, it doesn't appear to be fatal and the monkeys appear in the sequel unharmed.
• Sssssnaketalk: Kaa, of course, elongates most of his S-sounds.
• Stating the Simple Solution: Mowgli on hearing that Shere Khan thinks he'll grow up to be a hunter with a gun suggests telling Shere Khan that he would never do that. Bagheera shoots that down because he says Shere Khan won't listen.
• Stealth Insult: Bagheera delivers a sharp one when Baloo is trying to make himself look like someone who can be trusted to raise Mowgli...
  Baloo: I'll learn him all I know!
  Bagheera: Well, that shouldn't take too long.
• Sudden Soundtrack Stop: When "I Wanna Be Like You" comes to an end, the music stops for a few seconds as Baloo keeps singing until he realizes that his monkey disguise has been compromised.
• Super-Persistent Predator: Most of the animals that Mowgli encounters, specifically Shere Khan and Kaa. Shere Khan tracks Mowgli all throughout the jungle, but he's out to kill him for being human rather than hunting him for food. Despite having Baloo holding on to his tail, Shere Khan chases Mowgli around the clearing. Meanwhile, Kaa (who is hunting for food) tries to get Mowgli to look at his hypnotic eyes every chance he could get, from slithering around the man-cub to using his tail to grab the boy's hand and foot to prevent him leaving. However, Kaa only chances upon the main characters and quits pursuing them once they prove to be more trouble than they're worth.
  Kaa: If I never seen that skinny little shrimp, it'll be too soon.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Mowgli does this quite a lot. The most obvious example: Kaa appears immediately after Mowgli tells Bagheera "I can look after myself", and Kaa nearly kills the both of them. Mowgli does save Bagheera from Kaa by pushing the snake off the tree, so at least he's not completely wrong.
  • Also:
    Baloo: Yes sir, nothin' or nobody's gonna come between us again! [cue Shanti]
  • Both of those examples are also Inadvertent Entrance Cue of one sort or another.
• Thunderous Confrontation: Happens during the climactic fight with Shere Khan, as per standard for Disney animated movies. It's also useful when a bolt of lightning strikes a tree and starts a brush fire that comes in handy for defeating Shere Khan, and after he flees in fear from the burning branch tied to his tail, it starts to rain, dousing the fire.
• Tickle Torture: First Mowgli on Baloo. Later, when King Louie is holding up a section of the ruins, Baloo tickles him. An accidental example occurs when Shere Khan tries to pat Kaa down in search of Mowgli.
• Tiger by the Tail: More literal example than usual. Baloo arrives just in time to grab Shere Khan by the tail when he charges at Mowgli. After the vultures have air-lifted Mowgli away, one of them tells Baloo he can release Shere Khan's tail now.
  Baloo: Are you kiddin'?! There's teeth in the other end!
• Tranquil Fury: Disney picked George Sanders specifically for his ability to give Shere Khan a sinister yet simultaneously suave and gentlemanly demeanor. He finally loses his cool during the climax, if still more in the form of a haughty snit fit than an outright Villainous Breakdown.
• Trip Trap: When Baloo tries to save Mowgli from being kidnapped by monkeys, two monkeys stretch a vine to trip him and make him fall down a cliff.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: When Baloo joins in "I Wanna Be Like You", the song modulates a whole tone plus a semitone, from C major to Eb major.
• Tummy Cushion: Mowgli lies on Baloo the bear's stomach as they're floating in the river.
• Unseen Evil: For much of the film Shere Khan isn't seen or heard. We only hear and see from other characters that he's the most feared, dangerous creature in the jungle, and even the mention of his name often results in a more serious tone. Towards the end the tiger finally appears, and while he's Faux Affably Evil, he's every bit of the Badass he's hyped up to be, especially when he shows his true colors in the final fight.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Downplayed, but Shanti takes a strange boy she's never met before falling out of a tree while she's gathering water in remarkable stride.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom:
  • Bagheera tells Colonel Hathi about Mowgli running away, not knowing that a hidden Shere Khan is nearby, so that he knows about the man cub's presence in the jungle in the first place. A similar incident happens just before the climax as well.
  • Shere Khan overhears the vultures singing to Mowgli to cheer him up, and that draws him to their presence. In both situations, Mowgli would have been safer if his friends had kept silent.
• Vile Vulture: Subverted, the vultures, Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy, and Dizzy, were initially predatory towards Mowgli but change their mind and decide to cheer him up. They also helped him and Baloo take on Shere Khan.
• Villain Ball: Kaa twice over was nearly successful in making a snack out of Mowgli, his tendency for aloud and attention grabbing Evil Gloating or catchy Villain Songs always foils his plans however.
• Villainous Breakdown: Par for the course for a Disney villain during the climax, Shere Khan snaps and begins (literally) tearing into Baloo for causing him to miss his chance to kill Mowgli.
  Shere Khan: [snarling] I'll kill you for this!
• Villainous Face Hold: Mowgli runs into Kaa a second time, and Kaa repeatedly uses his tail to try to force Mowgli to look him in the eyes so he can hypnotize him. Shere Khan later does this to Kaa himself, lifting the snake's face up with one of his claws whilst threateningly recommending he inform Khan if he spots Mowgli again.
• Villains Never Lie: Inverted; Mowgli suggests telling Shere Khan that he'd never grow up to be a hunter with a gun, which actually makes a lot of sense given Mowgli as Raised by Wolves likes most of the animals. Bagheera tells him bluntly that Shere Khan wouldn't believe him.
• Villainous Rescue: A rare zig-zagged example. Mowgli would have been snake food had Shere Khan not happened along as Kaa was about to swallow him whole. And he'd be cat food if Kaa's fear of Shere Khan had overridden his hunger and ability to think fast. As it turns out, Kaa barely manages to convince Shere Khan that he doesn't have Mowgli all wrapped up at the moment, and this gives Mowgli time to recover from his hypnosis and escape right after Shere Khan leaves.
• Villain Song:
  • Kaa has "Trust in Me".
  • Khan himself would have had one in an early version of the film, "The Mighty Hunters".
• War Hero: Colonel Hathi mentions having received the Victoria Cross while serving in "the Maharajah's Fifth Pachyderm Brigade" (how it could be given to an elephant is anyone's guess).
• Wasn't That Fun?: Baloo considers rescuing Mowgli from the monkeys, which includes a chase sequence and a temple collapsing, "a swingin' party".
• Water Is Womanly: The only other human besides Mowgli who's shown onscreen is a young girl, introduced filling a large jug with water while singing a song with lyrics emphasizing that fetching the water is considered women's work.
  Father's hunting in the forest, Mother's cooking in the home
  I must go and fetch the water, 'till the day that I am grown
  ...
  Then I will have a handsome husband, and a daughter of my own
  Then I'll send her to fetch the water, I'll be cooking in the home
• Watch Where You're Going!: Mowgli and Hathi Jr. bump into each other face-first when the former tries to march along with the elephants. Mowgli didn't understand Hathi's military command to turn around, and Hathi Jr. has to explain it to him as they march face-to-face, with Mowgli going backwards:
  Hathi Jr.: The other way! Turn around!
• Wedgie: Mowgli is a victim of this twice:
  • When Mowgli wraps his arms around a small tree while refusing to go to the man village, Bagheera bites down on his shorts and tries to pull him off and drag him there. The underwear stretches about three feet behind him, and Mowgli is just barely holding on and trying to kick Bagheera in the face. Good thing Bagherra slipped and lost his grip, or things might've gotten worse.
  • After the monkeys bring Mowgli to King Louie, he picks up Mowgli by the loincloth and holds him up at arm's length while the man-cub tries to hit him.
• What Song Was This Again?: "The Bare Necessities", having a pun-based title, really doesn't translate well. In the Swedish version, the gist of the song is the same, but the pun is replaced by a different bear-related pun. The French version is entirely punless, as is the German version, whose title translates as something like "Let's try it the cozy way".
• With Catlike Tread: The elephants searching for the lost man-cub.
  Shere Khan: Element of surprise? Oh, I say... (laughs)
• Work Info Title: Well, it's an adaptation of an actual book.
• World's Shortest Book: This exchange:
  Bagheera: And just how do you think he (Mowgli) will survive?
  Baloo: "How do you think he will..." What do you mean "how do you think he..." He's with me, ain't he? And I'll learn him all I know.
  Bagheera: Well, that shouldn't take long.
• Yellow Eyes of Sneakiness: Inverted in Bagheera, who has yellow sclerae but is good. Played straight with Kaa, who has yellow sclerae and is bad (or at least very morally ambiguous/sneaky).

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Baloo: Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities
Bagheera: Forget about your worries and your strife!
Both: I mean the bare necessities
Old Mother Nature's recipes
That bring the bare necessities of life!

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