History WesternAnimation / TheJungleBook1967

This film marks a turning point in Disney's history, and not for the better. Creator/WaltDisney, 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. While it wasn't the last he ''greenlit'', that being ''WesternAnimation/TheAristocats'', his passing marked a commercial and artistic downturn for the studio that would last until the release of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' 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 UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfAnimation. 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-CreatorKiller failure of ''WesternAnimation/TheBlackCauldron'' in 1985) did Disney begin to pick itself back up by their bootstraps.

* FriendlyFire: While trying to rescue Mowgli from King Louie, Baloo tries hitting one of the monkeys with a club, but inadvertently hits Bagheera on the head.

* ADogNamedDog: 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".

* NaturallyHusklessCoconuts: In one scene, Baloo picks coconuts from a palm tree. The coconuts are already dehusked.

** Mowgli instantly loses all control of his mental faculties the moment he sees Shanti, a reaction [[ShowSomeLeg she quite deliberately uses to lure him into the village]] - by the time she [[EyelashFluttering blinks]] her eyes at him he's [[CharacterCatchphrase gone, man: solid gone]].

'''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:''' Oh? That shouldn't take long.

* NiceJobBreakingItHero: 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.

* CoversAlwaysLie: [[http://www.impawards.com/1967/jungle_book.html 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 that the two never interact.

** Also Bagheera, the who is the OnlySaneMan but also the ChewToy.

* Shere Khan spends some time sneakily stalking a deer whose death had already traumatized a generation of Disney Kids. (Thanks again, ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}''). Various shots were also recycled within the movie, chiefly those involving the elephants and Kaa.

** Mowgli instantly loses all control of his mental faculties the moment he sees Shanti, a reaction [[ShowSomeLeg she quite deliberately uses to lure him into the village]] - by the time she [[EyelashFluttering blinks]] her eyes at him he's [[{{Catchphrase}} gone, man: solid gone]].

* BigFriendlyDog: Two members of Mowgli's wolf family. In the beginning of the film we see them tackle Mowgli and give his face a good licking when he comes home.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Mowgli leaves for the man-village, and is now with his people. Baloo is absolutely heartbroken, with Bagheera reassuring 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. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Mowgli does see Baloo and Bagheera again in the sequel.]]

* BreakUpMakeUpScenario: For reasons said above, Mowgli has one with Baloo.

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: Baloo does this several times, when Bagheera talks to him about Mowgli.

** Kaa's more villainous characterization has a few notable character traits more similar to, ironically, Shere Khan's book incarnation (a cunning ManipulativeBastard who is, however, somewhat arrogant and pathetic). His characterization, particularly his snivelling, 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.

** 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 the dawn patrol's marching song.

* JungleJazz: 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 "Bare Necessities" sung by Baloo the sloth bear, and "I Wanna Be Like You," sung by King Louie and his apes. The latter was sung by Music/LouisPrima, who also lent his name to CanonForeigner King Louie as well as played him. Prima also played the Trumpet Solo whiles 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.

* MusicalWorldHypotheses: Alternate universe. The monkeys taunt Baloo with lyrics from "Bare Necessities", and Shere Khan overhears Kaa singing "Trust in Me".

* SidekickSong: "The Bare Necessities"! Also, "I Wanna Be Like You" and "That's What Friends Are For".

** After the monkeys bring Mowgli to King Louie, he picks up Mowgli by the loincloth and holds him up at arms length while the man cub tries to hit him.

* YellowEyesOfSneakiness: 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).

->'''Baloo:'''Look for the bare necessities, the simple bare necessities\\

That bring the bare necessities of life!

* DumbassHasAPoint: Baloo points out that Shere Khan's reasons for going after Mowgli is stupid; there are no guns in the jungle, and Mowgli doesn't know how to use or get one. Bagheera points out that the tiger doesn't care.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, this example was removed. Please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** In the original book Shere Khan was killed by Mowgli, to the point of he almost DroppedABridgeOnHim. However the tiger survives in ''most'' of Disney's adaptations of the stories and character to date, [[spoiler: except in the 2013 stage version and [[Film/TheJungleBook2016 Disney's own remake film]]]].

* VileVulture: Subverted, the vultures, Buzzie, Flaps, Ziggy, and Dizzy, were initially predatory towards Mowgli but change their mind and decide to cheer him up. [[spoiler: They also helped him and Baloo take on Shere Khan.]]

* ShoutOut: Near the end of the film, [[spoiler:Bagheera delivers a eulogy to the apparently dead Baloo as]] a [[HolyPipeOrgan somber organ music]] plays. Surprisingly, the background music is a GriefSong and a shout-out to "Chorale for Snow White" from the 1937 film ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs''.

* BadassBaritone: Shere Khan.

* BigFriendlyDog: Two members of Mowgli's wolf family. In the beginning of the film we see them tackle Mowgli and give his face a good licking.

** The scene where Mowgli is licked by the two wolves uses the same animation sequence from ''WesternAnimation/TheSwordInTheStone'' where Wart gets licked by Tiger and Talbot, the castle dogs. Shere Khan also spends some time sneakily stalking a deer whose death had already traumatized a generation of Disney Kids. (Thanks again, ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}''). Various shots were also recycled within the movie, chiefly those involving the elephants and Kaa.

* HappilyEverBefore

* SnakesAreSinister: Kaa got this treatment by Disney. He as 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 SmugSnake who only wanted to eat the man-cub.

-->'''Shere Khan:''' I'll kill you for this!

-->'''Shere Khan:''' ''[snarling]'' I'll kill you for THIS!!