The Jungle Book

THE GIST: Baby Mowgli is found abandoned by the panther Bagheera and taken to a family of wolves, who adopt him as their own and raise him. Now a grown boy, Mowgli lives happily among the animals, but the tiger Shere Khan, who hates all men, has set its sights upon him. For his safety, Bagheera thinks Mowgli should rejoin humankind in a nearby village, but getting there will be a trip fraught with perils.

I decided to watch the original Disney cartoon before the updated live-action version and couldn't believe how disappointed I was.

The Jungle Book was, to put it succinctly, a bore, with ludicrous detours in the story that were absurd even in cartoon form.

THE BOTTOM LINE: I'm a fan of Disney's work, both the old, hand drawn animated tales, and the new ones, but this movie just didn't work for me. It's the rare flop for the venerable studio as far as I'm concerned.

Grade: 4