40 Films in Robotech: The Jungle Book (1967) & Becoming the Man Short Film Fundraiser

   

To be clear, we’re talking only about The Jungle Book original, hand-drawn animated classic here…

 ROBOTECH MENTION:  

While The Jungle Book is not mentioned by title in any Robotech material, a common line of dialogue that vaguely references a scene in The Jungle Book is used in the TV show, comic book, and Jack McKinney novelization of the same scene. Early on in what is the TV Episode #74 entitled Annie’s Wedding, our crew of Robotech rebels find themselves on the jungle floor of an Invid bio-colony. Their leader Scott explains a plan to build a raft to transport their war machines on the river leading out of the jungle. The youngest rebel gleefully volunteers to supervise the raft building when an older rebel Rook chastises her with the line below…

A panel from Page 2 of Comico Robotech: The New Generation comic issue #14.

The same line appears in the TV show and novels. The film Rook is referring to can be any number of films. I Googled “vines and coconut movie” and was quickly supplied with this academic article on The Jungle Book. Including animated movies in the Robotech list is always a good idea. And so, this is our match for this quote.

 SYNOPSIS:  

A great synopsis from #classicfilmreading book The Rough Guide to Cult Movies: Your Guide to the Good, The Bad and the Very Weird (2004):

True, Disney emasculated Kipling’s story of an Indian boy brought up by wolves. But it has the best characters, most memorable songs (for the right reasons) and the best jokes of any Disney film. It’s real star is Baloo the bear, Phil Harris doing a near-approximation to John Wayne, while King Louie (the swinging ape), Louis Prima (an Italian) makes a good stab at sounding like Satchmo.   (p.29)

 AWARDS & KUDOS:  

The Jungle Book won the 1968 Best Feature Film for Children Award at the Gijon International Film Festival. It also was a winner in both 1969 and 1988 of Germany’s Golden Screen Award. In 2021, The Online Film and Television Association awarded The Jungle Book the OFTA Hall of Fame for Motion Picture and OFTA Hall of Fame for Song (“Bare Necessities”). Cult Movies reviewers designated The Jungle Book as a movie “you would be daft to miss.” 

 OTHER COOL FACTS:  

If Louis Prima’s voice sounds familiar to you as you watch this movie, you may be recognizing him from his Pennies in Heaven song that’s featured in the Christmas classic movie Elf (2003). 

 ROBOTECH REASON:  

When Rook says it’s not as simple as using a couple of vines and a coconut, that’s exactly what Baloo the Bear did in The Jungle Book. He used a coconut mask and vine skirt to fool the monkey King Louie and his hoard to rescue his pal Mowgli.

To read my ⭐⭐⭐⭐(out of a possible 5 star) rating for The Jungle Book on Letterboxd, click here. 

But wait, there's more...

Mike Zolomij, a previous Digging Star Wars guest writer and vlog co-star, is raising some moolah for his next film. Best part of all: it's at the cozy, vinyl-heavy music store Hop Fidelity in West Chester, PA! If you can, support Mike's flick and pick up an album or two. For those not in the West Chester area, too bad. But, you can still support his independent film via the donation QR code below: