Baby Animal as Mowgli in Muppet Babies' Classic Children's Tales.
The Jungle Book is a collection of short stories written by Rudyard Kipling and collected in 1894. The title is sometimes used to encompass The Second Jungle Book (1895). While both contain stand alone stories centering on animals or people (including two set in the Arctic rather than the jungle), most are part of Kipling's "Mowgli" stories set in the jungles of India. Mowgli was introduced as an adult raised by wolves and encountering British colonials in the 1893 story "In the Rukh," but all subsequent stories centered on his childhood and upbringing, talking to various animal allies and enemies.
Popular culture references and adaptations have tended to treat The Jungle Book as synonymous with the Mowgli stories, with versions including the 1967 Disney animated film, live-action movies and television, and an anime series.
2016 Disney film[]
For Disney's 2016 live-action/CGI version of The Jungle Book, in which actor Neel Sethi (Mowgli) performed on entirely virtual sets with computer animated animals, Jim Henson's Creature Shop contributed to the on-set blue and green-screen work. Puppet heads were supplied for major characters such as Baloo and Raksha, to provide sight lines and to help Sethi react. For other characters, pre-existing hand puppets served as stand-ins, or else the puppeteer's hands were adorned with eyes. The screen credit reads "On Set Reference Puppets Created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop."
The Creature Shop crew consisted of Peter Brooke (creative supervisor), Jeremy Nocon (production manager), and Amy Smith (production coordinator). Fabricators were Scott Johnson, Alex Ferguson, and Russ Walko. Sean Johnson, Artie Esposito, Allan Trautman, and April Warren were puppeteers, and all but Warren were kept as animal voices in the final film.
Most of the animals were voiced by celebrities, including Bill Murray (Baloo), Lupita Nyong'o (Raksha), Giancarlo Esposito (Akela), Christopher Walken (King Louie), and Garry Shandling (Ikki), with additional animal voices and sounds by Dee Bradley Baker.
References[]
- Baby Animal appears as Mowgli in Muppet Babies' Classic Children's Tales. He's pictured with Baloo the bear, Shere Khan the tiger, Kaa the snake, and a monkey.
- The Sesame Tree episode "The Share Necessities" references the song "The Bare Necessities" from the 1967 Disney film.
- In the Sesame Street Season 42 press kit, Baby Bear's "Monsterbook" profile lists one of his favorite songs as "The Bare Necessities."
Connections[]
Only includes projects directly adapted from the Mowgli stories and not unrelated sequels or Disney character usage; other short story connections covered on Rudyard Kipling
- Dee Bradley Baker voiced an elephant, bee, mandrill, and turtle in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Ken Hudson Campbell voiced a wolf in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Nancy Cartwright voiced a wolf pup, doe, macaw, chimp, and skunk in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- John Cleese played Dr. Plumford in the 1994 film
- Brian Doyle-Murray voiced Baloo in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Jason Flemyng played Wilkins in the 1994 film
- Lena Headey played Kitty in the 1994 film
- Richard Kind voiced a chimp in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Katie Leigh was a loop group voice in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Kathy Najimy voiced Chil in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Sam Neill played Brydon in the 1994 film
- Floyd Norman was a story artist on the 1967 film
- Richard M. Sherman co-wrote songs for the 1967 film
- Hal Smith voiced a slob elephant in the 1967 film
- Stephen Tobolowsky voiced Tabaqui in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)
- Frank Welker voiced a bad baboon, deer, porcupine, mandrill, and special voice effects in The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story (1998 video)