The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story

The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story follows Mowgli from his earliest days in the Indian jungle. Separated from his parents, the boy is taken in by a wolf pack that raises him as one of its own. From the wolves he learns the language of the animals and the laws of the jungle, and he befriends the wise panther Bagheera and the easygoing bear Baloo. He must also keep clear of Shere Khan, the tiger who means him harm.

The film is a live-action adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's stories, made by Walt Disney Pictures and released directly to home video in 1998. Nick Marck directed from a screenplay by Jim Herzfeld and José Rivera, with Mark H. Ovitz producing. Brandon Baker plays Mowgli, while several animal characters are voiced by Sherman Howard as Shere Khan, Clancy Brown as Akela, Peri Gilpin as Raksha, Wallace Shawn as a chimpanzee and Stephen Tobolowsky as Tabaqui. Around 29 performers are credited.

It runs 77 minutes. Audience response has been modest: on IMDb it holds 4.3 from roughly a thousand votes, and on TMDB 5.7 from a much smaller sample of about seventy. The two figures sit fairly close, suggesting a film watched mainly by families and Disney completists rather than one that has built a wide following in the years since its release.