Mowgli is a human child being raised by wolves in the jungle. He doesn't know anything about his past, or his future, but when a tiger, the evil Shere Khan, begins hunting him, he is told to return to the village from where he came, to become a man. The only problem is Mowgli knows nothing about men and doesn't want to give up his friends.
Positive
The film develops practically every person's (Animals really...) character very well. Mowgli struggles with whether he should protect his friends or go to the safety of the village. The lazy Baloo has to give up his own friendship with Mowgli in order to protect him. SPOILER ALERT Bagheera realizes that Mowgli can fend for himself and no longer needs protection. END OF SPOILER The film is full of excitement and beauty with spectacularly rendered jungle scenes and creatures and fierce fights between wolves, tigers, panthers, bears, pythons, and other jungle animals (Wolves aren't actually jungle animals but they are in this film's world). This story is basically a coming of age story, and in the end, Mowgli realizes he can be a man without giving up the things important to him, his jungle friends.
Negative
Shere Khan's motivation for killing Mowgli isn't really developed much. The film tells us that SPOILER ALERT Mowgli's real father burned half of Shere Khan's face END OF SPOILER but other then that we don't get much, and it doesn't explain how Shere Khan knew it was Mowgli's father that did it. It even says that Shere Khan didn't even know Mowgli existed. As for family friendliness, the film is rated only PG though there is plenty of fierce violent combat between large predators as well as forests being incinerated. Shere Khan takes a bloodless chomp on Baloo's shoulder, as well as biting and slashing several other wolves and Bagheera. He also bites one and throws one off a cliff very suddenly at a moment when no one was expecting it. We see vultures picking the flesh off bones. Mowgli is chased by a huge orangutan through a dark creepy temple ruin. Mowgli is nearly suffocated and eaten by a huge python. Elephants are revered as the creators of the jungle, and other creatures and Mowgli bow to them when their paths cross.
Conclusion
The Jungle Book is a great story about coming of age, and I think the book's original author, Rudyard Kipling, would have approved of the movie as it explains the same messages and doesn't deviate extremely from the original plot. Notably, Kaa the Python is just a hungry monster instead of the hero-for-hire she was in the book. The film also includes some songs from the original animated movie, the last masterpiece by Walt Disney, which would probably squeeze some nostalgia for older viewers. All in all, it's a good Disney movie, which is an extreme rarity nowadays. So if you want to get your kids out of your hair for an hour or so put this on, though be warned you'll probably start watching it too 😄.
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