Hmmm, it's taken me a little while to sit down and write these comments having finished watching The Jungle Book. The positives as I saw them are: (1) the score, especially the song 'Bare necessities' which, catchy tune and amusing dancing aside, also has a pretty good Christian message at its heart, and (2) the mostly good-natured humour - especially the scenes of Mowgli marching in-line on parade with the elephants! The downsides are (1) the lack of any real character growth in Mowgli; his fortunate escape from Shere Khan could so nicely have been an occasion for him developing some real courage, and (2) the subtle racist characterisation, albeit arguably not intentional and a product of the times. This last point is potentially a significant one though, because whether intentional and a sign of the times or not, any presence of racism is potentially dangerous. All in all, I took the 'If I had children would I allow them to watch this?' test, and came up with an overall opinion of 'limited recommendation'. Limited because I wouldn't recommend it outright and I wouldn't buy it for my kids, especially given the 'I wanna be like you' number by the monkeys. But, at the same time it's no so avert that I'd be overly concerned if my children happened to see it on the television or wanted to rent it as a one-off on DVD. The latter might even provide a good opportunity for discussion on their opinions of the film and the characters.