It's a Jungle Out There (on DVD)

Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book was released today as the 10th animated feature to be given the deluxe Platinum Edition treatment by Disney DVD. One of the most intriguing aspects of the 2-disc DVD set’s bonus extras is the look at earlier treatments of the film differing from the version that reached the screen in 1967: there’s story artist Bill Peet’s oft-mentioned “darker” adaptation from 1963, audio demos of songs by Terry Gilkyson (his “The Bare Necessities” was used in the final version, along with songs by the Sherman Brothers, and an alternate version of “The Bare Necessities” is heard here) and a look at Rocky the nearsighted rhino, a character that was excised from the film. Other bonuses include an audio commentary and a new making-of documentary. To celebrate the DVD (which you can get here ), here’s the album cover of the original soundtrack recording, showcasing the Sherman songs, as well as Gilkyson’s Oscar-nominated “The Bare Necessities.”