"Mowgli's Brothers" is an American short film from 40 years ago and the third and final entry to Chuck Jones Rudyard Kipling trilogy. And he goes out on a high note. It is almost impossible to include the complex Jungle Book story in under 24 minutes, but Jones' approach is probably as good as it gets. Mowgli leaving everybody to live with men in the end comes a bit out of nowhere perhaps, but I have seen that storyline elaborated disappointingly on also in 100-minute movies. A difficult subject. Anyway, all before that worked pretty nicely. The animation is good and Jones' talent had gone nowhere even if the Golden Age of Animation was long over. He also got help once more from his longtime collaborator, voice actress June Foray, who is still alive today at almost 100. The characters are interesting, but also here some major characters are missing or lack screen time, most of all Kaa for example. The only thing I did not like was that Mowgli was voiced by Roddy McDowall here. He is fine as the narrator, but I have no idea why they let a grown man voice a little boy here. Yep, Mowgli does not grow up in this one and that's a major difference for example compared to the Soviet version of the tale. As a whole, this is an enjoyable watch and I recommend it.

THIS is the the best adaptation of Mowglie's Brothers. It follows the original almost exactly, with two added scenes of Mowgli dressing up in sheets to scar Tabaqui, and dropping a melon on Shere Khan.this got me to read all of the Jungle Book stories as a young child. As far as Shere Khan being white, I always thought he was supposed to be, and looked for some reference to that in the books. In "Tiger! Tiger!" the villagers DO think SHere Khan is a ghost, but it's because of his lameness, the same as "wicked old money lender, who passed away some years ago." If he were white it would have only increased their superstitions, but what I think happened was this: Chuck Jones considered doing more adaptations of Kipling; and since it wouldn't animate well to show a limping tiger, he decided on another reason the villagers believed he was a ghost--namely making him white. Unfortunately, "Tiger! Tiger!" never got made.

Legendary animator Chuck Jones has brought another Jungle Book story to life after Rikki-Tikki Tavi and The White Seal, with excellent animation and story telling by Roddy McDowall and Dean Elliott's musical score. You know, the only adaptation of the "Mowgli" stories I had known is the Disney version, but I love both! including the version from Russia. But unlike Disney's version, Jones adhered to the original story, although Shere Khan becomes a white tiger and there is no reference to his lameness...of course I did not know the tiger was lame in the original stories. And also we got to see his spineless slave/henchman - the jackal Tabaqui (animated by veteran Jones' animator from the Warner Bros. years - Ben Washam), who didn't appeared in the Disney version; I love how made his appearance in the picture...what a grin.I love the little wolf babies, they're SO cute! I also love that bit a animation put into the scene when Rashka (Mother Wolf) told Shere Khan off.

Kipling purists might quibble over the fact that Shere Khan becomes a white tiger and regains the use of his bad leg, or the fact that some of the animal characters look as if they belong in one of Jones's Road Runner cartoons. On the other hand, this is the only adaptation from the Mowgli stories that actually sticks closely to Kipling's original plot and dialogue. So if you want to see where Disney got it wrong, this 25-minute film is definitely worth checking out.