The Jungle Book was a Much Darker Story.
The animated film The Jungle Book, released in1967, is most commonly associated with humorous characters and memorable songs such as “The Bare Necessities.” Actual events that inspired the film were much darker than what was depicted on screen in the Disney adaptation.The film is based on the book of the same name by Rudyard Kipling, which was released in 1897.
Kipling’s collection of stories frequently dealt with more serious subjects such as abandonment, the law, freedom, and death, among others. When it came to the film’s original story artist, Bill Peet, he wanted to stay true to the darker themes of the book, but Walt Disney prevented him from doing so.