The Jungle Book (1994 film) The Jungle Book (1994 film) Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book is a 1994 live-action American adventure film co-written and directed by Stephen Sommers, produced by Edward S. Feldman and Raju Patel, from a story by Ronald Yanover and Mark Geldman. It is the second film adaptation by The Walt Disney Company of the Mowgli stories from "The Jungle Book" and "The Second Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Jason Scott Lee and Lena Headey, and co-stars Cary Elwes, Sam Neill, John Cleese and Jason Flemyng. In this version, the animals do not speak. Released on December 25, 1994,
Rudyard Kipling poem was originally published at the head of a story about the Battle of Jutland and appears to refer to a death at sea; the 'Jack' referred to is probably a generic 'Jack Tar'. In the Kipling family, Jack was the name of the family dog while John Kipling was always John, making the identification of the protagonist of "My Boy Jack" with John Kipling somewhat questionable. However, it is true that Kipling was emotionally devastated by the death of his son. It is said that Kipling helped assuage his grief over his son's death by reading the novels of