The Jungle Book (1967 film) versions of both the screenplay and the soundtrack followed Kipling's work more closely, with a dramatic, dark, and sinister tone which Disney did not want in his family film, leading to writer Bill Peet and composer Terry Gilkyson being replaced. The casting employed famous actors and musicians Phil Harris, Sebastian Cabot, George Sanders and Louis Prima, as well as Disney regulars such as Sterling Holloway, J. Pat O'Malley and Verna Felton, and the director's son, Bruce Reitherman, as Mowgli. "The Jungle Book" was released on October 18, 1967, to positive reception, with acclaim for its soundtrack, featuring five songs by
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle in select theaters on November 29, 2018, followed by its subsequent digital Netflix release on December 7, 2018. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the cast, visual effects, and Serkis' direction, but many compared it unfavorably to the Disney film and criticized the uneven tone, calling it a "messy—if ambitious—misfire". In the jungle, Kaa, an Indian python seer, watches as Shere Khan, a crippled Bengal tiger, breaks jungle law by hunting down a family of humans, with only the child escaping. Bagheera, drawn to the scene, rescues the man-cub, Mowgli, and takes him to a family of wolves