The Jungle Book

The period's feathery drawing style abounds, and an all-round warmth pervades.

Smple, uncluttered, straight-forward fun.

The plot and pacing may be nearly as lazy as the sloth bear Baloo (Phil Harris), but animators use that to their advantage, developing the characters so that even minor ones seem majorly entertaining.

Here's yet another animated feature from Disney's mostly barren stretch between its two golden ages, a film that plays better in nostalgia-tinged memories than in the here-and-now.

Disney's grandniece recently cast aspersions on the picture, but I don't share her pessimism.