ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author points out that animators in an acting class are like a group of magicians discussing where the rabbit is hidden. Applying that analogy, Disney's 2016 remake of its own 1967 animated classic film The Jungle Book is chock full of rabbits. It is so full of rabbits, in fact, that animators can barely see the magician, who probably also looks like a rabbit. Disney advertised the remake as "live action", but the only "live" thing in it is the 12-year old Indian-American actor playing the central role of Mowgli. Walt Disney showed the killing of Bambi's mother on screen, and the death of boys in Pinocchio when they turned into jackasses. The absence of a killing scene in this film is an indication of how times have changed at Disney. In The Jungle Book, we see and hear the black panther Bagheera carry on a conversation with the human character, Mowgli, four minutes into the movie. Baloo and Bagheera's actions are both theatrically valid, with the objective of rescuing Mowgli.
