Friday, May 6, 2011

Baloo & Mowgli: Good ol' Papa Bear




Click Image for Additional Angles
Be-bopping along and singing a jungle song, Baloo the jive-talking bear and Mowgli the man-cub are an inseparable pair. 

“I kept thinking how can I make this bear and this kid feel closer together,” noted animator Ollie Johnston, while fellow Disney artist Frank Thomas added, that with Baloo and Mowgli,“I think we got the strongest friendly relationship between two characters we ever got in any picture.” 

Baloo was to originally have had a much smaller role in The Jungle Book but the relationship between the boy and bear was so heartfelt, the jazzy bruin’s role
grew. 

Plussed with a pewter cowlick on Mowgli, this irresistible sculpture highlights the humorous and heartwarming jungle-born kinship between two of Walt Disney’s most cherished characters — the endearing “Little Britches” and his ever-lovin’ “Papa Bear.

" Good ol' Papa Bear!' sculpted by Bruce Lau is Limited to Production Year 2011.

7 comments:

Matthew said...

The relationship between Baloo and Mowgli really comes through in this new piece. Excellent connection between the characters.
I really love all the detailing on the base as well.

Gregory said...

This piece better than any other JB release to date makes you want to sing the Bear Necessities. But better than that, it finally captures the cute relationship between Baloo and Mowgli better than it has been captured before in other WDCC pieces. This will be my first JB piece simply because it puts a smile on my face!

Herc said...

Well I cannot wait to get this duo. This, I feel, is the best representation of Jungle Book to date. Ok, Greg, I'm singing...Look for the Bare Necessities, the simple Bare Necessities, forget about your worries and your strife....
Great job Bruce.

Anthony said...

Great piece! Will be my 1st Jungle Book piece.

DC Pop Fanatic said...

Agree, this sculpture really captures the relationship between Mowgli and his Papa Bear, Baloo. Being such a fan of The Jungle Book, this one will definitely be finding a place in my collection!

I'm thinking of displaying with Kaa and Mowgli (2006 Villains Series release) showing the contrast in the two relationships.

Anonymous said...

I love that recent sculptures have been including multiple pieces interacting with one another on one base. I do love the separated scenes like the new Song of the South scene. However, in pieces like this one, you get so much more movement and character from the sculpture.

DC Pop Fanatic said...

Agree 100%! When a sculpture is depicting the actual interaction between one or more characters, I think it's captured much better when a single vs. multiple sculpture release is chosen.