Baloo

Baloo is a popular Disney character and the deuteragonist from the 1967 film The Jungle Book and its sequel, and the main protagonist of the series TaleSpin. He is a sloth bear and best friends with Mowgli. Even though he's not the main character of the film, Baloo has become the most popular Disney character from The Jungle Book. He has been voiced by Phil Harris, Ed Gilbert (until their deaths), Steven Curtis Chapman, John Goodman (replacing the deceased Phil Harris in The Jungle Book 2), and currently by Joel McCrary.

Personality
The Disney version of Baloo is very different from the book character on which he's based. In contrast to the book, where Baloo is a wise old bear who teaches Mowgli the law of the jungle, Disney's Baloo is lazy and laid back. He loves to dance and play games. He hates becoming upset and having to be strict. He also enjoys being around Mowgli. Baloo thinks of Mowgli as his son just as Mowgli thinks of Baloo as his father. Baloo can be strict when he has to be, but doesn't enjoy acting in such way. Baloo is very protective of Mowgli and was willing to battle the jungle's most feared resident, Shere Khan, to keep him safe.

My Disney Experience Description
When you're an easygoing bear like Baloo from Disney's The Jungle Book, life is all about the bare necessities.

The Jungle Book
Baloo is first seen eating and taking a stroll in the jungle when all of a sudden he sees the strangest thing. Baloo takes a closer look at this "thing" and the boy slaps him in the nose. He tells Baloo to go away, eventually starting to punch, although Baloo can't even feel it. He does the boy a favor and begins teaching him how to fight. Eventually the boy and Baloo become friends and the boy's name is revealed to be Mowgli. Bagheera, who is watching Mowgli, is ready to take him back to the Man Village. Baloo offers Mowgli the opportunity to stay with him, which he accepts gladly, but Bagheera does not. Baloo then begins to teach Mowgli about The Bare Necessities. Baloo teaches Mowgli about eating ants and relaxing. He tells him to never work hard and to not waste time looking around for something he may want but can't be found.

During a nice swim down the river, Mowgli is kidnapped by monkeys. Baloo tries to fight them off to save his bear cub but they get away taking Mowgli with them. Baloo shouts for Bagheera. The two know exactly who's responsible for this and they head off. The plan was of none other than King Louie, king of all primates. Louie desires the power of Man and wants to create Man's "Red Flower". He asks Mowgli, who he tries to convince by singing I Wanna Be Like You. Mowgli claims he doesn't know but Louie refuses to believe. Baloo and Bagheera devise a plan, while Baloo distracts the monkeys, Bagheera will rescue Mowgli. Baloo dresses himself as a female orangutan and dances with Louie. They are discovered after Baloo's costume comes apart and a chase begins. The ruins begin to collapse just as Baloo, Bagheera, and Mowgli make their exit leaving Louie at his destroyed kingdom.

That night Baloo and the others rest. Bagheera takes the time to explain why Baloo can't adopt Mowgli as his son. Baloo is reluctant to listen until the mention of Shere Khan, the tiger who seeks to kill Mowgli only because he's a human. Baloo sadly agrees to take Mowgli, knowing it will save his life. In the morning Baloo and Mowgli begin to travel to the village, although Mowgli doesn't know where they are going. Baloo tries to break the news gently but becomes angry when Mowgli speaks ill of Bagheera. Mowgli then runs away heartbroken, and Baloo and Bagheera separate to find him.

Baloo searches in the wasteland home of the vultures, and just in time, as Shere Khan and Mowlgi are about to battle. Baloo grabs Khan's tail holding him back a bit. Soon enough, Shere Khan removes Baloo and starts clawing him to death. Mowgli scares Khan away with fire and when all seems well, darkness falls on Mowgli as Baloo lies unconscious and presumed dead. Just as Bagheera and Mowgli depart, Baloo awakens, revealing he's alive, and reunites with Mowgli. During their trip back into the jungle, Mowgli becomes enchanted by a beautiful girl from the Man Village. Mowgli follows the pretty maiden and returns home. Baloo accepts this and he and Bagheera return to the jungle, singing "The Bare Necessities" together.

The Jungle Book 2
Some time after the events of the first film, Baloo is seen in the jungle creating a dummy version of Mowgli. He attempts to sing with it but begins to realize, Mowgli is gone. Depressed, and anxious to see Mowgli, Baloo sneaks towards the Man-Village only to be confronted by Bagheera and Colonel Hathi, They attempt to stop Baloo from going any farther, but the bear makes an escape with the help of Hathi's son.

That night, Baloo sneaks into the village and reunites with Mowgli. Unfortunately, Mowgli's sweetheart Shanti begins to panic at the sight of Baloo, a wild animal. The villagers rush to the scene while Baloo and Mowgli escape to the jungle. Once in the safety of the jungle, Baloo is informed of the "tortured" life of the villagers. To steer away from the village life, Mowgli and Baloo reprise "The Bare Necessities". The next morning, Baloo is informed by Bagheera that the villagers are in the jungle searching for Mowgli. After Bagheera departs, Baloo and Mowgli head to King Louie's Palace, which to the jungle animals is a popular hot spot, to hide.

There, Baloo tells the animals of the "horrid" village. Mowgli begins to feel sorrow, showing that he misses his village and his girlfriend. At the mere mention of Shanti, Mowgli leaves the palace and heads into the jungle. Baloo goes out looking for him and spots Mowgli reuniting with Shanti, accompanied by Mowgli's adoptive brother Ranjan. Earlier that day, Baloo and Mowgli advise a plan to scare Shanti off if she happens to find them. Following the plan, Baloo proceeds to scare Shanti. She learns that Mowgli planned the scare and storms off.

As Baloo agrees of the negative side of Shanti, Mowgli blows. Mowgli rushes off the find Shanti. He finds them, but also finds Shere Khan. Mowgli and Shanti are perused by the tiger while Ranjan hides. Ranjan runs into Baloo and alerts him of Shere Khan. Baloo rushes to the rescue. He finds himself in the ancient ruins. Together, Baloo, Mowgli and Shanti attempt to confuse Khan by banging on gongs. Shati's collapses. Khan heartens to kill Shanti unless Mowgli reveals himself. He follows Khan's orders and a chase follows. Baloo tries to stop Khan to no avail. The chase leads over an open lava pit. Khan, Mowgli and Shanti begin to fall. However, Baloo grabs them while Khan falls into the pit. After, Baloo bids a heartfelt farewell to Mowgli as he rejoins the village. The next day however, it shows that Mowgli, Shanti and Ranjan visit Baloo and Bagheera everyday in the jungle. The dance off singing "The Bare Necessities",

TaleSpin
Baloo is the main character in the animated series TaleSpin. In the series, Baloo and other characters are in a world where animals wear clothing and live in large cities, much like the world of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, and Goofy. Here, Baloo lives in Cape Suzette, where he ran his own air-freight shipping company, Baloo's Air Service. Although he has claws on his toes like before, he has none on his fingers in this appearance. Due to his never paying his bills, though, the bank sells his company to a businesswoman named Rebecca Cunningham, who changes its name to Higher For Hire and hires Baloo as the delivery pilot. His best pal is a bearcub named Kit Cloudkicker, a former air-pirate who used to work for Don Karnage and now serves as his co-pilot on the cargo plane, the Sea Duck. His strange, but incredibly ingenious, mechanic, Wildcat, takes care of all the equipment maintenance for Higher for Hire. Baloo enjoys the good life and can often be found hanging out in his pal Louie's tropical cabana night club. Baloo is constantly troubled by the business tycoon, Shere Khan, the Air-Pirate Don Karnage and the crazed military hog Colonel Spigot, among others.

Jungle Cubs
Baloo appears as a young cub in the series, in which he was voiced by Pamela Adlon. In the series, Baloo is best friends with Shere Khan, Kaa, Bagheera, King Louie and Hathi. Like his older self Baloo is lazy, laid back, care free and always looking for a good scratch. Baloo is often the leader of the group although Shere Khan often tries to take the role instead. In the series, Baloo's all-time best friend is Prince Louie.

The origin of Baloo's favorite philosophy; "The Bare Necessities," was also revealed in the series' episode Sleepless in the Jungle. After a long day of worrying and pondering, Baloo was encouraged by his friends to relax and unwind for a bit, leading Baloo to sing his trademark number and revert to his laid back self.

In the Jungle Cubs: Born to Be Wild DVD, Baloo, as an adult, Mowgli and Bagheera are making their way back to the Man Village. Like in the film, Baloo tried to convince Bagheera to let Mowgli stay, because of the danger of Khan; however, Bagheera denies. Along the way, they meet up with the old gang and reminisce about their past adventures.

House of Mouse
In the animated series, Baloo makes several appearances. Baloo is usually seen with King Louie, Kaa, and Mowgli. Baloo also appeared in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse. In "Jiminy Cricket", he is seen sitting at a table with Kaa, Shere Khan, Mowgli and Bagheera. In The Stolen Cartoons, he is temporarily seen in the background. In the opening, he is sometimes seen talking with Little John. In Not So Goofy, after Baloo was finished with his banana, he tossed it on the ground and Goofy nearly tripped over it. In Goofy's Menu Magic, Baloo is one of the many guests to openly enjoy Goofy's magical soup. Later after a mishap with it however, Baloo and the other guests demand Goofy never to make the soup again.

The Lion King 1½
Baloo made a non-speaking cameo in the form of a silhouette during the finale of the film with Mowgli, and several other Disney characters in watching The Lion King 1½ again with Timon and Pumbaa.

Video games
Baloo has appeared in a few video games over the years including the video game adaption to his film, appropriately titled The Jungle Book. A costume of Baloo is available as an add-on download in the video game Disney Universe.

TaleSpin
Baloo is the star of the TaleSpin games. This game involves the adventures of Baloo and Kit, two bears delivering cargo for Rebecca, another bear. However, Shere Khan, the evil tiger tycoon, wants to put Rebecca out of business, so he hires pirates, led by Don Karnage, to do his dirty work. In the NES and Gameboy games, Baloo has to deliver his cargo across the world while fighting the pirates who are trying to stop him. In the Sega game, Baloo and Kit face up against Shere Khan's company in a contest to earn a lifetime work contract from the city. This is a platformer for up to two players. In the TurboGrafx game, Louie tells Baloo of an ancient artifact, the pieces of which are scattered across the road.

The Jungle Book Groove Party
Baloo appears in the game playing the exact role as the film. However, upon meeting Mowgli for the first time, he becomes attached to him a lot faster and decides to keep him in the jungle as a cub immediately.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Baloo appears in the game as a meet-and-greet character in front of the Jungle Cruise in Adventureland.

When the player visits him early in the game, Baloo is waiting for Mowgli to return when he grows an appetite. Knowing he should stay at his spot to wait for Mowgli, Baloo asks the player to find him some papaws for him to eat (which can be found in the Jungle Cruise mini-game). Right after that, Baloo asks if the player can show-off some of the talents they've learned to liven things up in the area by using the magic wand from Cinderella.

Later on, Baloo becomes curious of how man-cubs catch fish. Using the fishing rod from Stinky Pete, the player catches a few fish and feeds them to Baloo. Right after, Baloo asks if the player can teach Mowgli how to fish like a man-cub. After the task is complete, the player learns from Mowgli that Baloo's bananas for lunch were stolen by the monkeys. The player recovers the bananas and returns them to Baloo, much to his delight.

Disney Parks
Baloo is a common character in Disney theme parks around the world, with the exception of Tokyo Disneyland (unless ocassionally). He is most commonly seen at Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida. Baloo can be seen with Mowgli in It's a Small World.

An oversized statue of Baloo is featured at the Disney's Pop Century Resort. Baloo also has a spell card known as "Baloo's Coconut Cascade" in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

The Disney Afternoon Live!: Plane Crazy
One of Baloo's most prominent roles at the parks was in the Plane Crazy stage show that ran at Disneyland as part of Disney Afternoon Avenue in 1991. In the stage show, he is recruited along with Chip 'n' Dale and Launchpad McQuack to recover the X-22 spy jet when it is stolen by Don Karnage and Fat Cat.

Fantasmic!
Baloo appears in the bubble sequence in Disney's Hollywood Studios' version. Baloo also appears riding either the Mark Twain Riverboat or Steamboat Willie.

In the Tokyo DisneySea version of the show, Baloo appears in the jungle sequence as a large inflatable figure on one of the barges.

Believe
Baloo is one of the "magic makers" to take part in the show on board the Disney Dream. Here, Baloo is the first magic maker to use the mystic elements of the jungle. Baloo performs The Bare Necessities to the busy-body father to help his imagination grow for the sake of his daughter's happiness.

Disney Dreams!
In Disneyland Paris, Baloo appears at the very end of Louie's segment in the show, "I Wanna Be Like You", scatting and dancing with Louie just as they did in the film.

Songs Baloo has sung

 * The Bare Necessities
 * I Wanna Be Like You (with King Louie)
 * I'm Gone
 * Friends for Life (with King Louie)
 * W-I-L-D
 * Baloo's Blues (original soundtrack)
 * It's a Kick (original soundtrack)

Trivia

 * In the original Rudyard Kipling book, Baloo was more of a serious character, as he was very strict with Mowgli and didn't tolerate negligence.
 * Walt Disney was used as a reference for the dance moves seen when Baloo is introduced in The Jungle Book.
 * Baloo's full name was given as Baloo Bear or Baloo von Bruinwald XIII in TaleSpin.
 * Baloo is a sloth bear and they are often hunted by Bengal tigers like Shere Khan.
 * Baloo actually means "bear" in Hindi.
 * In The Jungle Book 2, Baloo is voiced by John Goodman, who also supplies the voices of Pacha, Sulley and more recently Eli La Bouff.
 * Baloo "bears" a striking resemblance to Little John from Disney's Robin Hood, who were both voiced by Phil Harris, who also gave the voice of Thomas O'Malley from Disney's The Aristocats.
 * Baloo and Little John perform the same dance moves with King Louie and Lady Kluck in both movies.
 * Although Baloo's species, the sloth bear, mainly eats plants they are known as aggressive and the bear species that has the greatest tendency to kill people. It is an interesting comparison with a real sloth bear and the fun-loving, completely harmless Baloo.
 * When Bagherra was saying his speech about Baloo, he wished his Mom heard it, hinting that she's deceased.
 * Aside from King Louie, Baloo is the only animal character to walk on two legs in the film.