Mowgli

Mowgli is the main protagonist in Disney's 1967 feature film The Jungle Book and its sequel. He is voiced by both Bruce Reitherman in the first film and Haley Joel Osment in the sequel.

Background
Mowgli is a human child, who was found as a baby by Bagheera, a black panther. Apparently orphaned, Mowgli was raised by a pack of wolves until he was 10 years old. However, the threat of Shere Khan forces the pack to send him away, and Bagheera decides to take him to a nearby man-village for his protection.

In the first scene of the film, Mowgli, as an infant, was found in a battered canoe. His parents were nowhere to be found but it is implied that they died not too long before Mowgli was discovered by Bagheera. How exactly is unknown, but it can be concluded that a messy river accident claimed their lives.

Personality
Mowgli is shown to be adventurous and rebellious. At the same time, he is fairly naive about the dangers of the jungle. He is shown to love having fun, and is trusting and friendly. In the first film, his naivety is taken advantage of frequently by animals like Kaa and King Louie, who each have their own agendas. This leads Mowgli to become cynical and distrusting towards others. However, a run in with the vultures, as well as a later rescue by Baloo, show him that there are people who genuinely care.

His personality takes a slight shift in the second film where he is far more mature and knowledgeable with the jungle. Like the first film however, Mowgli is rebellious towards the people of his village who hold a great fear. At the same time, Mowgli is more fun loving and comical in this film. Also in the second film, Mowgli was forced to make difficult decisions for himself choosing between living in the jungle with Baloo and Bagheera or living in the village with Shanti and Ranjan. Mowgli, knowing it was best for him, chose the village but also decided to simply visit Baloo at the jungle everyday, finally setting an acceptable balance between his life as a jungle boy and a village boy.

The Jungle Book
Mowgli is first seen as a baby, placed in a basket amongst the wreckage of a canoe. Bagheera finds the orphaned baby, and takes him to a family of wolves, where Mowgli is cared for. When Mowgli is ten years old, the wolves learn that Shere Khan, the tiger, has returned and has sworn to kill Mowgli due to his hatred of man. The wolves decide that, for the pack's safety, Mowgli must leave. Bagheera chooses to escort Mowgli to a man-village. However, stubborn Mowgli does not want to leave, and interference by various animals further impedes the journey. Baloo, a bear, becomes friends with Mowgli, and vows to protect him so that Mowgli can stay in the jungle. However, Baloo later sees the danger that Mowgli is in, and agrees that Mowgli must leave the jungle. At the climax, Mowgli faces Shere Khan, and is able to defeat the tiger using the tiger's fear of fire. Eventually, Mowgli goes to the man-village of his own accord, having become enamored with a girl that he saw filling her water jug.

The Jungle Book 2
In the second film, Mowgli has been adopted by the village leader, and has an adoptive brother named Ranjan. He is friends with the girl he met, who is named Shanti. Though he enjoys his life, Mowgli misses the jungle. One day, Baloo, who has missed Mowgli just as much, comes and wants to take Mowgli back to the jungle. Soon though, Bagheera discovers that Mowgli is back in the jungle and attempts to find the pair. Also searching are the men from the village, as well as Shanti and Ranjan. Later on, Mowgli refaces Shere Khan, who wants revenge for his earlier humiliation. With the help of Shanti and Baloo, however, Mowgli is able to defeat Shere Khan by trapping him under a statue. Mowgli returns to the village with Shanti and Ranjan, but the trio sometimes sneak back to the jungle to visit Baloo.

Jungle Cubs
Mowgli was featured on the Jungle Cubs: Born to Be Wild DVD. In this story, Mowgli, Baloo and Bagheera are heading off to the Man Village. Along the way, they meet some old friends and foes and each meeting brings a story from their childhood.

House of Mouse
Mowgli made few cameo appearances in the series usually found in crowd shots with Baloo or King Louie. During the opening of the show, Mowgli can be seen petting Oliver from the film Oliver and Company. In "House of Turkey, Mowgli was seen being coiled up by Kaa when he and the other guests begin getting hungry with not turkey to dine on. During Ludwig Von Drake's headcount of all the guests, Mowgli was seen on a table with Baloo.

The Jungle Book Groove Party
Mowlgi is featured as the game's main protagonist and a playable character. The game acts as a retelling of the original, thus having Mowgli play the original role from the film.

Disney Universe
Mowgli appears as a downloadable character for the PlayStation3 and Xbox360 in The Jungle Book Pack.

Kinect Disneyland Adventures
Mowgli appears as an unlockable meet-and-greet character near the Treehouse in Adventureland. To lure Mowgli out of hiding, the player must complete a few tasks for Baloo. At one point, Mowgli tells the player that he wishes to learn how to carry water jars as good as Shanti. He asks the player to find some so that he may practice. After the water jars are recovered, Mowgli and the player practice holding them atop their heads.

Disney Parks
Mowgli originally made regular meet-and-greet appearances in all the parks but became extremely rare after 1999.

A statue of Mowgli with Baloo is featured at Disney's Pop Century Resort in Walt Disney World. Mowgli has a spell card known as "Mowgli's Swinging Vine" in the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom.

In Disney's Animal Kingdom, Mowgli starred in the short-lived live show Journey into the Jungle Book. Mowgli recently made a comeback at the Disneyland Paris event, Adventureland Celebrates!.

Jubilation!
Mowgli appears in the popular parade in Tokyo Disneyland. In the parade, Mowgli can be found on the Jungle Book themed float atop Kaa the snake in his coils.

Fantasmic!
Mowgli appears in the bubble montage in Disney's Hollywood Studios version of the nighttime show.

It's a Small World
Mowgli appears in Hong Kong Disneyland's It's a Small World attraction along with Baloo as a small world doll.

Shanti
Shanti is the very reason Mowgli went into the man village. Shanti acts as if she can't stand Mowgli at times due to his prankster personality, but deep down she really has strong feelings for him just as he has feelings for her. In one scene in The Jungle Book 2, when Mowgli gets in trouble, he blames Shanti and won't speak to her. When Shanti found out that Mowgli assigned Baloo to scare her if she showed up (he really did this to cover up his real feelings for her, which is that he missed her) she was heartbroken. After the events of The Jungle Book 2, Mowgli and Shanti started a romantic relationship.

Baloo
Baloo is Mowgli's best friend and father figure. Mowgli first met Baloo and thought of him as an enemy not an ally. Baloo and Mowgli soon became best friends and Baloo officially adopted Mowgli as his bear cub. Once Baloo realized Shere Khan was on the hunt for Mowgli, he promised Bagheera he will take Mowgli back to the man village although he didn't want to. Mowgli soon thought Baloo has betrayed him and ran off. Once Mowgli encountered Shere Khan, Baloo risked his life to save him. Baloo and Mowgli once again became friends with Mowgli relazing Baloo only wanted the best for his cub.

In affection, Mowgli often refers to Baloo as "Papa Bear" while Baloo usually refers to Mowgli by "Little Britches".

Bagheera
Mowgli and Bagheera had an great friendship until Bagheera had to take Mowgli to the Man-Village. Despite this, Bagheera and Mowgli are great friends. During his time with the wolf pack, Bagheera mentiond that he and Mowgli often went on walks throughout the jungle just fun, inticating their close bond.

Kaa
Kaa and Mowgli are complete enemies. Kaa's main goal through the film is to eat Mowgli and after three attempts, he still failed. However, he doesn't show much intimidation towards Kaa though he tries to keep distance from the snake's eyes, knowing its power after their first encounter. Kaa views Mowgli as food only but becomes frustrated after his many escapes viewing him as not only lunch, but a despiesed nemesis as well.

Shere Khan
Shere Khan is Mowgli's arch nemesis and Shere Khan wants nothing more than to kill Mowgli. In the first film, due to Shere Khan's hatred towards man, he decided to eliminate Mowgli before he was old enough to gain the ability to use man's fire. Shere Khan tried to kill Mowgli, but due to the fearless Baloo and the vultures Shere Khan's plans were thwarted. In The Jungle Book 2, Shere Khan seeks revenge on Mowgli for humiliating him.

Trivia

 * Animator Glen Keane used Mowgli's animation from the original film as reference when he animated Aladdin.