Baloo is the deuteragonist of Disney's 1967 animated feature film The Jungle Book. He's a fun-loving, easygoing, loyal, and good-natured sloth bear who becomes best friends with a “man-cub" named Mowgli.

In the original book by Rudyard Kipling, Baloo was very different from his Disney incarnation. In the book, Baloo was a humorless, serious, and strict aging sloth bear who utilized militant discipline while mentoring Mowgli and the wolf cubs. When Walt Disney began to develop a film based on the novel, Bill Peet originally wrote a version that was set to be darker and slightly closer to the source material, but many changes were made, including Baloo's personality, which was changed into a fun-loving, humble personality. While that version of the film was scraped, the final version still utilized many of the characterizations featured in Bill Peet's version including Baloo's, with his relationship with Mowgli serving as the heart of the film.

Baloo's trademark song, "The Bare Necessities", was actually written for Bill Peet's original draft of the film. When Walt overtook the project, "The Bare Necessities" and the accompanying songs were cut, with the Sherman Brothers being brought on to write the new songs. However, the filmmakers loved "The Bare Necessities" and pleaded to have it remain in the film; Walt would eventually agree.^[1]

When it came to casting Baloo, Walt suggested television personality and social friend, Phil Harris, to provide the voice. This was met with controversy among the filmmakers, as they believed Harris was unfit to star in a Rudyard Kipling-inspired film. Walt, nevertheless, encouraged the team to move forth with the idea, additionally using it as a means to further separate the tones of Kipling's stories and the Disney adaptation. Once Harris came into the studio, he felt out of place and hesitant to fully accept the role. To make himself more comfortable, he asked the directors permission to approach the role with his own unique flair and mannerisms. The results were universally beloved, and the character of Baloo was largely shaped to match the personality of Harris, himself, from that moment forward.

Baloo is easily characterized by his laid-back, easygoing nature. Often speaking with a soft, smooth tone, the sloth bear is known for his ideals of remaining relaxed as often as possible, and preventing the pressures and responsibilities of life holding one down, as vocalized through his song, "The Bare Necessities". Bagheera, the wise panther, describes him as a "jungle bum"; a seemingly useless member of animal society, only focused on lounging, snacking, scratching his back, and other minimal activities labeled as lazy pastimes. Though lazy, stubborn, and foreign to true responsibility, Baloo has a large heart, often taking his ideals (which are seen to have successfully led him to a happy lifestyle) and sharing it with others, including Mowgli, the man-cub, in hopes of spreading the happiness he's been fortunate enough to experience.

Though Baloo enjoys relaxation and tranquility, he is also a socialite—an unabashed lover of parties, jazz music, and jungle beats. Through the sound of bouncy rhythms alone, Baloo can be seduced into joining a party, going as far as to becoming the center of attention, as seen during the climax of "I Wanna Be Like You". In The Jungle Book 2, Baloo has a reputation of being the "life of the party" and is extremely popular with the jungle's social gatherings because of this and has taken over King Louie's abandoned palace as a result, turning it into a hangout.

However, in spite of his loyalty to his "bare necessities", Baloo is above abandoning morals and disregarding the safety of others for himself, or in what he believes, as evidenced by his decision to ultimately join Bagheera in escorting Mowgli to the Man Village, where he belonged, despite the bond the two had formed by that time, showing the sloth bear is capable of taking responsibility should the circumstances reach a valid level of importance. He is also extremely selfless as he risked his own life to protect Mowgli from Shere Khan despite knowing he would not stand a chance against the tiger's full fury. For this, Bagheera admitted that he was wrong about the bear and the two became good friends after successfully escorting Mowgli to the Man Village.

In the sequel, Baloo is more social than ever and feels his life is somewhat empty without Mowgli, the only one who truly understood him. Overcome with nostalgia, Baloo sneaks into the Man Village where he reunites with the man-cub and takes him back to the jungle. However, he sees later on that Mowgli has matured since their last time together; the man-cub now has grown attached to his own kind and is not as threatened by responsibilities as he once was despite his carefree nature. As a result, Baloo realizes he was wrong to take the boy back to the jungle and after gaining respect for Shanti, Mowgli's close friend, he encourages the man-cub to go back with her to the civilization where he truly belongs.

Baloo is a large bipedal sloth bear with dark-gray fur, light-gray muzzle, gray belly, periwinkle muzzle, short tail, and big paws with long claws sticking out. He also has a swooped hairstyle on top of his head.

Baloo is first seen during a peaceful day singing and taking a stroll in the jungle when all of a sudden, he sees a creature he has never seen before; a man-cub named Mowgli.

Curious, Baloo inspects the boy, much to his annoyance. Mowgli smacks Baloo's nose and tells him to go away and leave him alone. Baloo interprets the man-cub's reaction as a sign that he has had a bad day and tries to cheer him up. Mowgli then loses his temper and attacks the bear, who takes notice of his poor fighting skills and does him a favor by teaching him how to fight properly. The lesson goes well, until Mowgli is unable to let out an intimidating roar. Baloo demonstrates how to roar properly, which alerts Mowgli's panther guardian Bagheera and he rushes to the man-cub's aid. After several attempts, Mowgli is able to emit a roar that satisfies Baloo and so they proceed with using what Mowgli has learned in a wrestling match. During the match, Baloo accidentally knocks Mowgli and sends him rolling to a tree log, prompting Bagheera to call the bear out on his irresponsibility. However, Mowgli claims it was not a big deal as he is not injured.

The match continues and Mowgli is finally able to fight properly. Then Mowgli climbs on Baloo's back and tickles him, but Bagheera deems Baloo to be a bad influence on Mowgli and declares the boy must be escorted to the Man Village immediately, much to Mowgli's dismay. However, Baloo sides with Mowgli, not seeing why the man-cub must stay in a village of strangers who would "make a man out of him" instead of in the jungle where he is happy and is convinced that he can learn to survive the same way he has, with a way of life known as The Bare Necessities. Baloo then begins teaching Mowgli that all he has to do is know what he needs and let nature provide it for him. The two continue bonding and eventually go for a swim in a nearby river. The baffled Bagheera leaves, hoping Baloo will discover on his own why the jungle is no place for the man-cub.

While floating down the river, Mowgli is kidnapped by the bandar-log. The monkeys relentlessly taunt Baloo as he tries to save Mowgli until they push him down a short hill where a boulder hits his head and then carry Mowgli away. Baloo calls Bagheera for help and tells him what happened, leading the panther to conclude that Mowgli was taken to the ancient ruins, the bandar-log sanctuary ruled by the mad King Louie.

Baloo and Bagheera soon arrive at the ancient ruins and witness the monkeys partying as Louie attempts to persuade Mowgli to reveal to him the secret of making fire, a powerful tool that is feared by the jungle's inhabitants and is only accessible to humans. Baloo wants to attack immediately and rescue Mowgli, but becomes distracted by the catchy party music, leaving Bagheera to devise a plan on his own; while Baloo creates a distraction, Bagheera will sneak in and save the man-cub. Baloo disguises himself as an orangutan and dances with Louie while Bagheera attempts to grab Mowgli unnoticed. Unfortunately, Baloo's cover is blown when his disguise falls apart. The bandar-log attacks the trio, forcing them to fight their way out. During the havoc, one of the ancient temples collapses. The trio takes advantage of the situation and flee the scene, albeit with a few bruises.

That night, the trio find a place to rest and once Mowgli is asleep, Bagheera chastizes Baloo for his irresponsibility that caused the incident with the monkeys and also explains why the bear cannot adopt Mowgli. Baloo accepts his mistake, but insists that he will be more careful next time. Bagheera then tries to convince Baloo that the jungle was never meant to be Mowgli's home, as he is human and thus brings too much unwanted attention to himself even if he did possess the necessary survival instincts to live in the jungle on his own. However, Baloo remains unconvinced and thinks Bagheera is worrying too much until the panther mentions the threat posed by Shere Khan, the notorious tiger who hates humans because he fears their guns, fire, and destructive nature. Though Baloo recognizes Shere Khan as a ruthless and dangerous predator, he insists that there must be a way to find a common ground as Mowgli has neither guns nor fire and is not the kind of human whom Shere Khan fears. The panther dismisses Baloo's naïve suggestion, knowing that Shere Khan cannot be reasoned with when it comes to humans and would not wait until Mowgli gets those things therefore would not see Mowgli as any different from all the hunters who have attacked him. Baloo realizes how irresponsible he has been but is reluctant to take Mowgli to the Man Village as he already promised the boy that he could stay in the jungle with him. But Bagheera tells the bear that is exactly the point: As long as Mowgli stays with Baloo, he will be in danger and if he truly loves Mowgli, he should act responsible and do what is best for the man-cub. Baloo concedes and sadly agrees to take Mowgli to the Man Village.

In the morning, Baloo wakes Mowgli up, and they say goodbye to Bagheera as they begin their journey to the village. During the journey, Baloo breaks the news gently to Mowgli that he must take him to the Man Village, much to Mowgli's shock. Baloo was then angered after Mowgli accuses him of being just like Bagheera, stating that it was going too far. Mowgli runs away deep into the jungle, heartbroken and bitter as Baloo tries to catch up with him, but now lost him. Hearing Baloo calling for Mowgli, Bagheera rushes in and asks what has happened now. Baloo explains to him that he used the same words the panther used and the boy ran out on him. Bagheera and Baloo then immediately separate themselves to find the boy, and Baloo blames himself for this and hopes nothing bad will come of Mowgli, or he will never forgive himself.

Baloo spends several hours looking for Mowgli, but eventually finds him just in time in a barren wasteland confronted by Shere Khan. Baloo grabs Khan's tail, holding him back a bit. But unfortunately, the tiger is too much for Baloo to handle even with the help of Mowgli and a group of vultures. Baloo begs the vultures to get Mowgli away from Shere Khan, and they comply. Enraged at Baloo's interference, the tiger unleashes his full fury and brutally attacks Baloo. But fortunately, a lightning strikes a near by tree and sets its branches on fire. The vultures inform Mowgli of Shere Khan's pyrophobia, and the boy ties one of the burning branches to the tiger's tail. Shere Khan panics and runs away in terror.

Despite the victory, darkness falls on Mowgli as Baloo lies unconscious on the ground and the man-cub tries to revive him, but begins to fear the worst. Bagheera arrives and presumes Baloo is dead. The panther tries to comfort Mowgli and assure him that Baloo will be immortalized as a hero. Meanwhile, Baloo slowly begins to wake up but due to being touched by Bagheera's eulogy, he does not reveal that he is alive until Mowgli and Bagheera are about to depart. When he does (much to Bagheera's chagrin), the overjoyed Mowgli embraces the bear and the trio head back into the jungle.

As they reach the edge of the jungle, Baloo praises Mowgli for the resilience he showed in the fight against Shere Khan and believes it is enough proof that the man-cub can survive in the jungle after all. Suddenly, however, Mowgli hears an angelic voice in the distance and rushes to its source. Bagheera notes that they have arrived to the Man Village, but Mowgli is more interested in the beautiful girl emerging from the village heading to a riverside to fetch water. Baloo tells Mowgli to forget about her, believing she is nothing but trouble, but Mowgli wants to have a closer look at her. Baloo tries to stop him, but Bagheera tells him to let the boy have it his way.

As Mowgli makes contact with the girl, Baloo begins to worry about what might become of their friendship. At the village entrance, Mowgli looks back at Baloo and Bagheera, uncertain about where he wants to belong. Baloo begs Mowgli to come back but Bagheera encourages him to keep following the girl. Eventually, Mowgli becomes so entranced by the girl's beauty that he cannot help but accept that he truly is a man and shrugs to his animal guardians as a way of saying that he has made up his mind and enters the village.

Baloo is noticeably disappointed that Mowgli chose the girl and the village over him and the jungle but Bagheera is not surprised as the boy obviously could not resist his own nature, or his inevitable manhood, no matter how hard he tried and declares that Mowgli is finally where he belongs. Baloo realizes he is right, but is nevertheless content that Mowgli would have made an excellent bear. Baloo then enthusiastically suggests they head back to where they belong. Having gained a respect for Baloo, Bagheera loosens up and the two sing "Bare Necessities" while strolling into the jungle.

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 that Mowgli is actually gone. Depressed, and anxious to see Mowgli, Baloo sneaks toward the Man-Village, only to be confronted by Bagheera and Colonel Hathi. They attempt to stop Baloo from going any further, 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 had advised 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.

Feeling angry and regretful for what Baloo had done, Mowgli rushes off the find Shanti and Ranjan. He finds them, but also finds Shere Khan. Mowgli and Shanti are pursued by the tiger while Ranjan hides. Ranjan runs into Baloo and alerts him of Shere Khan. Baloo and Shanti later put aside their differences and rush to the rescue, where they find themselves in the ancient ruins. Together, Baloo, Mowgli, and Shanti attempt to confuse Khan by banging on gongs, until Shanti'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, and the chase leads to an open lava pit. Khan, Mowgli, and Shanti begin to fall, but Baloo grabs Mowgli and Shanti while Khan falls into the pit, before 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 every day in the jungle. They dance off singing "The Bare Necessities".

Baloo appears as a young cub in the series 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, carefree 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. Here, he has also light gray prints on his foot soles, which in his adult counterpart hasn't. During the second season, he becomes slightly taller with darker bluish fur and, while still having the same voice actor, speaks in a slightly deeper, raspier voice.

The origin of Baloo's favorite philosophy; "The Bare Necessities", was also revealed in the series' final 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 and the animals 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; however, Bagheera denies because of the danger of Khan. Along the way, they meet up with the old gang and reminisce about their past adventures. Ed Gilbert reprises his role from TaleSpin.

Baloo makes several, non-speaking appearances in the animated series. In the opening, he is seen talking with Little John.

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 "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.

In Mickey's House of Villains, Baloo was one of the many heroes trapped in the kitchen when the Disney Villains took over the House of Mouse on Halloween. In the end, he and everyone else cheered for Mickey after he defeated Jafar and the other villains. Baloo also appeared in Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse.

In 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 movie again with Timon and Pumbaa.

In Meet the Robinsons, a poster featuring Baloo and Mowgli can be seen on the field during Goob's baseball game.

In Once Upon a Studio, Baloo and Mowgli sang a verse of "When You Wish Upon a Star", after Baloo shut Scuttle's beak with his paw after Scuttle tried to join in the chorus. Baloo and Mowgli then join all the Disney characters as they sing the last line as the group photo is taken successfully for Disney's 100th anniversary.

In Wish, Baloo was among the Disney animated characters that appeared during the credits.

Baloo has appeared in a few video games over the years including the video game adaption to his film, appropriately titled The Jungle Book.

Baloo appears between both chapters IV and V. In Chapter IV: The River after Mowgli finishing his task to collect the gems, he will find Baloo at the riverside once he jumps through the floating rocks. Baloo is not really a boss character but giving Mowgli some fruits or gems to get more score points until he falls to the river. In Chapter V: Baloo and the River where he serves as a river mount where he is swimming in the river by floating. Don't step onto his mouth, it will lose your life points once Mowgli fell into the river.

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.

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, thus spawning Mowgli for meet-and-greets alongside Baloo, Aladdin, Genie, and Jasmine. 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.

Baloo appears in the game as one of the playable and unlockable characters with thirty tokens, he can only attack with his claws, he can also use his monkey disguise to enchant the enemies and heal himself, when he is about to be defeated, he only falls asleep under a palm tree until he wakes up ready to return to battle.

Baloo appeared as a townsperson in the 2.0 edition of the game. He is also a playable character for Disney Infinity 3.0, and the figure was released on March 15, 2016, and he requires an online patch that makes him playable in the game.^[2]

A costume of Baloo is available as an add-on download in the video game Disney Universe.

In Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two, Baloo makes an appearance in the Dahl Engineering Corridors.

In August of 2016, two medals featuring Baloo were added into Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ, as part of an event based on The Jungle Book.^[3]

In addition, he appears in Disney Emoji Blitz, Disney Heroes: Battle Mode, and Disney Sorcerer's Arena.

An oversized statue of Baloo is featured at Disney's Pop Century Resort.

Baloo also has a spell card known as "Baloo's Coconut Cascade" in Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom. Also in the Magic Kingdom, Baloo briefly appears in Happily Ever After.

Baloo appears in the bubble sequence and the riverboat finale in Disney's Hollywood Studios' version of Fantasmic!

He also meets in Asia at Disney's Animal Kingdom and was one of the main balloon kites featured in Disney KiteTails.

In the Tokyo DisneySea version of Fantasmic!, Baloo appeared in the jungle sequence as a large inflatable figure on one of the barges. Baloo sometimes appears at Tokyo Disneyland as a meetable character as well.

One of the messages on the message board in the Country Bear Theater's lobby is from Baloo, taking the form of a pet adoption ad reading "Free to Good Home! Man Cub, approx 10 yrs. and growing! Well behaved, sings and dances. Has all shots, call Baloo".

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

He also wore his TaleSpin outfit again during Fandaze in 2018 and Guest Star Day alongside King Louie.

Baloo is seen in Hong Kong Disneyland's Flights of Fantasy Parade, where he and Louie join Tantor from Tarzan, and Rafiki and Timon from The Lion King in the jungle section of the parade.

Baloo also appears in Mickey and the Wondrous Book at Storybook Theater in Hong Kong Disneyland, performing "The Bare Necessities" onscreen.

Baloo can be seen with Mowgli in the Hong Kong Disneyland version of It's a Small World.

He now meets frequently in Karibuni Marketplace.

Baloo meets regularly in Happy Circle in Adventure Isle.

In Disney's 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.

Bing Crosby was considered to voice Baloo but couldn’t due to development issues.

Baloo is visibly afraid of Shere Khan; as real tigers eat sloth bears, this is not surprising.

Real sloth bears don't have opposable thumbs. Strangely, in some shots, Baloo is portrayed with opposable thumbs to make him more human.

In the Golden Books adaptation of the first Jungle Book film, Mowgli meets Baloo and the elephants while living with the wolves (although some modern versions correct this).

See also

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