Scene Standoff: Wizard of Oz vs. The Jungle Book
Updated: Mar 19, 2021
Dorothy arriving in Munckin Land in 'The Wizard of Oz' vs. King Louie's performance of 'I wanna be like you' in 'The Jungle Book.
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Munchkin Land - The Wizard of Oz
Dorothy Gale gets swept away in a twister, only to end up in the much more colourful land of Oz. And there, munchkins greet her with Glinda the good witch. The scene is a long one ending with the first rendition of 'Follow the yellow brick road'. Oh, and it introduces the brilliantly iconic Wicked Witch of the West.
- Ellis' scene
'I wanna be like you' - The Jungle Book
Mowgli the man cub is kidnapped by monkeys to be taken to their orang-utan leader King Louie. The King is fascinated by man and their ability to make fire, he wants to be just like Mowgli, and so the song begins.
- Gareth's scene
Ellis - italics
Gareth - bold
PERFORMANCE
The Jungle Book as a whole isn't all there, but one of the highlights is 'I wanna be like you'. It feels like a Bluesy jam.
The vocal performances are great! The Munchkin land scene and the whole film is tainted for me now that there's so much knowledge of how badly the actors were treated. But the performances themselves are kind of creepy.
Well, when you're a kid, the creepy stuff sticks with you. But as a kid I could never take my eyes off it. I think the performances are great though.
Yeah, I guess that makes it better.
WIZARD OF OZ - 6/10 THE JUNGLE BOOK - 7/10
NECESSITY
So I wanna be like you is clearly not the bare necessity because there's literally another song in the film called 'The Bare Necessities'.
Yeah but they're looking for the bare necessities. Whereas I wanna be like you sets up the plot a bit more. The film as a whole would be worse without this scene.
And I think the munchkin land scene shows the transition from black and white to colour, it's the first time we're introduced to Oz, the munchkins, Glinda the good witch and the yellow brick road.
And it sets up what she needs to do.
WIZARD OF OZ - 9/10 THE JUNGLE BOOK - 7/10
REFERENCABILITY
I don't know about you but I know all the words to I wanna be like you.
Yeah, especially the riffs.
Yeah, hoo hoo hoo! Have fun transcribing that future Ellis.
And there's a Jungle Book megamix, I don't know if you've heard that?
No! But there's only two songs.
Yeah they just mix them both together.
Follow the yellow brick road is at the end of the munchkin land scene and that's sung all the time as well. And also there's all the witch stuff that's very referencable; lines like "my pretty".
That is referenced all the time.
WIZARD OF OZ - 8/10 THE JUNGLE BOOK - 5/10
POPULARITY (using Letterboxd for reference)
I'm intrigued to see what the people think of Wizard of Oz.
Yeah me too!
Well, it's got an average rating of 4.0/5.
Well this is the nail in the coffin for The Jungle Book because it's a 3.6.
WIZARD OF OZ - 4.0 THE JUNGLE BOOK - 3.6
ICONIC RATING
On a scale of West End/Broadway musicals, how iconic are these two scenes?
I mean The wizard of Oz was on the West End.
It was, but I don't think as a show it's that iconic. So I'd say the munchkin land scene is utterly iconic.
You could be really clever then and go for Wicked.
Yes, good point. That is so iconic.
And then for Jungle Book I'm going to say Thriller Live! It's iconic but no-one actually likes it that much when they go and watch it.
WIZARD OF OZ - Wicked THE JUNGLE BOOK - Thriller Live!
THE FINAL STANDOFF
Wizard of Oz 4-1 The Jungle Book
A couple of classic movies butting heads here, but you don't get much more classic than the wonderful Wizard of Oz. With exceptional performances in this scene, most notably from Judy Garland it was sure to take the gong.
But let's not forget how many iconic scenes can be seen in this film: Somewhere over the rainbow, Dorothy meeting the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion, the flying monkeys, "There's no place like home" but none of these are as well-renowned as Dorothy's straight-out murder of The Wicked witch of the East upon her arrival in Munchkin Land.
Is there anything more classic than The Wizard of Oz? Let's see what Round 2 brings.
Current Standings: G - 2 E - 4
NEXT BATTLE:
WILLY WONKA & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY VS. THE BREAKFAST CLUB
Wizard of Oz available now on NOWTV and Sky Cinema