Rikki-Tikki-Tavi

Chuck Jones took a great story and combined it with a great cast to give us an outstanding animation feature. Orson Welles narrates and supplies the voice of a cowardly muskrat as we see Rikki the orphaned mongoose become a hero to his adopted family in 19th century India. The versatile June Foray provides the voice of Rikki, the boy's mother,the mother bird, and the evil cobra Nagaeena. The text is taken largely from the Kipling story, with whole passages used verbatim. Even the tailor-bird's song is from the original story, with a catchy tune created for the story. This is Chuck Jones' other side: no slapstick. Just a touching, memorable story which captures Kipling's period feel and sentimentality seen through the eyes of the young boy who must live with his colonial family on a distant continent. If you can find this animation on video, your kids ages 5 and up will enjoy it, and you will appreciate the wonderful production and characters.

Like many of the other reviewers on this site, my earliest memories of seeing this cartoon were created in my after-school program, with the film being shown on an old projector. I remember Rikki-Tikki-Tavi to be one of the coolest films that we were shown as kids back in the mid '80s. This cartoon classic had everything: adventure, humor, suspense, just a touch of evil (with the two cobras, Nag and Nagaina) to make things interesting, a great story, and a happy ending.

Fast-forward to the present day. By chance, I saw this video for sale at the local Wal-Mart, and the memories started to come back into my mind. Needless to say, I bought the video and watched it again this afternoon. Everything was almost exactly as I remember it from back in the day. Plus, since I've grown wiser with my years, I came to recognize this cartoon as a real classic piece of work. The animation is solid and consistent, just what you'd expect from Chuck Jones. All of the voice work is good, but the stand-out performance has to go to Orson Welles as the narrator, Nag, and the sniveling muskrat. Not only do I now know about Welles being the mastermind behind "Citizen Kane", I also respect his work from his later years, as he provided narration for a couple of killer Manowar songs. I'm glad that I bought the video, as it will most likely become a well-loved addition to my collection. See this with your kids and let them create their own memories of this great cartoon!

When i first read the story and saw this film as a child, something happened, that was surely not intended to be happen; neither by Kipling nor by the producers of this film... Of course, the direction, how the viewer shall see this movie and for who he shall cheer up is clearly given... but damn it... i was dragged to "the dark side of the force"... i felt strong sympathy and pity for Nag and Nagaina! But why? They was supposed clearly enough to be the bad guys of the story... what forced me to cheer up for the bad guys??

Today i guess, the reason are the characters of Nag and Nagaina. Both are deeper and more interesting than the character of the hero. Both are only want to defend their home, and later, Nagaina want to revenge her husband... who would not try to do the same as Nagaina in such a desperate situation?? A similar situation was given, for example, in "Road to Perdition"... and here the audience is clearly on the side of the "bad guy" (remember, the hero was a killer!) who want to revenge his murdered wife! A final revenge, that may include the own death too... and at last Nagaina lost the final fight... but damn it, at least she had tried it! She did not run away, nobody was on her side, nobody helped her. She lost her husband, her eggs/babies... she was alone! On the other side, Rikki Tikki had a lot of friends, like Darzee, that helped him in this fight. This did not mean, that i hate Rikki Tikki, he did his job, and he did it good! But you can tell me, i am on the "wrong side", i know, that i am standing on the "wrong side", but i can't help... i always see the story through the (snake)eyes of the "wrong side"!

This little movie was really well made, it follows almost literally the book (this story is a part of "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling). The narration of Orson Welles (he made the famous radio broadcasting of H.G. Wells "The War of the Worlds" too) was very good. The story seems to be a bit too dark for younger children in some parts, but compared with a lot of crap that was made today, there was a real story behind it, and the makers did not shy away to show the darker parts too. I saw it again a few days ago on TV after many years... and yes, i am still standing on the other ssssside...! ;-)

As a fan of cartoons, I hold "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" to a high regard. When I saw this working in day care last summer, I instantly remembered this classic cartoon, even though I hadn't seen it in over ten years.

Chuck Jones, the genius behind "Cricket in Times Squae" and "Looney Tunes" capitalizes on the popular story by Rudyard Kipling. A mongoose named Rikki-Tikki-Tavi lives with his British family in India in the 1800s, and protects his young master from two deadly cobras, who slither into the family's home in the middle of the night.

The animation, though corny, is delightful, mainly because I was young during a time when cartoons didn't need to be one in 3D on a computer to amuse me. Simple animation has always been in good taste to me. This is one of those gems that kids today may or may not appreciate, because of the recent successes of films like "Shrek" and "Toy Story 1 and 2," which rely on computer animation. Don't get me wrong, I love these computer animation-based flicks, but I also love the simple classics too.

My favorite part is when Rikki-Tikki-Tavi fights off the cobras. I loved how the cobras talked, stressing their s-es. ("And we'll attack while he's s-s-s-sleeping.")

This is a GREAT film for an educational setting, because it teaches students about culture, plus it is too much fun to watch, plus it is cute. Take it from this 19-year old, see "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi," and get to know a great animator's work. Chuck Jones may be gone, but his legacy lives on in his animated classics. This is one of them!

When I was growing up, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi was one of those films the teachers and teacher's aides at my elementary school would pull out of the AV room and spool around on film projectors during inclement weather. I can still here the clacking of the film spools wind around even when I watch on my DVD. By middle school and high school, I had all but forgotten about Rikki-Tikki-Tavi until I saw it for sale on DVD. Now that I'm an adult (or something close to resembling one), I can appreciate the stylization Chuck Jones put into crafting Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. This animated short has chills, thrills, spills, and it has enough for the adults that won't make them sick viewing after viewing, which is why I think the teachers would pull Rikki-Tikki-Tavi out of the closet every time the weather was bad and needed to keep us indoors. I saw this film first in the early '80s, and I was somewhat astonished that it was made in the mid-70s, but that makes sense seeing as to how my elementary school was built in the late-70s. Rikki-Tikki-Tavi holds up well and looks as though it could be shown on Cartoon Network next to today's kids cartoons. It's a must see for anyone with a kid or has been one!