Louie believes Mowgli is just playing coy, and continues to seek answers, but he is soon interrupted by the sudden appearance of scat-singing, female orangutan.
Unfortunately for Louie, Mowgli has no knowledge of how to create fire or what he is talking about. Mowgli agrees, and through the song "I Wanna Be Like You", Louie laments his desire to become a man and asks Mowgli how to create the "red flower". The Apes, the Baboons, the Mandrells, the Gorilles and the Monkeys kidnap Mowgli, the lost human, and delivers him to Louie, who introduces himself as the boy's "cousin", with intentions on granting Mowgli his wish to stay in the jungle, so long as the latter fulfills his end of the bargain. Further Adventures of Baloo and Mowgli, Louie appears to have made amends with Baloo and Bagheera, regarding the incident with Mowgli, and even aided Bagheera in helping Baloo overcome his longing to reunite with the man-cub, after the latter returned to the Man Village.Īfter receiving word that a lost human is being taken to the Man Village, but wants to remain in the jungle, Louie sees this as an opportunity to finally succeed in his goal to learn the secret of "man's red flower" (the animal term for "fire"), and sends his minions the Apes, Baboons, Mandrels, Gorilles and the Monkeys to retrieve him. In subsequent media appearances, such as More Jungle Book. After kidnapping Mowgli, both the man-cub and the King of the apes come to enjoy one another's company, to the point where Louie's fun-filled method of persuasion (a jazzy party with his monkeys) ultimately distracted from his quest to learn the ways of fire until Baloo and Bageheera arrived onto the scene. Nevertheless, Louie seems too lighthearted to cause any legitimate harm. This theory is supported by Louie's verses during his musical number: "I've reached the top and had to stop, and that's what's bothering me!" this indicates that his desire to be human stems from wanting more out of life, after having reached the highest point of success in the jungle-becoming king of the apes. Louie takes advantage of Mowgli's naivety to attempt to convince him to learn how to make fire should Louie get this knowledge, he could quite easily hold the entire jungle hostage and rule over it through fear, making sense of Bagheera's disgust over the matter. Namely in "Man's Red Flower" - fire, is frequently alluded upon in the story as being something all animals fear. With a laid-back, fun-loving nature, similar to that of Baloo, Louie appears as a generally jovial member of the jungle, though his scheme to learn the ways of "man's red flower" is seen as scandalous Bagheera referring to the ape as a scoundrel upon learning the motives behind his hopes of becoming a human.Īlternatively, it's possible that Louie simply desires more power as while he claims to merely want to be a human, he expresses a very specific interest. Waited on by his monkey minions, Louie enjoys jazzy music, fun-filled parties, and a seemingly endless supply of bananas and other fruits.
However, by 2010, these files were apparently lifted, allowing Disney to once again have full use of the character, as evidenced by 2012's debut of the live show Wishes, aboard the Disney Fantasy cruise ship, marking Louie's first speaking role (with newly recorded dialogue) since the 2000 video game The Jungle Book Groove Party. Gia Prima is deceased in 2013, permitting definitely to Disney to make King Louie speak againĪs King of the Apes, Louie enjoys a lavished life in his palace among the ancient ruins of India, apparently living by his own law and order.
In later years, Disney would continue to use Louie in theme park entities and other promotional material but refrained from having the character speak to avoid trouble with Mrs. Milt Kahl, Frank Thomas, and John Lounsbery animated the character.Īround 2001, Louis Prima's widow sued the Walt Disney Company over the unauthorized use of her late husband's voice and public personal in past Jungle Book spin-off projects, as Jim Cummings's imitations of Prima featured in them were near perfect.
The original story for Louie started out quite differently, but he was eventually given the voice and personality of the late and famed jazz trumpeter and vocalist Louis Prima. Unlike most characters in the film, Louie was created solely by the Walt Disney Company, and there was no ape king in the original novel by Rudyard Kipling, on which the film was based. King Louie is a giant orangutan who was crowned as the King of the Apes, the Baboons, the Mandrels, the Gorilles and the Monkeys.