Kaa is the secondary antagonist of Disney's 1967 animated feature film The Jungle Book. He is an enormous snake with an equally large appetite—specifically for Mowgli, the man-cub. Kaa's most dangerous attributes are his hypnotic eyes, which he uses to manipulate unsuspecting prey and lure them into his jaws and coils.
Background
Development
In Kipling's books, Kaa was Mowgli's wise mentor, akin to Baloo and Bagheera, and was very protective of him. When the characters were adapted in the film, Walt Disney did not like the idea of a benevolent snake and so Kaa was given an antagonistic role that would serve as one of the many reasons why Mowgli must leave the jungle.
He was animated by Frank Thomas in his entrance appearance where he first met Mowgli and nearly ate him. Due to the popularity of the character among the developers, he was given another scene and his own song ("Trust in Me", a recycled and revised version of "The Land of Sand", a scrapped song from 1964's Mary Poppins), this time animated by Milt Kahl. Sterling Holloway, Kaa's voice actor, also brought his own essence to the character by using a lisped voice.
Personality
- “It's like you said... You can't trust anyone!”
- ―Kaa using Mowgli's words against him
Kaa is a sly, devious Indian rock python. He speaks with a soft, often entrancing tone to either lure his victims into a weary, dreamlike state or manipulate them into bestowing their trust, only to devour them unexpectedly. He furthers this by the use of his iconic ability to hypnotize his prey with his eyes, rendering them enchanted and under his command. A powerful and dangerous ability, Kaa is a feared inhabitant of the jungle. This is evidenced when the usually composed and fearless Bagheera was visibly terrified and pleaded with him when the panther stopped him from eating Mowgli. Such fear, however, does not resonate with the unofficial ruler of the jungle, Shere Khan the tiger. Kaa holds a disliking for Khan, seeing him as a hypocrite and believing the act of killing for pleasure—as opposed to survival—to be dishonorable. The two beasts are often at odds, though Shere Khan views Kaa as an "eyes and ears" of the jungle, relying on him to assist his search for Mowgli at one point in the film.
While not inherently malevolent, Kaa is still a fairly villainous character. His first attempt to devour Mowgli was a casual and opportunistic means to eat and survive. However, his later goal to eat the man-cub was mainly driven out of spite, swearing revenge on the boy after his first attempt to eat Mowgli ended in humiliating defeat. Furthermore, he is perfectly willing to hurt those who get in the way of his meals, as seen when he hypnotized and threatened to kill Bagheera.
Kaa takes great pride in his powerful hypnotic abilities. Although he is able to entrance his prey into a state of pure bliss, he seems to prefer to apply creativity to his hypnosis, that being the unparalleled trust shared between predator and prey which he uses to invade the mind of his victim and synchronizing their mind with his own. However, Shanti is the only one whose mind he has managed to fully synchronize with his own thoughts and movements, as the girl's conformist mindset, coupled with her vulnerable emotional state, made her more susceptible to the hypnosis than any of Kaa's other victims before her.
Although not ruthless, Kaa has a playful sadistic streak, emphasized by how he gloats over Mowgli's helpless situation as he prepared to devour him. He displayed even more sadism towards Shanti as he did not only gloat over her helplessness, but also outright whispered into her ear that he intended to eat her knowing she was unable to do anything about it. A mischievous creature, he enjoys teasing and playing with his food, hypnotized or not. He playfully tugged at Mowgli's wrists and ankles to stop him from escaping, and later savored the time before the kill when he hypnotized the man-cub and made him sleepwalk over his body. When hypnotizing Shanti, he mockingly comforted her by stroking her hair and then he made her nod to his questions.
Nevertheless, Kaa seems to insist on giving his victims a merciful end as he hypnotizes them into a state of bliss or sleep before eating them. Kaa has even admitted to himself that he is sympathetic towards Mowgli to a certain extent, before remembering his own intentions to make a meal out of the boy. Despite his intentions, this shows that Kaa is capable of compassion and empathy as in the end, he is only a predator trying to survive.
Though dangerous, manipulative and cunning, Kaa is not without his faults. Although he only hypnotized Mowgli when he was sure Bagheera was too sleepy to notice him, it was his own cockiness that woke the panther and made him lose his supper. He can be clumsy and easily sidetracked from his primary objective: to hypnotize and eat Mowgli. This results in his interactions with the man-cub to often end in humiliation to some degree.
Physical appearance
Kaa is an Indian python that has grown to be extremely long for a member of his species. While his exact size is unknown, in the original book he is described as more than 30ft long. His eyes are yellow and fill with concentric circles of blue, yellow and purple when using hypnosis. He has golden scales and a lighter underbelly, and dark brown spots patterned across his back. Despite having a large body, Kaa's head and neck are small in comparison, although his mouth is large enough to take up most of his head. Like all pythons, Kaa can dislocate his jaw to open his mouth wide enough to swallow prey far larger than his head, although this must be done head-first.
Abilities
- Hypnosis/Mind Control: Kaa's most infamous power is his unique ability to hypnotize others through eye contact and have them follow his commands. Unlike the original book where Kaa could hypnotize others through the "Hunger Dance" and could only hypnotize animals, Kaa here hypnotized with colored spirals and could hypnotize humans as well. Once fully hypnotized, his victims enter a trance with glassy-eyes and wide smiles on their faces which can persist even after falling asleep. This ability also works when someone sees their reflection in the water. However, his powers are not without limits. His victims' susceptibility relies on needing to make eye contact with them, which Kaa must coax through speech if they're unwilling to look. Mowgli was less susceptible due to his stubborn nature and strong will, but was still worn down over an extended period of hypnosis. This has prompted Kaa to use his cunning to make the boy too relaxed to fight back. It appears that the victim's susceptibility depends on their mental and emotional state. Initially it took an extended period of eye-contact to hypnotize Mowgli due to his strong resolve whereas during their second encounter the man-cub fell into a trance after only a few seconds because of his depressed state at the time. Though generally Kaa seems to rely on intimidation to demoralize the victim, making it susceptible to hypnosis, as he did with Bagheera and Shanti.
- Powerful Coils: As a constrictor, Kaa makes use of his powerful coils to catch and immobilize prey. While pythons will typically squeeze their prey to the point of suffocation or cardiac arrest, Kaa seems to prefer to swallow his prey alive and uses his coils in tandem with hypnosis to ensnare a victim, though he does tug Mowgli's neck to silence him when the man-cub tries to call for help in their first encounter. Kaa's entire body is extremely dexterous, able to form themselves into all sorts of shapes including hammocks, crosses and staircases. They are also very strong; Kaa was able to perfectly balance Mowgli upside down on the tip of his tail without effort and can very easily climb trees. The coils are, however, very heavy. They have dragged him down to the ground when dislodged from tree branches on more than one occasion, and he has not appeared to notice Mowgli shoving them off tree branches until it was too late.
Appearances
The Jungle Book
Kaa meets Mowgli.
Kaa comes across Mowgli and Bagheera in the branches of a large tree that the pair has chosen to spend the night in, just after Mowgli tells the panther he was able to look after himself. Half asleep, Bagheera is unaware of Kaa as he drops in and inspects the young boy with considerable relish. Deciding to eat Mowgli, he smacks his lips and calls the boy a "Delicious Man-Cub", but Mowgli is more annoyed than intimidated and angrily tells Kaa to leave him alone. Bagheera, assuming Mowgli was speaking to him, sleepily orders the man-cub to go to sleep.
Kaa takes advantage of the situation and begins hypnotizing Mowgli to sleep, intending to devour him without alerting the panther. Mowgli tries to resist the hypnosis, but is unable to look away. Kaa proceeds to wrap his coils around the boy, soothing him to the point where he is unable to resist. Mowgli begins to succumb to the spell, but manages to cry out to Bagheera for help. Kaa immediately silences the boy by constricting his neck with his tail, making him gulp loudly. Coiled from waist to neck and unable to resist any further, Mowgli falls into a trance and can only blissfully smile as Kaa admires his catch.
Bagheera sleepily tells Mowgli he'll have no more arguments until morning, unaware that Kaa had fully hypnotized and coiled the boy just feet behind him. Kaa chuckles, musing to himself and his happily smiling prey that the man-cub "wouldn't be there in the morning". As he lifts his freshly hypnotized man-cub off the branch, Mowgli obeys the command to sleep and Kaa prepares him for eating.
Ironically, it is this laugh that awakens Bagheera who turns to see Kaa bearing down on the sleeping man-cub with his mouth open wide ready to swallow him. Bagheera rushes to the rescue, striking Kaa in the face before he could swallow the boy. However, Kaa is angered by the interference and begins to hypnotize Bagheera, failing to notice that Mowgli awoke when he dropped him. The boy shoves Kaa's massive coils off the branch with his feet, resulting in Kaa falling to the ground in a heap. While Mowgli slaps Bagheera awake, Kaa slithers off with a knot in his tail, swearing revenge on the boy. He vows to get the boy back in his coils again, but Mowgli only laughs at the snake's crippling and humiliating defeat.
Kaa sings to Mowgli.
A day later, Mowgli runs away from his guardians, feeling betrayed and upset. He wanders aimlessly through the jungle until he finally sits down under a tree. Almost immediately Kaa's tail comes down from the canopy and hoists him up into the branches. Mowgli is shocked to see Kaa and that he got him back in the coils after all, Delighted to see the boy again, this time all alone, Kaa is unable to contain his excitement and lets out a hiss-like chuckle. The man-cub, now aware of what the snake is capable of after their last encounter, hides his fear under self-control and calmness and untangles the snake's tail around his waist, telling him to leave him alone as he climbs out of the coils. Kaa tries to hypnotize him again, but Mowgli immediately looks away. The snake uses his tail to turn Mowgli's head around to look him in the eyes, but Mowgli tells him to drop the act as he knows what he is trying to do.
Feigning to be hurt that the boy does not trust him, Kaa pretends to be benevolent. He playfully toys with Mowgli by wrapping his tail around the boy's wrist and ankle to stop him leaving (much to the man-cub's annoyance), as he tries to convince him that he wants to help him stay in the jungle.
Mowgli remains skeptical but out of curiosity, he lowers his defenses and asks the snake how he plans to keep his word. Kaa keeps his plan ambiguous, making the offer on the condition he first has the man-cub's trust while pressing his forehead to Mowgli's. Mowgli's eyes momentarily widen, but he turns away from the snake, saying he does not trust anyone anymore. However, Kaa manages to trick Mowgli into letting his guard down by blindfolding him with a makeshift turban from his coils, insisting he is not like his friends who supposedly betrayed him.
The man-cub struggles to push him off his head, only to gaze directly into Kaa's eyes. With no time to react and unable to look away, Mowgli's eyes immediately fill with color and within seconds is successfully hypnotized once again. Kaa sings "Trust in Me" to his happily smiling prey, toying with the helpless boy as he obediently follows his commands. Kaa beckons Mowgli to close his eyes, having him sleepwalk off the branch and onto his coils high above the jungle floor. He rocks Mowgli in a makeshift hammock of coils, before balancing him on the tip of his tail- horizontally and upside down. Deep under Kaa's power, Mowgli begins to snore. Satisfied his prey is deeply asleep, he slides the hypnotized man-cub back into his coils and wraps him up ready for eating.
Kaa interrogated by Shere Khan.
Before Kaa can devour Mowgli, the suspicious Shere Khan stops by after hearing Kaa's singing. Knowing the tiger is looking for Mowgli, Kaa is forced to hide the boy in the branches above, letting him sleep in the coils. Kaa pretends to act surprised by the tiger's visit and tells him that he was merely singing to himself to sleep off sinus troubles. The snake tries to trick Shere Khan into letting his guard down in order to hypnotize him as he did with Mowgli, but the tiger is unsympathetic and nonchalantly resists the hypnosis before shoving his head to the ground. They are then interrupted by Mowgli's snoring above them, convincing Shere Khan that Kaa is hiding something and inspects his coils. Kaa uses his cunning to hide the man-cub while showing the tiger his seemingly empty coils, convincing Shere Khan that he does not have Mowgli. Khan leaves to continue the search, but not before threatening Kaa to inform him before anyone else should he happen to come across the man-cub.
Kaa defeated once again.
Once he is out of earshot, Kaa shivers in disgust of the tiger's sadism, inadvertently causing his coils to unravel around Mowgli and wake him from the trance. Kaa takes a moment to pity the boy, but quickly dismisses the thought once he remembers his own intentions. Licking his lips and relishing the thought of his hypnotized man-cub waiting in the branches, he does not notice Mowgli climbing out of his coils. Mowgli is able to shove Kaa's coils off the branch and the snake is dragged to the ground once again. On the ground, Mowgli confronts Kaa and accuses him of lying to him, which he wasn't. Kaa assures to Mowgli that it is like what he said: he can't trust anyone and attacks him, but is once again stopped by a knot in his tail getting caught in a bamboo cluster. Mowgli flees into the jungle, leaving the snake to express his animosity toward the boy. Despite his second humiliating defeat, Kaa apparently gives up trying to catch him as he slithers off to lick his wounds.
The Jungle Book 2
Kaa in The Jungle Book 2.
Kaa returned once again as the secondary antagonist but plays a relatively smaller role in the sequel than he did in the 1967 film and his name is not even used at all. One night, Kaa appears when Mowgli meets up with Baloo near the beginning of the film. Like before, Kaa attempts to eat Mowgli but faces many accidents and injuries as he pursues them. Mowgli and Baloo remain unaware of Kaa's presence, and the two walk away unharmed.
Kaa angrily states that he never wants to see another man-cub again, but changes his mind after he comes across the young girl Shanti, who unknowingly burns Kaa's tail with a torch while searching for Mowgli in the jungle. Licking his lips surreptitiously, Kaa lurks in the trees above the girl in order to frighten her and surprise her when the time is right. By the time Kaa manages to corner her, Shanti realizes that someone is stalking her and frighteningly asks who it is. Kaa then finally reveals himself and as Shanti lacks survival skills, she falls easily for Kaa's trick, looking directly into his eyes. She gives a brief smile in response to the overwhelming bliss as the hypnosis starts taking effect, putting her in a trance immediately.
Kaa hypnotizes Shanti.
Once Shanti drops her torch, she is left completely defenseless, allowing Kaa to sadistically gloat over her helplessness as much as he pleases. Kaa inquires whether Shanti is lost, stroking her hair before making her nod her head in agreement. Slithering around the young damsel in distress, Kaa asks her if she is hungry. Nuzzling her cheek, Kaa whispers into Shanti's ear that he is starving, gloating about the girl's impending doom. The snake makes Shanti step on top of a boulder and positions her to be devoured. Shanti looks up at Kaa vacantly as he hovers above her, preparing to strike. Fortunately, Ranjan saves Shanti's life by pulling her away from Kaa's jaws just as the snake was about to eat her, making him swallow the boulder Shanti was standing on instead. Shanti falls to the ground and snaps out of the trance as Ranjan mercilessly beats up Kaa with a stick. Kaa flees from Ranjan and tries to slither down a hill but the weight of the boulder causes him to tumble down until he hits a coconut tree.
Kaa laments over his humiliating defeat but is suddenly encountered by Shere Khan in his search for Mowgli, who mocks the snake until he hears him vent his frustration over a man-cub. Shere Khan interrogates him, thinking he is referring to Mowgli and demands information about his whereabouts. Kaa assures Shere Khan that all he knows is that Mowgli has recently left the Man Village, but truthfully has no idea where he is at the moment. Shere Khan does not believe him and begins to lose his temper as he reiterates his demand. To save himself from Shere Khan's wrath, Kaa fearfully lies to the tiger that Mowgli is in the swamp. Shere Khan doubts his claim but nevertheless lets him go after threatening to make him pay if he is lying. Kaa insists Mowgli is in the swamp and even assures him that he would come with him if not for the boulder he accidentally swallowed earlier, which he fears is going to cause him indigestion very soon.
Kaa is not seen again for the rest of the film but is mentioned by Shere Khan when he arrives at the swamp where Mowgli is nowhere to be seen and angrily splashes the water after realizing that Kaa lied to him. He is mentioned again by Shanti to Baloo, who briefly said she was attacked by a snake. Lastly, after Shanti, Mowgli, and Ranjan reunite with their families, Ranjan proudly tells his father and all the villagers that he saved Shanti's life from a snake.
Jungle Cubs
Kaa in Jungle Cubs.
Kaa appeared as a much younger snake in the Jungle Cubs, with Baloo, Bagheera, Colonel Hathi, King Louie, and Shere Khan. Here, he is voiced by Jim Cummings and, unlike the movie, he is a protagonist, which interestingly, actually follows the original story, unlike the film.
As a younger snake, Kaa has yet to master hypnosis at his young age, usually failing or hypnotizing the wrong person by mistake. Kaa is more of the cowardly friend in the group, often being doubtful when an adventure is at hand. Most of the time, his fearfulness can be understandable, being that the children often find themselves in some of the most dangerous predicaments in their jungle. Kaa is often seen attempting to eat a local shrew with a wise-cracking persona. However, as the shrew is too clever for the snake, he ultimately fails in the end.
During the first season, Kaa appears in the same color as in the original movie, whilst in the second season, in addition to becoming longer, his skin is a shinier green and his spots are magenta. This color change was actually a result of his shedding in "Trouble on the Waterfront". Despite turning older with the rest of the cubs, he also still has the same voice and actor.
Many episodes revolve around Kaa, including one where his birthday arrived, and yet everyone forgot. To make up for it, they acted as if his hypnotism was excellent and pretended to be in trances. In the end, however, Kaa discovers this and breaks down. His friends comfort him and apologize, leaving all to be well.
In the Jungle Cubs: Born to Be Wild DVD, Kaa, as an adult, was the first character to be revisited by Baloo, Mowgli, and Bagheera. Here, he attempts to devour Mowgli whilst he rested, but Baloo foiled the snake by grabbing his tail and throwing him into a gorge.
House of Mouse
Kaa in Mickey's House of Villains.
Kaa makes several cameos in the show House of Mouse.
In the episode "Ask Von Drake", he is seen being threatened by Shere Khan while Ludwig Von Drake sings a song.
In "Turkey Day", Kaa was seen attempting to devour Mowgli after not receiving a turkey for dinner.
In "Jiminy Cricket", he is seen sitting at a table with Baloo, Mowgli, Shere Khan, and Bagheera.
In "Unplugged Club", King Louie was seen grabbing Kaa (who was hanging above next to him) by the neck and shaking him like a rattle as Mickey Mouse went over to thank Zeus for using one of his lightning bolts to repower the club.
In "Max's Embarrassing Date", he is seen sitting a table with Sir Hiss.
In "Goofy's Menu Magic", Kaa is seen having coiled and hypnotized Mowgli when Mickey mentioned the guests were getting hungry.
In Mickey's House of Villains, Kaa joins his fellow villains in taking over the House of Mouse on Halloween. He joins in the hostile takeover during the song "It's Our House Now!", while attempting to hypnotize Minnie, during which he briefly reprises "Trust in Me". He later stands by Jafar's side when he battles Mickey and soon enough flees with the other villains when Mickey is about to send Jafar into the lamp.
Once Upon a Studio
Kaa appears in the Walt Disney Animation Studio building, when he sings "Trust in Me" to Clarabelle Cow while hypnotizing her, but is whacked offscreen by Rapunzel using her frying pan. He also appears in the group photo on the roof of the studio at the end of the short.
Other appearances
A pink snake resembling Kaa was among the soccer match spectators in Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
A bootlegged version of Kaa appears (now with arms and rabbit-like ears) in Chip n' Dale Rescue Rangers, where he is revealed to have either a close friendship or coworker bond with Bonkers.
A snake-like character resembling Kaa made a cameo during the final scene of Who Framed Roger Rabbit, with the other Disney characters.
A snake resembling Kaa made a cameo in DuckTales episode "Sweet Duck of Youth". He was seen when Scrooge was walking through the swamps alone.
Video games
The Jungle Book (SEGA Genesis)
Kaa is the boss character in Chapter II: The Great Tree. Kaa's hypnotic eye was his main projectile where he can damage Mowgli's life points. Mowgli has to avoid or dodge the projectile before it disappears. The only way to defeat Kaa is to splattered him with either a single or double bananas to deal heavy damage. Once Kaa is defeated, he will fall onto the Great Tree.
Mickey Mousecapade
In the US release of Mickey Mousecapade, a snake heavily resembling Kaa appears as a boss enemy.
The Jungle Book Groove Party
Kaa plays a role in the game, where he sings his own original song, "A Mood for Food"; replacing "Trust in Me" as the villainous song meant to manipulate a helpless Mowgli.
Other games
In Disney Universe, Kaa does not appear as an add-on character costume but appears as an accessory on a costume weapon. Concept art for the Medusa power up earlier showed 3 snakes resembling Kaa for the mask’s hair.
In Kinect: Disneyland Adventures, Kaa is only briefly mentioned by Mowgli during meet-and-greets. "If anyone sees Kaa slithering around anywhere, better let me deal with him."
In Disney Magic Kingdoms, there exists an attraction based after Kaa's likeness named "Kaa's Jungle Gym". A statue of Kaa can also be seen on the attraction.
In Disney Heroes: Battle Mode Kaa appears as a playable character. He is able to hit enemies with his tail and hypnotize them to hex them. His friendships campaigns are with Chip and Dale and Scar.
Disney Parks
Disneyland Resort
Kaa in the Disneyland version of Fantasmic!
In California, Kaa appears onscreen in Mickey and the Magical Map, during King Louie's section.
In the Disneyland version of Fantasmic!, Kaa appears in Mickey's dreams of the jungle.
A light-outlined version of Kaa also appeared in Mickey's Mix Magic.
Walt Disney World
Kaa appeared in several shows, such as Celebrate the Magic in the Magic Kingdom and Wonderful World of Animation in Disney's Hollywood Studios. He also appeared in Journey into the Jungle Book and plans to devour Mowgli as he did in the film.
Kaa does not appear in Disney's Hollywood Studios' version of Fantasmic! due the Jungle Book scene being replace by a scene based on The Lion King.
Tokyo Disney Resort
In Tokyo Disneyland, a mosaic of Kaa appears on the ground near Jungle Cruise. Kaa was also featured in the jungle-inspired float in the former daytime parade Jubilation!, as part of its 25th-anniversary celebration.
In the Tokyo DisneySea version of Fantasmic!, Kaa is seen floating about as he did in the Disneyland version.
Disneyland Paris
In Disneyland Paris park, Kaa was seen in the castle spectacular Disney Dreams! during the "I Wanna Be Like You" section where he tries to hypnotize the shadow of Peter Pan. However, he failed when King Louie's ruins fell apart on top of him.
A statue of Kaa can also be seen in the Adventureland area in the jungle section, next to a statue of Zazu.
Hong Kong Disneyland
Kaa is featured in the jungle-inspired float in the Flights of Fantasy parade in the park. He also appeared as one of Maleficent's invited guests during the finale of Villains Night Out!.
Kaa is also the first villain to appear in the projection show Momentous, in which he wraps his coils around the castle and attempts to hypnotize the audience with his eyes.
Shanghai Disneyland
Kaa is one of the characters part of Garden of the Twelve Friends at Shanghai Disneyland, representing the Chinese Zodiac symbol of the Snake.
Differences from the source material
- In the original book by Rudyard Kipling, Kaa was one of Mowgli's friends and his wisest mentor. Throughout the book, Kaa was quite loyal to Mowgli, was very protective towards him and gave him many great advises. But in the film and following appearances, Kaa is a threat to Mowgli's life.
- The reason Kaa is depicted as an antagonist in the 1967 film is because Walt Disney believed the audience would not respond positively to a heroic snake.
- There was, however, a villainous snake in the books. When Kaa and Mowgli investigate the treasure-filled catacombs beneath the ancient ruins, they encounter a cobra named Thuu (also known as Whitehood in some versions), the self-proclaimed guardian of the treasure. Thuu attempts to kill Mowgli for taking a jeweled elephant goad but Kaa saves him.
- The 2016 film somewhat compromises the two depictions by initially portraying her as seemingly friendly, and in fact providing exposition, before revealing her to still be villainous.
- The reason Kaa is depicted as an antagonist in the 1967 film is because Walt Disney believed the audience would not respond positively to a heroic snake.
- In the books, Kaa and Mowgli have a deeper relationship. Initially, Kaa cared nothing about Mowgli and only saved him from the bandar-log because Bagheera lied to him that they insulted the python. However, once he meets Mowgli for the first time, the latter shows his gratitude for saving him. Kaa is surprised by his fearless attitude and begins to respect him for that. Later on when Mowgli returns to the jungle after destroying the man-village, he lives with Kaa until his exile from the wolf pack is over, allowing the two to bond and develop a brotherly relationship. While in the Disney versions, Kaa sees Mowgli as nothing more than a meal and Mowgli finds Kaa very annoying.
- In the book, Kaa was able to hypnotize via dancing known as "The Hunger Dance". Whereas in the Disney films, he does so via colorful spirals in his eyes. But in the book, humans are immune to Kaa's hypnosis due to the complexity of the human mindset while in the films his hypnotic powers appear to work on anyone who looks directly into his eyes. However, individuals with a strong mind, such as Mowgli and Shere Khan were able to resist the hypnosis.
- Both Kipling's and Disney's versions of Kaa like to tease Mowgli. However, in the books, Kaa uses his coils to mess with Mowgli in a mischievous but friendly manner. While in the Disney version he gloats over Mowgli's helplessness as he is hypnotized.
- Kaa's length is inconsistent in the Disney films, whereas in the books he was approximately 30 feet long (9 meters).
Gallery
Trivia
- Originally, Kaa was not going to be a villain in the 1967 animated film. Wolfgang Reitherman suggested that they should give that role to Tabaqui (Shere Khan's henchman from the books). However, Walt Disney turned down that idea as he wanted to refrain from using canine antagonists so shortly after releasing The Sword in the Stone.
- Terry-Thomas was considered to voice Kaa. Interestingly, Terry-Thomas would later voice a snake character named Sir Hiss in Disney's Robin Hood six years later.
- Parley Baer, Jonathan Winters, Walter Matthau, Mel Brooks and Kirk Douglas were all considered to voice Kaa.
- The scene where Kaa coils around Mowgli and pulls him up to his tree is reminiscent of a moment in the books, where Kaa traps Mowgli in his coils after mistaking him for a prey and pulls him closer (though he releases him once he realized his error).
- In the books and movies, Kaa is depicted as being an Indian Rock Python (Python molurus), a species that usually grows to 3 meters (9.8 feet). Kaa, however, is closer to 9 meters (30 feet long), much larger than normal for his species. The only snakes capable of reaching such sizes, in reality, are green anacondas and reticulated pythons, both of which can grow to such lengths and weigh from 200-500 lb.
- Kaa means "possession" in Hindi.
- Kaa is the second character who was originally voiced by Sterling Holloway and later taken over by Jim Cummings, the first being Winnie the Pooh.
- Although Kaa is colored golden yellow in the original film and all of his other animated appearances, in The Jungle Book 2, however, he was a shade of green.
- Kaa was seen in concept art for the attraction Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom over at Walt Disney World, but did not appear in the finished project.
- During one of the attempts at the classic musical number "The Bare Necessities" from the second film, two prickly pears land on Kaa's head and one tiny pear on his nose, making him look like Mickey Mouse. This could possibly be an example of a Hidden Mickey.
- Sir Hiss of the 1973 Robin Hood film is heavily based on (and is often confused with) Kaa, having both similar head design and hypnotic powers.
- Though Kaa was not one of the ringleader villains in Mickey's House of Villains, he is featured on the cover of the DVD and VHS. However, he does assist in kicking Mickey and Minnie out of the club.
- Kaa is the only Disney villain voiced by Sterling Holloway. The other Disney characters Holloway voiced were protagonists (or anti-heroes, as with the Cheshire Cat).
- Even though Kaa wants to eat Mowgli in the films, real-life pythons do not usually view humans as a part of their food chain or prey and usually do not attack humans unless threatened or provoked. Moreover, real Indian rock pythons have never been recorded attempting to eat a human; only the closely related reticulated python, African rock python, and the green anaconda are known to have eaten humans.
- There was a similar case of a python attempting to eat a young boy like in the original film in real life, where in South Africa in 2002, a 10-year-old boy got swallowed whole by a six-metre-long (20 ft) African rock python, even though that case was empirically observed and recorded but was not entirely confirmed.[1]
- In the second level of the Little Einsteins online game "Quincy and the Magic Instruments", the saxophone changes into a snake resembling Kaa while the band plays.
- The decision to make Kaa a female in the 2016 film was due to the need for gender diversity within the primarily male-driven cast of the 1967 animated film.[2]
- A piece of concept art from the 2016 film shows Bagheera and Baloo coming to Kaa for help to find Mowgli.
See also
References
External links
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