Of all the films Disney has dug out of its classics collection closet for the live-action reboot treatment, "The Jungle Book" is by far the most likely to cause the studio worries and strife — as Baloo the Bear might chime.

Both Rudyard Kipling's original book, which was written from a British colonialist perspective, and Disney's own animated adaptation have long been slammed for having racist overtones. If the studio hopes to overcome these perceptions and offer up a 21st century-friendly rendition this go-round, it'll take a whole lot more work than just punching up the old material with snazzy costumes and new-age visual effects.

"One of the main reasons that 'The Jungle Book' needs to be rebooted is to fix the things that became controversial not long after it was released in 1967," Robert Thompson, pop culture expert and media professor at Syracuse University, tells Yahoo Movies.

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By giving the green light to the new incarnation, hiring Jon Favreau to direct, and tapping a diverse group of A-listers to star – recent Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o ("12 Years a Slave") and Scarlett Johansson ("Avengers: Age of Ultron") are in talks to join Idris Elba ("Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom") on the developing cast list – Thompson suspects Disney is up to the task and must believe the material "is salvageable."

So, what are some of the "Bare Necessities" of a "Jungle Book" overhaul?

"The first Disney 'Jungle Book' was based on Kipling; the next one will be based on the movie, so it'll be another generation removed from Kipling, which will help," Thompson says.

Stepping away from Kipling's imperialist vision is, however, just the beginning, especially since it was one of the House of Mouse's own story concoctions which caused the most discontent over their first adaptation.

The cartoon's King Louie (which did not stem from the pages of Kipling's original) was a jazzy ape whose language skills were considered much less refined than those of the film's other animals and who sang "I Wanna Be Like You" to the orphaned human boy Mowgli. The character is widely panned as exemplifying "negative racial stereotyping" and connoting inequality between African-Americans and Caucasians.

While filmmakers initially tried to sidestep perceptions of racism with King Louie by casting an Italian-American singer (Louis Prima) in the role rather than Louis Armstrong, whom the part was originally written for, the character still strongly violated the ethos of social progress.

"King Louie was going to be a problem either way," opines Thompson. "The original choice would have been offensive – Louis Armstrong animated as an ape. The choice they went with had a minstrel show feel to it, also offensive."

[Related: 7 Things You Might Not Know About 'The Jungle Book']

Simply whitewash-casting the unfortunately caricaturish character wasn't nearly enough to mask the inherent problems with King Louie the first time around, and it certainly will not work for Disney's renewal. Instead, there'll need to be some fundamental adjustments made – though experts caution against a complete disavowal of the banana-loving primate.

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