Kaa (Disney Animated)

Kaa in Disney's animated universe is based on the character in Rudyard Kippling's The Jungle Book. This Kaa made his first appearance in Disney's The Jungle Book. Kaa differs from his source material in regards to being a secondary antagonist as opposed to a (initailly reluctant) protagonist. The prequel TV series 'Jungle Cubs' portayed Kaa as one of the protagonist until season 3 when he began to transition into an antagonistic role. Kaa likes liesure, food, and company (of which he tends to make both food and leisure out of in his adulthood). He's cowardly and easily intemidated by those he can not control with the power to hypnotise giving him a sense of security as the jungle frieghtened him in his youth.

Jungle Cubs
Jungle Cubs is a prequel to Disney's The Jungle Book and has Kaa as a cowardly protagonist and friend of Baloo, Bagheera, Shere Khan, Colonel Hathi, and King Louie which makes him closer to his novelized source where Kaa, Baloo, and Bagheera where together guardians of the jungle. Kaa is very young, and his talent in hypnosis improves as he gets older. He and his friends face many dangers in the jungle but as they mature they begin to grow appart setting the stage for events in the feature film. They begin to focus on thier adult lives with Kaa perfecting his hypnotism after years of study and like Bagheera and Shere Khan begining to focus more on hunting. In a slight node to the novel Shere Khan intemidates his old and increasingly lazy friend Kaa to join in an attempt to overthrow King Louie. Kaa going into adulthood would maintain such a relationship of being intemidated by Shere Khan.

The Jungle Book
According to Jungle Cubs: Born to be Wild (a DVD special) Bagheera and Baloo visited Kaa shortly after setting off with Mowgli.They had not associated with Kaa much since their youth and sought his aid. When Baloo caught Kaa trying to eat Mowgli while the boy slept Baloo threw Kaa into a gorge which he eventaully slithered out of before again finding the 'man cub' and trying to eat him in what was seen in the film. Kaa is shown to still be intemidated by Shere Khan. However Kaa shows that he is not Shere Khan's henchman- he expresses dislike for Shere Khan on the basis that Kaa wants to eat Mowgli for simple reasons of predation while Shere Khan seeks to kill Mowgli for reasons Kaa finds immoral- that being revenge.

The Jungle Book 2
Kaa again tries to eat Mowgli but this time makes mistake after mistake and meets mishap after mishap before giving up saying he never wants to see another 'man cub' again. However, upon seeing Shanti- who has gone out looking for Mowgli, he changes his mind and after gaining a bit of her trust by stating that he knows where Mowgli is begins to use his hypnotism on her assuring her that she'll need to sleep well for the journey ahead. A local boy, Ranjan sees what Kaa is up to as Kaa opens his maw to consume the young girl. Ranjan knocks the serpent out saving Shanti and sending the snake down a cliffside. Kaa latter encounters Shere Khan who  upon hearing Kaa mention 'man cub' comes to believe that Kaa knows where Mowgli is. Kaa does not at this point know but to save his skin lies misleading Shere Khan to the swamp.

The House of Mouse
Kaa made a few appearances in the House of Mouse, sometimes trying to eat one the guests if his table didn't recieve food swiftly after an order and always being caught. His major role was when he joined Jafar in taking over the House of Mouse and tried this hypnotism on Minnie only to be foiled by Mickey. He fought along side Jafar against Mickey before being driven from the club by Mickey and the rest of the protagonist characters.

Garden of the Twelve Friends
Kaa at least in the Shangai Disneyland and Disney California Adventures has apparently evolved a bit form his last appearance in The House of Mouse. The Garden of Twelve Friends is based on the Chinese Zodiac with Kaa representing the Snake. In this appearance he has a bit of his childhood smile back and a more open less deceptive pose with implication that he has a friendship with characters such as Mushu the Dragon from Mulan which he is closest to of the twelve. He difficult relationships with Tigger, Thumper, and the Jolly Holiday Sheep.

Personality
Kaa is mostly known for his soothing voice, laidback nature, and desire to feed though there is a bit more to his character. Kaa's decietful but also cowardly- hypnotism is his way of having control over a situation in a chaotic jungle and when he can't obtain such control he becomes meek. He disagrees with why Shere Khan wants to kill Mowgli but is not going to stop Shere Khan from doing so prefering not to gain the wraith of the tiger. Kaa's more personal though adolecent self is explored more in the Jungle Cubs where he's not a secondary antagonist and thus his negative side is not as promenently shown. A lot of his insecurities such as being underappreciated are made apparent. Kaa is like Bagheera and Shere Khan a predatory but has taken a path towards that role that neither of his former friends have. Bagheera has a certain humility and selectiveness to his hunting while Shere Khan is more chaotic and hauty. Kaa sees what he does as something that shouldn't be made a bit deal out of, he is what he is and eats who ever he chooses to when ever he must feed. He prefers prey to come to him as part of his laziness, but will pursue prey he feels entitled to such as that which escapes him. Primarily as such is an example of having lost control and such threatens his sense of security. He isn't cruel the way Shere Khan is when it comes to prey. Kaa prefers putting his prey at ease to avoid a struggle and allow them to perish not in fear or panic but peacefully. He doesn't agree with Shere Khan hunting for sport, but also feels that Bagheera is being too selective.

Source Material Differences
Kaa was changed to an antagonist in Disney's The Jungle Book as it was hard to imagine a snake being a protagonist. Ironically Kaa has become one of the most popular characters from that film. Of Diseny's animated productions Jungle Cubs has the version of Kaa that is most akin to how the character is the books. Kaa in the novels not only protected Mowgli, and mentoried him, but also formed something of a brotherly relationship with the boy. Though this was not how the relationship started. Kaa only saved Mowgli from King Louie because Bagheera told Kaa that the monkey's had insulted Kaa. Kaa did not appreciate being decieved like that and the Mowgli approached to thank Kaa for his assistance. Kaa was still feeing a bit spiteful over being decieved and thus let Mowgli know that he had intended to eat Mowgli before Bagheera came to him. Regardless of this initial relationship Kaa came to appreciate the respect Mowgli showed the snake. While Kaa was one of the Guardians of the Jungle he was not the most approached or appreciated. There is a moment in the books where Kaa mistakens Mowgli for prey and upon realizing the error releases him. Kaa in the novels hypnotises by dancing while in the Disney's animated universe his eyes change colors.