Review 380: The Jungle Book (2016)

The Jungle Book is an excellent adventure film and perfectly updates Disney's original animated classic to the big screen.

Drawing inspiration from Rudyard Kipling's classic stories as well as the original animated classic.
In the jungles of Seoni, Madhya Pradesh, India, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is a "man-cub" who's been raised by a family of wolves led by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) & Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o) since he was a baby. But Mowgli soon finds that he is no longer welcome in the Jungle when the fearsome tiger Shere Kahn (Idris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat. Urged to abandon the only home he's ever known, Mowgli embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery guided by panther-mentor Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and free-spirited bear Baloo (Bill Murray). Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don't exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a python whose seductive voice and gaze hypnotises the man-cub and the smooth-talking King Louie (Christopher Walken) who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: Fire.

The plot is a wonderful blend of elements from both the original animated classic and Rudyard Kipling's original works, resulting in film that remains faithful to the classic Disney film we know and love while also adding a modern sense of scope and visual wonder.

From a story perspective, The Jungle Book is still the coming of age story of Mowgli, but also expands on it with the help of some Disney creativity.
Muck like the original animated classic, The Jungle Book is a coming-of-age tale centred around Mowgli

Visually, Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book is visual feast for the eyes, the entire film is shot on Blue Screen sound stages and it shows but I mean that in all the best ways. Favreau makes simply inspired use of CGI to create an immersive, beautifully, maticulously detailed world as well as photo real animal animation to realistically bring all sorts of Jungle animals to life including Black panthers, Sloth bears, Gigantopithecus, Elephants, Monkeys & white wolves.

Director Jon Favreau's direction is both precise and sensitive, lighting the screen with amazingly crafted visuals. The cinematography is gorgeous and captures the wild beauty Indian Jungle, the score by John Debney is brilliant, the scenery is breathtaking, the locations are simply beautiful, the make up is rich, the production design (recreating the Indian Jungle) is fantastic, the action scenes are tense, sharply shot and exciting and the ending is equal parts poignant as well as emotionally satisfying.

It's also a triumph for the acting, Newcomer Neel Sethi

Elsewhere he's surrounded by a cast of colourfully animated characters played by some terrific actors who are superbly cast in their respective roles and bring out the personalties of each of their respectively characters with

Bill Murray

Ben Kingsley

Idris Elba is sublime and brilliantly menacing villain as Shere Khan. In this film,

Lupita Nyong'o

Giancarlo Esposito

Though her screentime is limited, Scarlett Johansson is appropriately sultry and seductive as Kaa.

Christopher Walken is also extremely enjoyable as King Louis, bringing his classic Christopher Walken villain persona & considerable charm to the character in an almost self aware fashion.

Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book is The Bare Necessities of Life, 4.5/5.

The Anonymous Critic.