THE JUNGLE BOOK - review

THE JUNGLE BOOK
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Gary Shandling

Synopsis: A young boy abandoned in the forest is taken to a wolf pack by a sympathetic panther, who adopt him and raise him as his own. The appearance of a villainous tiger named Shere Khan forces Mowgli's guardian, the panther Bagheera to shepherd the child to safety in the "man village". Along the way, the boy meets an affable, lazy bear named Baloo, as well as a snake with hypnotic powers and an orangutan who wants to harness the power of fire. Mowgli learns some valuable life lessons along the way with his guardian Bagheera, his friend Baloo and his animal family. 

Hark, it is I, the Blonde Bombshell, queen of all things Disney, including my tattoos, and I'm here to tell you to forget about your worries and your strife, Jon Favreau has created a magical live action world that does justice to this much loved animated Disney classic. I'm not going to wait until the end to tell you this, THE JUNGLE BOOK deserves to be seen at the cinema on the big screen and you should bloody well fork out that 20-something dollars and see it. I've heard it's pretty good in 3D if you're into that sort of thing. I'm not, it gives me a rotten headache and makes me nauseated, but if you're into it, then hand over the extra 5-er for 3D.

This magical world created almost entirely with computers is so lush and realistic that it sucks you in and makes you believe you're really in the jungle. Fascinating work by Favreau, truly fascinating. I had some major concerns as I do with any re-telling of a classic Disney feature, and this is the third one that's come to our screens following MALEFICENT and CINDERELLA, and Disney aren't stopping there with BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, DUMBO and MULAN coming just to name a few. But most of my concerns were allayed pretty quickly. Favreau does a great job with the story and even throws in a bit of LION KING-esque drama for good measure.

Raksha and Mowgli saying good bye

Image via Disney 

If you've seen the animated version, or read Kipling's book, you know the tale of the young man-cub Mowgli abandoned in the jungle, rescued by Bagheera the panther (Sir Ben Kingsley), adopted by wolves (Lupita Nyong'o and Giancarlo Esposito), chased by vengeful tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), flees to the man village before realising with the help of Baloo the bear (Bill Murray) the jungle is his home and he must protect both it and his family. The jungle is fraught with dangers of course like a hypnotising snake Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) and an orangutan named King Louie (Christopher Walken) who wants the power of fire. So on and so forth until they all lived happily ever after.

The CGI in this film is pretty bloody breathtaking. It was a big ask to create a whole series of animals that we are all pretty familiar with and make them look realistic and make us believe that we really are in the jungle with the animals. I think Favreau and his team have done a pretty marvellous job with it. I've seen some great clips on how the green screening and CGI-ing and everything else was done, and it's a pretty cool process. The only thing I took issue with was Baloo, who wasn't as well crafted as some of the other animals, and King Louie, who was an unrealistic size for an orangutan. I work in a zoo with animals, and I've seen orangutan close up, and it was kinda out scale. In fact, even a week after seeing the film it still really annoys me, but no matter, he still looked bloody cool and Chrispher Walken as his voice was fantastic!

This is the closest we have come to getting a live action Disney musical, and I think that's partly because there would have been riots in the streets had "The Bear Necessities" not been included. Unfortuantely, they didn't quite make it work, That scene was really organic and the music came quite naturally, but "I Wana Be Like You" by King Louie was really awkward. There just wasn't the sense that the characters would just burst into song at any moment and that particular set of scenes was quite dark and the music made it really weird. Walken and Murray both did spectacular jobs with their songs, and I'm glad they happened, but I think Favreau could have done a better job at making them fit in the film, and in fact making the whole film a bit more musical.

Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo and Raksha prepare to battle it out with Shere Khan

Image via Disney

Overall, I think the biggest let down of this film for the general movie-goer is that they've seen it all before. Favreau's THE JUNGLE BOOK, does have a few extra plot points that the original animated film, however it's very much same-same and I think that could be problematic for some viewers. Not for me becuase I'm a purist, and I love Disney and I don't care that I've seen it 78 million times before, I still love it. I truly believe that you should see this on the big screen because they have really done something incredible with CGI here and I think it sets a benchmark for this kind of CGI work. Also, I really liked it and I don't think it will look quite so incredible on your TV screen or iPad or whatever technological device you use to view things at home. The film is shot beautifully and I think it takes you away into the world of Mowgli, Bagheera, Baloo and Shere Khan and I don't think it matters that you know what's coming next, because you're so absorbed you don't even realise.

3.7  out of 5
Xoxo
The Blonde Bombshell