A vicious Bengal tiger, an Indian boy, and a lot of CGI. Sounds like the sequel to “Life of Pi” (2012). I’m so funny like that. Anyway, Jon Favreau directed this wonderful and joyful adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s classic novel for the big screen. I was very pleased with what Disney was able to do with this film by taking the 1967 animated version and give it a modern take with 21st century technology. Even the voice acting is spot on. Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba, and Christopher Walken all lend their voices to give the animals feeling and personality.
The main focus of the film is the visual effects. I’m still awed how Favreau and his production team were able to take CGI and incorporate it into animals, trees, water, fire, and dust in the air. Every scene I saw made me forget I was watching CGI! The only thing in this movie that’s real is Neel Sethi as the boy Mowgli. So I guess this doesn’t count as a ‘true’ live action film. The actual live action “The Jungle Book” film that I hold dear is Stephen Sommers’ 1994 version, and it’s my favorite out of all of them.
It’s a simple film and that’s okay. Mowgli gets raised by wolves, a tiger named Shere Khan wants to kill Mowgli, and Mowgli and the animals join forces to defeat Shere Khan. Simplicity is never a bad thing in a movie, unless it dumbs it down to the point where my intellegence is insulted. “Lost in Space” (1998) comes to mind. Fortunately, this one didn’t do that. I laughed when I needed to, cried at the right moments, and was entertained throughout the entire movie. Mission accomplished. Now if Mowgli and Shere Khan had ended up on a boat together out in the middle of the Pacific, then we’d have something.
Neel Sethi in “The Jungle Book”
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