"I am Mowgli of the Seoni, and this is my home!"
Filmology Rating: 3.2 out of 4
Jon Favreau’s adaption of Disney’s animation classic The Jungle Book may well be considered one of their best live action adaptions. The Jungle Book features not only a stellar voice cast, but also some of the best CGI that I have seen in any film to date. In terms of sheer visuals, The Jungle Book stands high above the competition.
The plot of Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book retains a great deal of the animated classic, but it does mix up the plot in notable ways. We still have a young man cub (boy) named Mowgli who is trying to find his place in the jungle after being raised by a panther name Bagheera and adopted by a pack of wolves. Mowgli is forced to flee his home after a tiger by the name of Shere Khan learns of his existence. Shere Khan has been burned by man’s red flower (fire) and seeks revenge through killing Mowgli. As Mowgli flees he meets a colorful cast of animals ranging from a snake named Kaa, an orangutan named King Louie, and a lovable bear named Baloo. The films moves along at a steady pace until the eventual confrontation between Shere Khan and Mowgli.
Of particular note in The Jungle Book is the excellent quality of the voice cast. A wide range of acting tend lend their voices to The Jungle Book to really help it come alive. Whether it be Ben Kingley as Bagheera, Idris Alba as Shere Khan, or Bill Murray as Baloo, all of these actors turn in excellent vocal performances. Although these three actors are perhaps the most important, we also receive excellent performances by the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, and Christopher Walken. While the voice work is excellent, the first time child actor Neel Sethi turns in a great performance. Even though there are moments where the green screen acting is apparent, Neel Sethi really captures the character of Mowgli as a whole.
One drastic change to this adaption of The Jungle Book is both the tone and plot of the film. With this adaption we are presented with darker storylines and characters that are far more menacing than their counterparts. These small changes gave the film a greater sense of weight and emotion when compared against the 1967 original. It is surprising that even with the inclusion of a darker tone the film still maintains its humor throughout. My only gripes for the film revolve around how it seems to rush near the end. Certain scenes lead me to believe that there may have been extra scenes in the last act that provided a smoother transition to the climax of the film.
Jon Favreau’s adaption of The Jungle Book stands tall. By combining a stellar voice cast, state of the art CGI, and a more mature story, Favreau has given us a film as beautiful as it is bold.
Rating: See It
-Tyler
Deep in the jungles of India unfolds the story of the man-cub Mowgli, played by first time actor Neel Sethi, who must learn what it takes to be a man in the jungle living without fear. On Mowgli’s journey he encounters Kaa the python, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, Baloo the bear, voiced by Bill Murray, and Louie a gigantopithecus, voiced by Christopher Walken. Mowgli’s journey won’t be easy, however, with the tiger Shere Khan, voiced by Idris Elba, hunting him. The film features breathtaking computer generated images of the creatures of the jungle, provided by Moving Picture Company and Weta Digital, a lively score by John Debney, and thrilling cinematography by Bill Pope. Needless to say, The Jungle Book is a marvel of a film.
However, every marvel has some dirt on it. Director Jon Favreau brings a sense of adventure and fright to his telling of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. For me the tone of the film is inconsistent; one moment you hear Louie, voiced by Christopher Walker, singing “I Wanna Be Like You” and then he tries to kill Mowgli. While I understand the motivation for Louie wanting to kill Mowgli, I just find it odd that we need to have a musical number in the film for no other reason than to reference the 1967 animated film. If Favreau and Justin Marks wanted to remind the audiences of the 1967 film, they should have done what they did for most of the film and focus on music cues and visual homages to the animated film. To have two musical numbers in the film comes close to derailing a fantastic drama and makes me wonder if the projectionist changed films on our audience.
Sadly I feel that we need to talk about the main performance of the film given by Neel Sethi. While I cannot say his performance is terrible, it doesn’t feel organic. At times during the film it feels that his line readings are like he is acting against nothing, which he was. Sethi’s task for the film isn’t easy he needs to act against creatures and settings that don’t actually exist which would be a tough challenge for any actor let alone a first time actor. When Mowgli makes his declaration during the third act of the film you feel the truth in his performance, you believe every word in which he declares.
While the film has some tonal problems and the lead performance isn’t outstanding, the film does show us a world that many have only dreamed of: a photo-realistic world where animals interact with each other in ways we have never seen before. We entered the jungles of India and I cannot wait to go back to see what other strange tales are told.
Rating: See It
-Jonny G
The Jungle Book…. Everyone knows about the Jungle Book. This was a movie that I grew up watching as a little kid and it was one of my favorites (The 1967 animated movies). When I heard that they were making another remake of the movie, I was both excited and nervous because not all remakes are worthy of the original. This is NOT the case when it comes to this movie. This adaption of The Jungle Book not only did the original justice, but it improved on it.
The CGI in this movie was probably the best that I have ever seen and I mean that in all seriousness. I was completely blown away by how real everything looked. None of the animals or the locations you see in the film are real because the entire movie was shot in Atlanta. They took photos and videos of real locations and then adapted it to fit the image. Everything you see from the grass to the trees to the animals big and small were all CGI…. Really the only things that were real were some small location scenes with man-made objects. Now normally I am not a huge fan of CGI. I am in favor of using practical effects and creating set features to use in the film. I think that it gives the movie a more realistic and practical effect. In my opinion, CGI should be used sparingly and only when you have to. However, after seeing how spectacular everything looked, my opinion might be starting to change. The Jungle Book has started a new era of CGI; an era where you really can bring anything to life and make it look completely lifelike. Each frame of Baloo took over 5 hrs. to master. The dedication to making each animal look, move, and act like real animals was mind blowing.
Adding to how lifelike these animals were, the voice actors brought these characters to life in spectacular fashion. Some of these amazing actors were Bill Murray (as Baloo), Ben Kingsley (as Bagheera), Idris Elba (as Shere Khan), Lupita Nyong'o (as Raksha), Scarlett Johansson (as Kaa), and Christopher Walken (as King Louie). These people brought these characters so much depth and personality. Bill Murray was the perfect choice for Baloo and he will have you laughing and falling in love with the character all over again. Another fantastic choice was giving Idris Elba the roll of Shere Khan. He gave him such a dynamic and intimating voice and it was awesome. Each character in the movie seemed to have a perfectly fitting voice for how each character looked and acted in the film. That just goes to show how well this movie was put together.
With all honesty, there are really on a couple of very small issues here and there but nothing that amount to anything serious. This to date is the best adaptation to the movie and like I said, I even think it improves on this original movie. I absolutely loved this movie and it brought back all the awesome childhood memories of when I watched the original. This movie is a must see!
Rating: See It
-Nick