Review – The Jungle Book

Jon Favreau’s live-action version of The Jungle Book had my jaw on the floor for the entire 105 minute run time.  This movie is spectacular in every way.  The visuals are astoundingly beautiful with great use of 3-D, the action is exciting, and the story is better and darker than the original animated film, yet still keeps the films spirit perfectly.

Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub living amongst the wolves, tries to flee the jungle after a threat from the fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba).  With the help of a panther named Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) and a bear named Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray), Mowgli goes on a journey of self-discovery while also running into other animals who may not be so welcoming to a human in the jungle.

Great voice work from everyone in the cast.  Kingsley gives a calming intelligence to Bagheera.  Murray is hilarious and sweet as the goofy, caring Baloo.  Idris Elba was my personal favorite as his deep, powerful, verocious voice is perfect for the most feared animal in the jungle.  Scarlett Johansson lends her sultry voice as the hypnotic snake Kaa.  Giancarlo Esposito and Lupita Nyong’O are excellent as Mowgli’s wolf parents Akela and Raksha.  And Christopher Walken is surprisingly funny and intimidating as the mafia-esque kingpin of all the monkeys, Louie.  And kudos to Sethi as Mowgli.  The kid has never acted before in his life and he has to carry this movie by pretending to talk to animals on a green-screen.  Very impressive for someone so young with no experienced

The visuals in this movie are some of the best you will ever see.  This is a living and breathing painting.  The jungle is incredibly detailed with bright colors and amazing settings and the animals look as real as movie animals get, with a keen detail to everything from their fur to specific stripes or spots.  You forget you’re looking at CGI sometimes, it’s that realistic.  The 3-D makes everything pop and is perfectly used.  Shell out the money and see this in 3-D on the biggest screen you can because this is as visually amazing as Avatar (2009) and Gravity (2013).

This is Jon Favreau’s best movie as a director, and that’s saying a lot since he created one of the greatest comic book movies of all-time with Iron Man (2008).  Aside from the great visuals, Favreau gave this movie a lot of heart and emotion.  We see stories that weren’t touched in the 1967 original film, like the Mowgli’s journey for identity and Sheer Khan’s backstory.  It gave the movie layers that it never had before.  The tone of this movie is also a lot darker than the original, with some jump worthy startles and pretty violent but exciting and expertly crafted fight scenes.  It isn’t too dark though, and that’s the best part of this film.  Favreau still keeps the movie relatively light and fun and really captures the spirit of the original.  And they actually sing two of the original songs from the original movie.  There is nothing better than hearing Bill Murray sing “The Bare Necessities” and Christopher Walken sing the swing-dance inducing “I Wanna Be Like You”.  Favreau does a perfect job of balancing the light with the dark to make this perfect for kids and adults.

The Jungle Book is Disney’s fourth film in their recent live-action adaptations and it is by far their best.  This movie is an absolute stunner.  The visuals are beautiful, the story is deep, the action is excellent, and the tone is the perfect mixture of light and dark.  I absolutely loved this movie and, like I said above, shell out the extra money to see it in 3-D and on the biggest screen possible.  You won’t be disappointed.

MY RATING – 4/4

Did you see The Jungle Book?  What did you think?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.