The Jungle Book (2016)

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Official movie description:

"In this reimagining of the classic collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling, director Jon Favreau uses visually stunning CGI to create the community of animals surrounding Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a human boy adopted by a pack of wolves. The appearance of a villainous tiger named Shere Khan (voiced byIdris Elba) forces Mowgli's guardian, the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), to shepherd the child to safety in the "man village." Along the way, the boy meets an affable, lazy bear named Baloo (Bill Murray), as well as a snake with hypnotic powers (Scarlett Johansson) and an orangutan (Christopher Walken) who wants to harness the power of fire. Lupita Nyong'o, Giancarlo Esposito, and Garry Shandling also lend their voices to this adventure tale."


The Jungle Book is my FAVORITE summer movie of 2016 so far! What a wonderful time we live in where special effects have evolved to such an amazing state. The Jungle Book makes me believe anything is possible in the world of special effects, and it should be heralded as a movie that is bringing in a new chapter in cinematic special effects. One of the most wonderful things about the special effects is that they do NOT get in the way of the wonderful story.

 Recently, on a trip to Disney World, I watched the original Jungle Book on my phone on the flight to Orlando. I hadn't seen it in years, and was reminded how charming, beautiful, and classic it is. While at Disney World, Hollywood Studios theme park had a special preview of the new Jungle Book movie with a 10 minute clip, and a special introduction from director John Favreau. I had heard there was going to be a new Jungle Book, and had seen the trailer here on the internet. My expectations were low, because it seems like a very unusual idea to remake the Jungle Book. I mean, isn't the point of it that these cartoon characters were talking animals? Aren't they supposed to look colorful, child-like, and....well, "Disney"? Why would you make a stark, ultra-realistic jungle world with creepy talking animals that looked a little too real? 

 Then, I saw the special preview. It was a scene of Baloo and Mowgli trying to get honey. Baloo is voiced by Bill Murray. The scene was absolutely wonderful. Visually rich, and the special effects didn't look like effects at all. The scene was funny, well-written, well-paced, and full of heart. I was extremely pleasantly shocked by this.

 Fast forward a few weeks to when I actually got to see this gem. I was hoping the whole movie would live up to the one scene I had seen at Hollywood Studios. And, boy, did it! 

 The Jungle Book is emotional, beautiful, and wonderfully immersive. The theme and ideas of "belonging", feeling out of place, struggling to fight for your place in society, are all so powerful and brand new in this. It's a movie that deserves to be seen on a gigantic movie screen in all its rich detail. It's rated PG, so I would recommend it for kids about 9 and older. There is some animal fighting violence that is a bit intense and scary for kids under 9. (especially since it looks so REAL!!!) The characters are deep and fantastic. I would see this movie again in a second! 

Comments

  1. Unknown7:40 AM

    I love reading your reviews Evan!

    As for Jungle Book, I liked the movie but I can't give it the glowing review you did! I guess I still prefer the animated version. It is so charming. However, this movie definitely wasn't a bust for me! I felt for little Mowgli and rooted for him. He just had such heart and courage and little-kid spirit.

    I also agree about being really careful with small children. The King Louie chase actually scared ME a little. : )

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