The Jungle Book

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The Jungle Book is a live-action remake of the animated Disney classic. The movie centers on man cub Mowgli (newcomer Seth Neeli) who was raised by wolves. He struggles to fit in with other animals, and is forced to flee upon the return of Shere Khan (voiced with awesome menace by the great Idris Elba). The Jungle Book is visually stunning. Director Jon Favreau shot this movie on a set in Los Angeles, but the jungle set in this movie looks incredibly real. The same could also be said of the animals. They are unbelievably realistic. The voice cast in this movie is fantastic. None of the movie’s voice actors feel out of place or miscast. I’ve already talked about Idris Elba as the film’s villain, Shere Khan, who is a fantastic villain. Bill Murray plays Baloo with the right level of comedic timing needed to be convincing. Scarlett Johansson voices the snake called Kaa with just the right amount of seductive and sinister. Ben Kingsley provides the panther Bagheera with the perfect amount of wordly wisdom. I wasn’t as sold on Seth Neeli as Mowgli. I am aware that this is the young actor’s first movie, so I do believe there is room for him to grow as performer. With this movie, Neeli pretty much has to act opposite CGI characters. This is a difficult task even for the most seasoned of performers. The animal fights that appear occasionally throughout the movie actually do have a level of intensity to them I wasn’t expecting going into this movie. Overall, despite the shortcomings of the film’s lead performer, The Jungle Book was still a really damn good fantasy adventure movie that I really do recommend giving a look. Who knows? You might be surprised by what you see.

8 / 10