(Source: Wikipedia.com)
Jungle Book Official Trailer- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mkm22yO-bs
The Jungle Book wasn't a story that I was interested in as a child. I barely remember watching the cartoon version; in fact, I remember watching its sequel more often than the first one-and that's not even canon in the original story by Rudyard Kipling written in 1894. The original Jungle Book was a collection of short stories that all correlated with the adventures of young boy, Mowgli, as he interacts with several animals in the jungle while trying to get away from the ferocious tiger, Shere Khan.
This movie follows the original well, but I noticed how it doesn't really follow the cartoon version correctly. Scenes from the cartoon such as the black panther Bagheera finding baby Mowgli in the forest were not shown in the movie-not in the same way specifically. While in the cartoon, Bagheera discovers the baby in a basket, the panther instead finds Mowgli walking towards him after his father is killed by Khan (and this was shown in a flashback). However, I know that the movie is trying to be different in terms of story-telling, and I also know that re-enacting the exact scenes from the cartoon may not be the best thing to do. So this isn't a complaint, but only an observation.
The only complaints I can give for the movie are some that I consider to be because of my own personal preferences. Again, I wasn't a big fan of the Jungle Book and could go without seeing any of its adaptions for a long time. This is the same for other animal based films and stories. Even with debatably great stories like The Tale of Desperaux (that I read as a kid) I couldn't push myself to love it that much. While I do appreciate the stories authors make, when it involves animals...ehh, It doesn't interest me.
That being said, if you're not a fan of watching animals taking the spotlight in films, then this movie isn't for you. I am sad to say that I wasn't as enthusiastic seeing this in theaters as other people were.
Despite my indifference to the Jungle Book, it is a great piece of cinematography. The animals looked realistic and their movements were accurate. The CGI effects were great and you really imagine that they are living in the forest and they are apart of the environment.
The characters were good as well, sticking true to their personalities from previous adaptions. Mowgli in particular behaved like a normal child would, even though he was raised in the wild, he still acted like a nice, annoying, stubborn, fun-loving, smart, and rebellious kid (traits that kids around his age would likely have). Mowgli's actor Neel Sethi performed decently. Sometimes his acting seemed underwhelming such as being kidnapped by King Louie's monkey minions or running off from Baloo after being told that he wasn't wanted by him anymore. I feel like his fear or anger during those scene should've been more expressed, for example, when Mowgli is being carried by the monkeys he should've sounded more frightened and scream louder or act more in a panic.
This complaint of mine is another that I believe is not too justified, because Mowgli did live in the forest all of his life, therefore he could've been carried away by animals before and thus, he's used to these random antics.
Overall, was this a good film? I believe so, it certainly isn't a lazy film. You can tell the people behind this worked very hard to show off the story of the Jungle Book to the new generation and those people who already knew the story a nostalgic ride. I can agree with movie critic websites such as Rotten Tomatoes when they rate the film a 94% in how well the movie was, calling it a, "...rare remake that actually improves upon its predecessors...".
Would I recommend you to see it? Only if you're interested in movies where majority of the characters are animals...and actually, even if you don't like animal movies, you can still see it for the amazing CGI and effects that are shown. It's a brilliant execution to a beloved story.
4/5 stars
Note: I went to the 3D version of the movie and don't think that it was necessary. There's very few moments where it looks like the things on the screen are going to hit you and they're not too impressive.
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Rotten Tomatoes 'Jungle Book' Critic- http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_jungle_book_2016/
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