After a threat from the tiger Shere Khan, man-cub Mowgli flees the jungle for his protection. On his journey throughout the jungle, he meets new friends, but also meets others who don’t have his best interests at heart.

My thoughts on the film

Can you believe the original Jungle Book most of us fell in love with was released in 1967? Crazy. It’s to no surprise that there have been numerous remakes of The Jungle Book since then, so it doesn’t hurt to make another one, right? I’ll be completely honest. When I was sitting in the theatre I was thinking, “I can’t believe I’m missing playoff hockey right now for a film that I wasn’t really that excited for.” But, I can tell you now, boy was I glad I watched it. Directed by Jon Favreau, who is known for also directing Iron Man and Iron Man 2, The Jungle Book is everything you could’ve imagined and wished for. I’m sure there’s some of you who aren’t too fond of an entire film being done in CGI, but once you watch The Jungle Book, you will be amazed at how well the visual effects look. To give you an idea, it was windy in one of the scenes and you could see the fur on the animals actually move. In another scene, it was raining and you could see the rain drops on the animals and then see the rain drops actually fall to the ground off the animals. It was phenomenal.

Yes, there are a few different things from the original film that some people might not like. For example, Kaa the Snake, who has always been known as a male, is a female in this version, voiced by Scarlett Johansson. The reason behind it? Jon Favreau said there’s just too many males in the original film. So, that’s fair, right?

Disney has always been great with telling stories in their films, but if you go in depth with their storylines, they always have a message or two that really drive home and that’s exactly what they did with The Jungle Book. The storyline flows well and there’s never a part in the film where you get bored. The voice cast was great, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera and good ol’ Christopher Walken as King Louie. By far, Christopher Walken was the best of them all. Lastly, I wanted to mention Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli. For 12 years old, he is simply amazing in this film. I couldn’t imagine being that age and basically trying to act with a green screen surrounding you. He really took it to the next level and really gave it his all.

Think of it this way. Have you ever done such a good job, whether it was at work or helping someone out, that you were extremely proud of yourself? Well, I’m 100% sure that’s how Jon Favreau feels about The Jungle Book.

Rating 5/5

Leave all your doubts at the door, The Jungle Book is a fantastic film from beginning to end.

The Jungle Book is now in theatres.

Chris Vales
I'm an Assistant Merchandise Manager at Best Buy’s head office, but if there’s one thing that I love to talk and write about, it’s movies and television. You can find more articles on my website www.ScreenThis.ca .

1 COMMENT

  1. I’ve heard this is really good from friends who saw it over the weekend. Some parts might be a little scary for younger kids, but all in all, nothing but great reviews!

     

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