The Jungle Book (2016) – Review

If there is one thing which is usually worse than the original, it’s the remake. I often steer clear of them (My Sassy Girl, Old Boy, The Thing), but there are times when my curiosity wins (or loses depending how you look at it) from my instinct (Point Break). During the last couple of years Disney has started remaking their animated classics in the form of live action movies and many are already planned for the coming years (including Dumbo, Pinocchiio, Beauty and the Beast and Mulan). Movies like Alice in Wonderland and Cinderella proved that these movies can be pretty good and now there is The Jungle Book. I can still remember seeing the original cartoon and the songs of that movie I never forgot. Does director Jon Favreau (Chef, Iron Man) succeed in bringing the story to an environment which isn’t drawn?

If you are unaware of the story, it is about a boy called Mowgli (Neel Sethi) who was found in the jungle by the animals and raised by wolves. Tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), because of his past experience with humans, sees him as a huge threat and is willing to do anything to get rid of him. Together with panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and bear Baloo (Bill Murray) he starts to travel back to the human village and during that journey he learns a lot about himself and others.

 With its transition from animated movie to “live action” version its tone has become a bit darker. This means the movie might be a bit too scary for the youngest viewers, but Favreau again proves that he has a good sense about how to make a quality film. He has borrowed a couple of elements from the original (including the two best-known songs) and given his own spin to it.

When watching this movie you might not notice it initially, but almost everything you see on the screen, expect Mowgli and some plants are all generated digitally. The effects are so convincing that you regularly wonder if Favreau might have travelled to South America and didn’t tell anyone. The talking animals are brought to life realistically (except the fact that they are talking of course). The weakest thing about the movie to me was actually Neel Sethi, who didn’t manage to convince me, but maybe the expectations I have of young actors after seeing Room have become too high. I just didn´t see enough emotion in his role. Still, The Jungle Book is an amazing film and if Disney manages to reach the same level with its other remakes I can´t wait to watch them.