Disney's The Jungle Book Movie Review (SPOILER FREE)

Disney's The Jungle Book Movie Review (SPOILER FREE)

Source: Disney

     In Disney's The Jungle Book, Jon Favreau directed an amazing masterpiece filled with magic, wonder, laughter, nostalgia, and enlightenment. Favreau captured the story and adapted it wonderfully. He executed the film the way it should have been executed since the beginning. This film is for both fans of the Disney original cartoon film and fans of the original book written by Rudyard Kipling. 

  

  In the film, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is raised by a family of wolves since his birth, but soon is forced to leave his only home he's ever known when the feared and horrific tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) arrives with his intent of revenge. He is guided by a strict but loving panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). Things go awry and Mowgli soon encounters an array of jungle animals like a slithery python named Kaa (Scarlet Johansson), a free-spirited, fun-filled, and loving bear named Baloo (Bill Murray), and a smooth-talking ape by name of King Louie (Christopher Walken). Along the way, Mowgli learns valuable life lessons on his epic journey of self-discovery, fun, and adventure.

Source: Disney

  The cast did an amazing job in capturing each and every character's personally through their voice talents. The main characters of the film are Mowgli, Baloo, Bagheera, Kaa, Shere Khan, King Louie, Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o), and Akela (Giancarlo Esposito). Each cast member did a swell job capturing the essence of the character from both the film and the book. The main lead, Sethi, did a great job on Mowgli's persona. His acting was great for a young boy who had to work with practically nothing but CGI. Kingsley's voice for Bagheera was great and the life he gave to him was wonderful. Johansson, at first when I heard of her playing Kaa, I was not optimistic about her role. I got used to Mr. Winnie the Pooh (Sterling Holloway) as the voice to Kaa; and the fact Kaa's gender was changed did not make satisfied. Her role and voice was daunting and captivating which was, I assume, Favreau's intention. She lived up to my expectations and exceed them. Murray killed it as Baloo, and gave the character more life and fun. I loved every minute of Murray on screen. Walken nailed it as King Louie, similar to Kaa, he had me nervous when I heard he was cast as Louie. I got even more nervous when I heard he was going to sing. He killed it for the minutes he was on scene. Esposito and Nyong'o did the best job in the film in regards to their voices they lend to Raksha and Akela. When I heard Lupita was going to be in this film, I knew she was going to do well and exceed my expectations. Ever since I saw The Force Awakens, and she played as Maz Kanata, I fell in love with her voice talent she has. Elba did very well on Khan, he had a strong loud voice. Favreau and Elba made me actually fear for Mowgli's life when Shere Khan was present, and the actions Khan does in the film (The actions he did in the book and not the film) made me hate him as a villain, but  love it.

 I applaud Favreau for going a certain direction with this film. The intro is a great nod to the original Disney Film, but right after that. The films goes off right from the source material. No singing Elephants and no Colonel Haiti's March. The film itself when it comes to story and plot did a great job. It kept me off my seat and filled me with surprises despite reading the book and seeing the cartoon film. The three acts in this film transition very well and the tone and theme of the movie, along with the plot, become very well established. The music and score to this film was an A+. Mr. Debney did not let me down. His score adds emotion, excitement, and adrenaline to the film. The visuals, despite being almost all CGI, were beautiful and amazing. In some films, where CGI is very heavily present, seem to be done poorly. Only one film did an amazing job, and that was Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; but, in Disney's The Jungle Book, the crew and Favreau worked hard and did a fantastic job when it came to the CGI. It did seem like Baloo was there along with Mowgli singing The Bare Necessities. 

Source: Disney

If you had to watch just a couple parts of this film, the final act, and the two music segments alone are worth the money. The cast and crew worked hard and did a fabulous job with this film. So far this movie is the BEST Disney live action film. Alice in Wonderland, Maleficent, Cinderella, and Oz the Great and Powerful missed something. The original songs of the film and the combinations of both source materials from the books and original movies. Walt Disney always gave us the gift of song. If it was not in one of his movies, it was in his theme park attractions like The Tiki Room and Haunted Mansion. Cinderella needed the mice to talk and "A Wish is your Dream your Heart Makes". Maleficent needed Maleficent to be evil and have "Once Upon a Dream" sung by Aurora. These movies face harsh criticism and scrutiny but The Jungle Book proved that even though there is a cartoon version of the film, Disney can still make it into a GREAT live action film. How? By following similar story lines from the cartoon movies and combining it with the books. The is a big key criticism many people throw out there. If they make the movie exactly the same as the cartoon, it will be predictable and no point; but, Disney proved that if a live action film is be made from a cartoon movie, as long as they add key points from both film and book, it will be a great film. 

Disney's The Jungle Book opened up a new world of possibilities for Disney and hopefully the head honchos take notes and follow the formula that will make every live action Disney film remake successful. Disney's next live action film, besides Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass, is Beauty and the Beast. This film will have the characters based on the movie, and songs from the film as well; but, it will feature stuff from the book as well. I can tell you right now that this movie will be successful as well. If that is the case then Disney should start green lighting all the upcoming movies and add songs and similar plot points from their original cartoon films.

Source: Google

With that all in mind, you must go watch Disney's The Jungle Book in theaters if you enjoyed the original film and if you enjoy a Disney movie. Disney's The Jungle Book gets 5 out of 5 stars in my book and is on my list to watch it again real soon! Good job Favreau! Good job cast and crew! They did an amazing job and this film is on my top ten Disney films! Go see for your self!

The Jungle Book is rated PG and is NOW PLAYING in theaters! 5 out of 5 STARS! EXCELLENT FILM!

What do you think? Have you seen it? Does it interest you? Are you planning on watching it?

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This is Gabriel from SOM

-Have a magical day!