The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book

Starring Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba

Directed by Jon Favreau

The Story:
Having been raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) lives a pretty carefree life, frolicking through the woods with his black panther teacher Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), having a family of little cubs to play with, and doting, loving mother Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o).  However, all that changes when tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) demands Mowgli's blood because he was scarred by his father years earlier. 

Bagheera takes Mowgli away and leads him on a journey to the man's home, but along the way they get separated and Mowgli finds himself with Baloo the bear (Bill Murray), and the two strike up a friendship and partnership, as Baloo uses Mowgli's human tricks to get him honey.  All the while, Shere Khan continues his desperate search for revenge, and the young boy's life remains in the balance.

The Synopsis:
"The Jungle Book" is a beloved children's novel, written by Rudyard Kipling in 1894, and was adapted to the screen by Disney in the 1967 animated classic.  The story takes on a bit of a Tarzan feel, with a young boy being raised by wolves in the wilderness, but this is more a children's tale than an adult one, but it still finds a way to appeal to both audiences equally well, keeping the joy in the eyes of children, and causing adults to feel like children again.

The basic plot for the film is simple enough: a young boy lives in the wild, and is being chased by an apex predator who seeks revenge for something that happened to him before.  It's not the story that's overly complex, but the complexity of the acting, direction, effects, voice-over work and scenery that makes this a big hit for young and old alike.  Still, the story draws you in - whether it's Mowgli running through the jungle, encountering different types of animals, or his comedic pairing with the ever-lovable Baloo - and everything else around it just adds to the whimsy and wonder. Director Favreau and his writers combined the Kipling book and the 1967 animated film together to make an almost wholly new adventure, not a typical remake or retelling, which was refreshing in itself.

Even though it's adapted to a live-action film, there's not a lot of live characters in the movie.  In fact, the only living person in the film (besides some background characters), is young Mowgli, played by newcomer Neel Sethi, who beat out thousands of other children who auditioned for the role.  The remaining characters are all CGI animals, which were brilliantly rendered and beautifully visualized so much they almost look real, with some of today's best actors voicing them. 

Kudos is given to Sethi, because, as any director knows, the two hardest actors to work with are children and animals.  Since the animals aren't real here, it's Sethi's beyond-his-years performance that knocks it out of the park.  For a kid who never acted before, he was thrust into one of the hardest aspects of acting - doing so without a visual counterpart to work off of.  While there were stand-ins for the animals he was acting against, he still had to have a sense of imagination to fully immerse himself into the role, knowing he was playing against animals but in reality was working next to someone in a motion capture suit. 

The actors who supplied their voices did so in a way that was far beyond just voicing random CGI animals, but they added a deeper dimension to their characters.  As the wise teacher, Ben Kingsley richly added to Bagheera's motif.  Idris Elba gives a strong, demanding performance to Shere Khan's pure ruthlessness.  Lupita Nyong'o adds a motherly feel to Raksha's performance.  Scarlett Johansson's hauntingly whispery voice to the python Kaa was as alluring and mysterious as the actress herself.  Christopher Walken truly epitomized the power-hungry King Louie in a way that only Christopher Walken can.  However, it's Bill Murray's voice-over work on Baloo that was the most enjoyable, as Murray in real life is about as laid back and chill as Baloo is in the film.  The two melded together into one incredibly lovable character that is every bit as amazing as his animated counterpart.

The setting of the film transports us to the wilds of India, filled with lush vegetation, awe-inspiring mountains and stunning lakes and rivers that you'd find on "Planet Earth," and is a visual wonder to behold.  The setting also helps in giving the CGI animals real life, as you could picture them really living in such an environment.  The film is filled with light and life, and when it needs to, gives a darker, foreboding feel as well.  It adds to the realism that Favreau set out to achieve, and did so brilliantly.

Some people might note the overly environmental message to the film, that humans destroy the land by fire ("Red Flower" as the animals call it), and drives out the original inhabitants of the land.  Yet, that's not the main focus of the film, as Mowgli's human "tricks" end up helping the animals in several ways, and shows that both man and animal can co-exist as long as they show respect to one another.  It's a wonderful message that we can all live together in harmony, and use our natural talents to better other lives.

The Summary:
Mixing fantastic acting, stunning locale, and a well-paced story, it's no wonder "The Jungle Book" was a massive success, and serves as one of the better live adaptations for Disney.

The Score: A+