The Jungle Book

Rudyard Kipling's eponymous collective works gathered under the name of The Jungle Book is almost gospel. The stories are fables and use animals in an anthropomorphic manner to give moral lessons. Jon Favreau knows the divine quality of the works and he gives us that and more and more and more.....

I thought Disney's Zootopia has reached an epoch in CGI, but The Jungle Book is definitely the crowned jewel. I was awestruck by the level of visual details of each animal that occupies the screen. The facial expressions mirroring its running gamut of emotions, the physical movements of each animal, the pitch-perfect voicing - who wouldn't believe they possess a human soul?

Films using a predominance of CGI go stale very fast if the story cannot keep up. The seams will start to show and the minutes will turn to hours. Looking at all the frames of The Jungle Book, other than Neel Sethi as Mowgli, everything is CGI-ed to the Ying Yang. But the sense of story is so compelling, I was totally immersed in the world. Yes, animals can talk! I am a believer! Favreau marries the narrative and the visuals so well, I couldn't see one without the other. It is the perfect marriage - each element serving the other in a symbiotic relationship. The sound design is also an aural extravaganza - just listen to the scene where the anaconda, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, engages and hypnotises Mowgli. The surround sound design is jaw-dropping oh la la. In fact, I think the entire movie is a demo disc for home theatres!

This is one of the most satisfying movies I have seen this year. There is something here for everyone, from the kids to the adults. As much as I was totally captivated by the movie, I did make one snide remark (actually two, but I will keep the second one to myself). At a languid scene of Mowgli floating down the river with Baloo the bear, voiced by the incomparable Bill Murray, thick undergrowth starts to rustle and ominous music starts to reverberate. Mowgli and Baloo stare fearfully at the moving bushes, getting ready for impending danger as best as they can. I turned to the missus and whispered, "I think Leonardo DiCaprio is going to pop out." She laughed.

The boy Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is raised in the jungle by the female wolf Raksha with her cubs in the pack led by Akela. The panther Bagheera saved Mowgli when he was a baby and delivered him to Raksha. During the drought, the animals celebrate truce to drink water around the Peace Rock together, but the cruel tiger Shere Khan sees Mowgli and promises to kill him when the water return. Bagheera decides to guide Mowgli to a village on the outskirts of the woods, but they are attacked by Shere Khan during their journey. Mowgli flees but the anaconda Kaa attacks him; however the bear Baloo saves him and they become friends. But Shere Khan wants to kill Mowgli and no animal is capable to stop him. What will happen to Mowgli?

"The Jungle Book" is an awesome film with fantastic CGI. It is impressive the interaction of Mowgli with the animals and the jungle. The wolf cubs are cute and the voice of Scarlett Johansson is mesmerizing. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil):"Mogli: O Menino Lobo" ("Mogli: The Boy Wolf")

The Jungle Book, a live-action adaptation of the classic tale, presents a mixed cinematic experience. While the film's CGI-enhanced visuals and cinematography beautifully immerse the audience in the lush jungle setting, and young Neel Sethi's performance as Mowgli is commendable, the movie falters in delivering a truly captivating narrative. The attempt to bring the animals to life with realistic visuals, while technically impressive, leaves some emotional depth lacking, and the music, despite its memorable tunes from the animated classic, doesn't quite hit the same notes. Consequently, The Jungle Book receives a 6/10 rating from me, as it falls short of recapturing the magic of its source material and struggles to leave a lasting impression.

I knew the story and the characters, and was not disappointed with this current rendition of this classic Disney/Kipling.

It was always beautiful to watch the almost perfectly realistic models of the animals.

Mowgli looked the part and seemed to handle the physical side of his performance as the only live performer, but his acting at times made me think of 'Anakin from the Phantom Menace' which is not good for a comparison. It was also not a good feeling to see cuts, scrapes and scars on Mowgli as the movie progressed. This is realistic for the amount of action, but it made me uncomfortable seeing this in an almost naked kid getting abused and almost killed by half the jungle.

The two times the movie broke out into song, also didn't really fit with this version either. If it had 5 or ten songs, you wouldn't notice, but those two moments really stood out and dumbed the movie down to me.

All the voices were pretty good, except Christopher Walken who seem woefully miscast and as King Louie and Bill Murray as/and the too cartoony Baloo character I also didn't really care for either.

It was also odd/unsettling that all the main characters were intelligent, but other animals seemed retarded (hedgehog?) or just normal animals? The monkeys and elephants in particular didn't talk, and these are two of the smartest most human-like in real life so this was really weird.

On the other hand, Idris Elba was gold as Sheer Khan and Scarlett Johansson's Kaa is perfect, like her voice performance in 'Her' she was wonderful as the hypnotic snake villain.

Had me in tears at times, all in all good, honest Disney fun in the spirit of the best of them like 'Lion King', Aladdin or Toy Story.

I've never been a fan of the original Jungle Book movie, but I did grow up watching it, and I did like it. This remake is (in my opinion) Disney's best remake so far.

The animation and the scenery is basically a new age in CGI. Not only are there CGI characters and creatures now, but locations too. The entire jungle looks absolutely real, yet it's not, and that's the great thing about it.

The characters themselves were pretty cool. I didn't care for Mowgli in the original movie, but this movie got me liking him. He's brave, not as bratty, and he's pretty inventive. Bagheera is as stern and careful as ever except that he's also got the action his book counterpart had had. And I like Baloo's character here, having a bit more of a self-serving trait his older counterparts never had but eventually becoming a nice guy. And that's the main characters. The wolves got more screen time, Kaa got a lot more dangerous (though she doesn't have as much screen time, which is my only complaint in this movie), King Louie is more sinister and less comical, and Shere Khan is a flat-out beast.

I'm also glad that they brought back three songs I enjoyed as a kid. I really liked Bare Necessities, and I've also started singing this version of I Wanna Be Like You. Trust In Me made me feel like Kaa was in a spy movie.

So on a scale from one to ten, I'd give it a perfect score: 10/10. It's an epic movie, and I highly recommend seeing this movie.