Disney’s Newest Jungle Book Remake Offers a Slightly Different Take on the Tale
Near the beginning of Disney’s recent live action remake craze came The Jungle Book. No, I’m not talking about the ones they released in the 1990’s (which I never have seen); I’m talking about the one from 2016. Unlike the some of the other early ones, this one stuck close to the animated original, but made a few tweaks to the story.
The set up is definitely familiar. Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is a man cub raised by wolves. Despite his best efforts, he has never been able to quite fit into his pack because, well, he’s human. However, when Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) shows up planning to kill the boy, Mowgli gets off with Bagheera the panther (voiced by Ben Kingsley). What will happen to them along the way?
As I said, if you think you know the story, be prepared for a few surprises along the way. I appreciated many of them as they helped flesh out Mowgli and especially his relationship with the wolves a bit more. Shere Khan is a much more fearsome and present villain in this take on the story, another change I appreciated.
Of course, there was the time I spent expecting certain events or characters from the animated film to pop up. I kept having to remind myself that this was a different take on things and it was okay that it was different. It’s not like Disney didn’t really change things around when they made the original animated movie based on some unconnected short stories.
I’ve fallen into Disney’s trap so far by referring to this as a live action movie. It really isn’t. Mowgli is real, but everything he is interacting with, including the sets, is computer generated. They do a marvelous job. It’s easy to turn off your brain and believe that everything you are seeing is real. The animals do have just a hint of animation to them, making their speaking seem more natural than in the computer animated The Lion King remake.
And I have to give praise to Neel Sethi. He was interacting with nothing as his part of the film was made, but I believed his performance completely. It’s real and helps ground the movie for us.
The voice cast is good. I enjoyed Bill Murray as Baloo. Scarlett Johansson was fun as Kaa. I’m realizing I’m not really a fan of Christopher Walken, and that didn’t help me enjoy his take on King Louie.
The movie does incorporate some of the songs from the original, but not all. They aren’t a big feature of this film, and maybe that’s why a couple of them seemed out of place. (See once again, King Louie.) But it’s hard to go wrong with “The Bare Necessities,” and I certainly enjoyed that scene.
Parents of young kids should know that there are some intense scenes. This movie is rated PG for a reason. Most kids will probably be okay, but sensitive kids should still with the animated version from the 1960’s until they are ready for something more intense. I’m sure parents will be able to judge that for their own kids.
I think that darker tone was what bothered me the most about this film. It felt like they went needlessly dark, keeping some of the humor and fun from the original out. That doesn’t make this film bad, but I think I prefer the animated original over this one.
I enjoyed most of what the new material added to the story, but overall, I found the newest version of The Jungle Book a little dark for my tastes. I’m not sorry I finally watched it, but if you want a fun story, it’s best to stick with the original.
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