The Jungle Book (2016) Review

Man-cub Mowgli must flee the jungle to save himself after a threat from tiger Shere Khan, after he was raised with Wolves.

Yes, we are still getting more and more live action films from Disney films, something which will not be stopping anytime soon. I cannot help but wonder if that just means they are out of new ideas? In all honesty though I cannot remember the last time I watched The Jungle Book so I could only remember a few different things about it.

I guess this has to be the most ambitious of the live action films due to having to create the many different animals whilst trying to make them look real. On that front I have to admit that I thought they looked very good and some of the scenes really were fantastic. Especially when it came to the fight scenes, very impressive and certainly took the “kids” edge off and that is why it won’t be suitable for younger children.

Neel Sethi is brand new to the world of film and this is his first, I can imagine it being a very tough task considering it’s all CGI and must have really taken some direction to help him in the role. Considering he is the only human we actually get to see.

The animals in the jungle have different laws and truces to help survival but this is something that Shere Khan cannot deal with when he sees Mowgli growing up and that he will one day become a man. Men are responsible for the “red flower” which we all know is fire and that is something that does not work well in the jungle!

It moved at a good pace as we watch Mowgli meet many different characters and have to deal with everything that is thrown at him. Bill Murray was a perfect choice to voice Baloo but everyone was certainly outdone by Christopher Walken doing the voice of King Louie and having an almost song, that was easily my favourite part.

I loved that they didn’t get too sucked into the songs and had them placed in such a good way that gave us something a little bit different. I will admit that I wasn’t expecting to like anything about the film but decided to give it a chance and it was much better than I gave it credit for from the trailers.

If you’re a big animal lover I certainly would recommend checking this film out to see how well they have done with the CGI. As usual I went to the 2D screening as I am still not a fan of 3D at all, the bad thing about knowing a film is also in 3D is still being able to notice certain parts which are for the “pop out of screen” moments for those viewers! In particular the snakes tongue!

Overall, a surprisingly good live action adaptation of a much loved story and animated film. Which I am sure is going to do well at the box office and therefore not stop this latest trend any time soon!