As for this "live-action" re-make, I purposely did not look at the trailers. With this getting a lot of positive remarks after seeing the trailer and early reports from America of the film. It sounded like I was in store for a fun film.
Well, I was utterly blown away. The visual effects are some of the best I have ever seen. To think that this was entirely filmed on a set in Los Angeles is hard to fathom. I might even say that it is master-piece in visual effects making as there was not one point that I felt I was not in the jungle.
It will be interesting if the visuals still hold up in 10 years time. This is because where are beginning to see films that is hard to see whether it is real or CGI.
I can see this doing incredibly well as both kids and adults can enjoy this. The story telling is very mature which I was highly delighted with. It may have scary parts that younger kids might not like, but it is a pure fun adventure story with some lovely nods to the animated original.
What I liked about paying homage to it was that it does enough of it to be its own thing also. From the opening and ending credits, to the subtle use of the original theme, to the clever use of the wonderful songs from the 1967 animation.
The performances were all great. Idris Elba was incredibly haunting and such a presence as Shere Khan. Bill Murray was fun and loving as Baloo. Props to the casting team for picking him. Neel Sethi was pretty solid as Mowgli. You can feel his inexperience at times which I was fine with as he was probably talking to no-one on green screen for pretty much all of his scenes I reckon which I can guess is a hard skill to have. Ben Kingsley was also a good Bagheera.
I loved Christopher Walken as King Louie. The design of Louie was jaw-dropping, and the type of character he was was very clever.
The introduction to Kaa voiced by Scarlett Johansson was brilliant. It was really atmospheric and fitted into the character perfectly. It was a shame as this character was massively under-used.
This also saw the last performance in a film by the now late Garry Shandling. He plays the voice of a porcupine called Ikki. Be sure to check out that character when watching.
For me, this will be my definitive Jungle Book and I will be amazed if this version gets trumped in the future. It is interesting to hear that a sequel has been announced already. If Favreau is back as director, then I will be excited to see what they can do to continue the story.
It is also interesting to see that a similar Jungle Book film was announced before this and is still being made with Andy Serkis at the helm. The reception to that will be interesting to see after the release of this.
Favreau has done an incredible job and I am looking forward to more projects that he is doing in the future. The voice work is phenomenal, the visual effects will be involved in possibly winning an Oscar, the music by John Debny was great and I loved the story and tone that they went for. It is a terrific pure family adventure story. I am so happy to have finally seen a Jungle Book film that I want to champion for the rest of my life.
Rating: 8/10
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