The Jungle Book — Review
Disney’s got ‘The Avengers,’ ‘Star Wars,’ and if they’re going to spend the big bucks on another franchise, you can bet it’s probably going to be another live-action remake of one of their animated “classics.” Last year we got a ‘Cinderella’ update, a big hit which was made barely watchable by the charms of its actors and the decision to make it decidedly not modern and hip. Partly because of that film, despite the positive press I was a bit skeptical going in to see ‘The Jungle Book,’ as clearly Disney doesn’t need to try too hard to make something with an established name good in order to reap their desired box office harvest. Director Jon Favreau’s recent mediocre blockbusters (‘Iron Man 2,’ ‘Cowboys & Aliens’) also made me hesitant.
Well turns out they did this one right. This new ‘Jungle Book’ gives us a grand spectacle, amusing characters, two musical numbers and is even able to deliver the goods nicely below the two-hour mark (did you hear that, you finale-stretching, bladder-disrespecting Avenger bastards?).
As a quick aside I’d like to add that the original ‘Jungle Book’ stories were written by Rudyard Kipling, and if you’re looking for another family-friendly coming-of-age story that’ll give you a good cry, look no further than Victor Fleming’s 1937 adaptation of Kipling’s ‘Captains Courageous.’ I guess while I’m off topic I could also add here that Kipling was a racist who wrote another book called ‘The White Man’s Burden,’ so enough about this aside already…
What else? The live-action and computer-animated elements are integrated beautifully here, the new kid (Neel Sethi stars as Mowgli) is good, and Bill Murray and Christopher Walken are both perfectly cast as the characters with the songs — the bear Baloo and the “gigantophithecus” king Louie, respectively. Humans are presented in this movie as sinister figures of destruction and excess (historically true enough in relation to nature) and the jungle, with the exception of Idris Elba’s villainous tiger Shere Khan, is a most friendly, tolerant community. It did strike me when Mowgli’s father figure, the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), snaps at Baloo that he doesn’t eat honey, that naturally Bagheera must eat some of the cute and lovable animals who hang out and speak English with Mowgli. But then we never see any of that, so we can still feel okay about everything…
Disney’s already announced an unnecessary sequel, so I may have to go back to hating their greedy asses soon enough. But for now I can’t tell you not to see this movie, cause, you know, I kind of liked it. Alright, fine, it’s goddamn delightful.
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