‘The Jungle Book’ Review

The Jungle Book. Need I say more?

When I first heard that Disney was remaking The Jungle Book into a live-action movie, I’ll admit I was all too excited. But at the same time, I was really quite worried about whether they’d ruin it.

For most of us, this movie was about reliving the days when we were a lot shorter. We weren’t excited to know what lies ahead for Mowgli or Shere Khan. What we wanted to see was what they’d done to our beloved children’s movie. Did they get the voice acting right? Does this movie work in live-action format? Is Baloo still as adorable as he is in the original?

Hell yes.

I shouldn’t have to go into the details of the story but I guess I will for those who haven’t seen the original (read: losers). A baby boy Mowgli is left stranded in the jungle and is found by a panther named Bagheera. He takes him to a pack of wolves who bring him up as one of their own. When Shere Khan, the tiger who hates mankind, returns to that part of the jungle, everyone is scared for Mowgli’s safety and they make a plan to shuffle him back to the man-village.

Now that that’s over with, let’s move on to the actual movie. For starters, it’s a lot more serious. Yes, it’s a remake of the Disney children’s movie but this one definitely caters more to adults that the original did. For example, Shere Khan never came across as aggressive in the old movie. Here, he’s strong, ferocious and fearsome. He kills without reason, provokes violence and, well, he looks a lot cooler.

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Shere Khan looks a lot cooler.

The wolves have a much bigger role in this movie and it is a lot more evident why Mowgli behaves the way he does. Little things like how he climbs up the stairs on all fours even though he walks on two. It adds so much depth to the character. In the remake, you’ll find yourself falling in love with Bagheera and Baloo all over again and, to my surprise, I found myself liking the character of Shere Khan too. In the original, he was just this annoying source of all of Mowgli’s problems while in this movie he really seems to have some sort of purpose. A true villain.

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The wolves are integral to the storytelling of the movie.

Though it was done well, I was a little disappointed to find how short Scarlett Johannsson’s role as Kaa was in the movie. The character is the only one who is completely different this time around. There’s no goofiness to Kaa. She’s a sincere, deadly killer. Throughout the movie, the voice acting is stellar and the CGI is remarkable. It’s interesting to think that Neel Sethi, the boy actor who plays Mowgli, is the only actual person who appears in the movie (sort of).

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Kaa’s role in the movie is rather short. And the song Trust In Me only plays during the credits.

Other than the basic story line which I mentioned earlier, there are quite a few additions to the plot which make it feel more dynamic. It’s fluid, the characters feel real and though the story is so far-fetched and unbelievable, it still feels relatable at some level. In contrast, the cartoon movie felt very bullet-pointed, as if each segment was scripted and animated separately and put together for the film.

If you haven’t watched the movie already, get an auto to INOX and watch this movie right now. Especially if you’re a loser. It’s fresh, funny and yes, they do sing the songs. It takes the bare necessities from the original and walks and talks like it too. We trusted in Disney, and they delivered.

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