The Jungle Book (2016) Review

A Wild Time

Since its announcement in July 2013, the prospect of a live action remake of Disney’s The Jungle Book made filmgoers sceptical. The idea sounded like another potential hash job based on popular, already-existing material for the sake of creating a new cash cow franchise, even if critical responses were negative. It seemed like it wouldn’t be a decent film in its own right. With the utilisation of technology; direction, performances combined together with a drive to actually create compelling story, the 2016 remake of The Jungle Book will positively prove naysayers wrong.

Settings & Characters

No location film sets were used for the creation of this film. From principal photography to the film itself, everything had taken place at L.A Center Studios in Los Angeles, with CGI taking care of the rest. Unless you were told this directly before viewing, The Jungle Book’s visuals would fool you completely into thinking otherwise. The visuals are astoundingly breath taking. Plant life; forestry, weather, the movements of jungle creatures itself: textures and colours jump from the screen, leaving you in awe as you asking yourself “are you SURE this is CGI?” We have been living in a world lately where remakes are either too dark by trying too hard to be gritty and relatable, or being overly hyperactively happy and cartoonish to straightforward target a child-filled audience. You would believe a live action Jungle Book remake would look as depressingly dark as a graveyard in a forest or it would look overly cartoonish with singing trees that vomit rainbows. One look at the atmosphere at this new onscreen world, noticing different lifelike aesthetics each and every time will continuously take your breath away.

All filmed inside a single studio, a captivating CGI world is born. 

A beautiful setting for any story or adventure cannot stand out without creatures and characters that are just as wondrous. One look at each of the animal characters in The Jungle Book and your instincts tell you that each one of them is real. For example, Ben Kingsley’s Bagira: how he looks and sounds, the two aspects correlate together so naturally. Not only does Kingsley give a great performance, as a wise and commanding parent figure, but it is one of many that make a viewer struggle to decide that Bagira is a fictional animal instead of a person. Then by the time we see Baloo, voiced by Bill Murray, you feel the light hearted and original magic of the animated version of Jungle Book reincarnated in the form of one of Murray’s best performances in years. It can be hard to believe that CGI animals that look so lifelike can be so loveable. It certainly says a lot about the positivity of this film as it makes you feel emotionally attached to these realistic creatures that don’t even exist.

Speaking of emotionally attachable characters, Its Idris Elba’s Sheere Kahn among these beastly characters who steal the show. Powerful, intimidating, projecting the character as the story’s alpha male: the performance and characterisation of Shere Kahn by Elba grabs the audience’s focus everytime the tiger is onscreen. Ways Shere Kahn grabs our attention is certainly shock worthy. Certain moments featuring the tiger definitely make you wonder if this film is really suitable for young children, even finding myself as a 23 year old man jumping once or twice (so proud of myself). Nevertheless, the combination of the character’s ferocity and Idris Elba’s commanding voice is a perfect combination.

Even the minor animal characters, from wolf pups elephants to cute little field mice, each creature in this story seems to have its perfectly fit place. Despite their places in the Jungle Book’s story, King Louie (Christopher Walken) and Kaah (Scarlet Johansson) still looked magnificent onscreen. Walken’s interpretation of the orangutan is so charming, it’s fascinating to look and listen (So many new Walken quotes) to again and again. Johansson’s character, Kaah, appears to be the only casted creatures which seemed to be mismatched. The snake looked alluringly intimidating of course, but the voice provided just doesn’t seem to be the creepily unnerving enough for a snake that wishes to trance you into a false sense of security before eating your face.

When talking about the very few actual live action actors though, massive praise is deserved to be given to Mowgli himself, Neel Sethi. For a 12 year old in his first film, Sethi delivers an energetic and loveable performance. Not to mention that everyone he is interacting with are characters that aren’t even there. Other than the occasional set of animal puppets used by the studio, he is basically performing his part towards thin air. This was not only down to great direction of Jon Favreau, but some great talent on Sethi’s part aswell.

Seriously. Sethi's just acting to air. Respect.

Story & Structure

Aside from some events in the plot changed, the film still follows the basic escort mission of the original animated film and book: to get Mowgli from point A to point B, the latter being the human village, to save him from the clutches of Sheer Kahn. Utilising the breathtaking scenery of the jungle and its characters; Favreau has directed the flow of the film’s story in a way that keeps you in awe whilst simultaneously becoming more and more attached with the characters, noticing the ever increasing gravity of their situation, being the brutality and tenacity that is the threat of Shere Kahn. The film will consistently shift between scenes of suspenseful tension and light hearted fun so that the adventure never stagnates on either of the themes. Whilst being centred in a world where a human boy can understand talking animals; the story of The Jungle Book is well blended with a sense of realism and wonder, making it suitable for wider audiences, even more than the 1967 animated classic could appeal to. Even one of the major plot point changes to the original material takes places in the film’s third act but it actually works because it incorporates a message that didn’t even shine in previous Jungle Book incarnations: that home can be where you are now, as well as where you came from.

When talking about the sense of realism that is included within the balance of story and structure, that includes a lack of upbeat and full on musical songs compared to previous Jungle Book films, for the most part anyway. Whilst there are several subtle; yet charming uses of The Bare Necessities and other powerful, captivating soundtracks, the King Louie scene contributes some slightly uneven attributes towards the film. Like in the animated film, the monkey-heavy arc of the film is sort of thrown in for the sake of featuring said monkeys and of course, King Louie. The orangutan’s own song adapted from the animated film, "I Wan'na Be Like You", is the only song which ends up being a full on musical number, being another reason to have the scene thrown in. You can't help but feel that it disrupts the film’s light but effective flow after having nothing but subtle songs and soundtracks up until now. Christopher Walken’s face and voice on a giant, orange monkey is a brilliant thing to see of course but it feels like the whole scene could have been executed more efficiently and/or adding a more integral role to the film’s story.

Walken Louie: a face you can't look away from.

Scarlett Johansson’s Kaah on the other hand felt like a character that was under utilised in the story. Despite being used mainly as a tool for exposition and the voice casting seeming like a mismatch, the look of Kaah still provided a chilling onscreen presence. We see Kaah in this one introductory scene, providing some exposition plot points, then that’s it. It almost seems like a wasted opportunity as the character was carried out well as unsettling presence, fitting well with this new take on the film’s tone. I couldn’t help but think it was a shame we didn’t get to see more.

Verdict

The Jungle Book will be making a lot of naysayers eating a lot of crow for years to come due to Jon Favreau delivering something which many thought could never be done: a modern live action adaptation of a classic, loveable story that’s well balanced with its depth into realism, breath taking settings and engaging characters. It defied expectations. Due to the viciousness that some of this grounded realism brings, it may be best to leave little 5 year old Timmy at home for this one. However, the majority of the cast and story come together to create a film which many people will be growing up with as their own definitive version of The Jungle Book. Depending on how it’s received further down the line, we may just have a cult classic on our hands.

Rating: 8.5/10

By Ben Williams, Pineapple Carpet.