Now, I have seen the original Disney animated Jungle Book, that doesn't mean I remember a single thing about it, so I have no attachment to the original film or Rudyard Kipling's story. The good thing about this is I went into this film completely blind, having not even seen a trailer for it, and I think it's safe to say I was impressed.
Something that becomes very apparent very quickly is how stupidly good this film looks, for a film shot entirely in a studio, it's crazy how good the jungle setting of this film looks, to the point where forgetting it's all CG comes naturally, and not long into the film either. The film doesn't waste time, opening with a fast paced chase sequence with Mowgli and Bagheera, voiced by Ben Kingsley, I'll say it now and no doubt later too, this film has one hell of a cast. The opening is fast and exciting, and sets the tone extremely well, as the film doesn't really slow down or become less fun, minus a few instances I'll get to later. The characters in this film are very interesting, first up is Mowgli himself, who I see in this film as a kid struggling with destiny, as the motivations driving the film's main antagonist are reflective in his actions, most notably towards the end of the film. Mowgli has to leave the jungle, but he doesn't want to, and this conflict makes for some fun back and forth with him and the other characters of the film, throughout the film he must also learn what he truly is, and this coming of age element is brilliant, again, coming to a head in the film's climax in a way I will not dare spoil, because it's awesome. By contrast, Bagheera is somewhat boring, not through a fault in the character's portrayal, but rather simply down to him always being a killjoy, taking things very seriously and being somewhat stern in a lot of scenes, he's in the film less than I expected him to be, and he does get better as the film goes on, but on his own, he's not the most interesting character in this film. That title goes unquestionably to Baloo, voiced by Bill Murray, in some of the best casting I've seen in a while, there are 2 characters in this film that turn your attention into tunnel vision when they're present, and Baloo is one of them. Baloo is witty, funny, and lazy, and Bill Murray completely owns the character of a tricksterish, fun loving bear, he's awesome, and makes for most of the film's funniest moments. When you're not entirely focused on Baloo, you're entirely focused on Shere Khan, voiced by Idris Elba, and while it takes some getting used to, hearing Idris Elba's voice out of the mouth of a Tiger, he's completely awesome, he's one menacing villain from time to time, with at least 3 scenes he's in being utter nail-biters, one in particular really stands out as a really tense scene, and I won't say which one, Shere Khan's as evil as he is collected, and motivated by nothing more than his desire to kill Mowgli, he's a pretty sweet villain. Kaa only appears briefly in the film, voiced by Scarlett Johansson, who plays the sinister, seductive snake in a way that I think works, and I liked Kaa. Finally of course there is the Gigantopithecus himself, King Louie, who only appears in 1 scene, like Kaa, but it's probably the coolest scene in the film. Louie is a presence to behold in this film, towering over Mowgli, even slouched over his throne, and while Christopher Walken comes across somewhat like a mobster in his portrayal, it was pretty cool to watch, and his song was pretty catchy. A very solid line-up of characters then, and while the plot is simple, it skips along at a good pace, minus the Kaa scene I'll get to later, and the adventure is a damn fun one to watch, building to a fiery finale that I can only describe as like the last 10 minutes of The Hobbit, Jurassic World and The Lion King got thrown in a blender, it's awesome to watch, and the film carries a fun message about coming of age and being yourself, it's sweet in all honesty.
As I said before, this film looks phenomenal, the effects are awesome, more precisely, the animals all look like animals, they move like animals, it's really well done. That said, the film doesn't always fool you, there are times when the illusion can slip, this is more down to the rare times when you can actually tell Neel Sethi; the kid who plays Mowgli, is in a studio, acting to nothing, it's worth noting how good a job Sethi does acting to nothing, but sometimes you can tell, however that's a very negligible issue. Another extremely negligible issue is there's 2 songs in the film, while the songs themselves are cool, there is only 2, and it can be a bit jarring when they start up, weirdly though the more jarring of the 2 songs is actually the better one in my opinion, which just shows how hard I'm trying to find a problem with the film. There is one problem I have with this film, that isn't negligible, and that's the Kaa scene. While I like Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and the snake itself was really cool, even having the weird hypnotic eyes, I have an issue with the scene itself, and how exposition heavy it is; I think Mowgli's past and Shere Khan's motivation for killing him could have been addressed in a cleverer or at least more subtle way, but as it stands, Kaa just telling Mowgli the story is just too obvious. Back to the songs though, as I write this, I'm listening to Trust in Me from this movie's soundtrack, it's a cool song, really cool, it's another non-issue, but why not feature Trust in Me, bump it up to 3 songs rather than leaving it at 2. I'll stop trying to find issues with this film now, because it's easier to just be honest, this film is really, really good. In the end The Jungle Book is a wonder to look at; with stunning CG, it's fun to watch; with an adventurous story and some cool and brilliantly casted characters, most notably Bill Murray as Baloo, and I honestly love the climax of this film, and I did get a very James and the Giant Peach vibe from it, which was weird, but cool, as is the climax. The Jungle Book is a film I very much enjoyed and I would very highly recommend it, for sure.
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