Movie Review - The Jungle Book

I grew up watching the Japanese Shonen series and the Disney's animated films. I was a boy-scout once and names like Bagheera, Kaa and Akela were all familiar to me. I was also a leader of a cub pack once as a kid. So this series was very close to my heart right from my childhood. I absolutely had to watch this movie. Now that I did, I present to you my take on the movie...

The story is a very basic good vs. evil affair, but let's be honest...who cares? It is for children and surprisingly it has managed to keep us, the adults (though that is a questionable statement when I am taken into consideration), entertained. After all, we were the species that thought Avatar was THE best film ever made by mankind (ahem, that was sarcasm).

The visuals were definitely the high point of this movie. I know I am repeating this a lot these days but every scene is like a desktop wallpaper. The scenic visuals look like painting on canvas. The graphics and the animation were life-like. In fact, I was admiring the fur on Baloo in one scene. I was impressed at how the Sun rays fell on Baloos fur creating this golden brown bear. 'Photorealistic' is the word.

I recall that in my trailer talk I said that I wanted the animals to remain silent and communicate only through their facial expressions. I take that back. I now realize why it would have not worked out. It would've been a NG documentary and we don't want anything that is boring now, do we? Having said that, the voice acting was great. The child actor was very good. Usually I feel child actors turn out to be annoying a la The Life of Pi but in this case, he was cute. He looked the part and he played the part very well. Ben Kingsley as Bagheera and Bill Murray as Baloo absolutely stand out. I also remember mentioning in the trailer review that Kaas voice sounded a bit young. But in the film, it was not a big deal. It sounded decent to me considering Kaas appearance was very limited. Idris Elba was also very good but I feel that Sherekhan had to sound even more menacing. Especially considering Nana Patekar was in the Hindi version of the Shonen series. Though I don't know if he voices Sherekhan in the Hindi version of this adaptation. In my opinion, Elba's voice was not that baritone enough. Liam Neeson would've been perfect but he already is Aslan. Oh well, that is life I guess...

 

The ending could have been a bit more epic and I would have liked if the movie was longer by 15 or 30 minutes. But I admit that that is nit-picking. Now, I know what you might be thinking - "well, this review is biased...this guy is speaking with his nostalgia goggles on. The movie might be a snorefest for all we know." Believe me, even without the said goggles, I think this movie is very very good. Do yourself a favor, gather all the members of your family and go watch this movie. I assure you, you will be entertained.

                                                                         Score - 8/10

P.S. Younger kids may get scared a bit since this movie contains a few startling scenes.