Film News
The Jungle Book Review
It’s A Jungle Out There
♦Tripwire sent Editor-in-Chief Joel Meadows into the Indian wilderness to review Jon Favreau’s’ reimagining of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book
Director: Jon Favreau
Stars: Neel Sethi, (Voices) Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito
Disney’s 1967 classic The Jungle Book is one of the most beloved of all of Uncle Walt’s movies. Taking Kipling’s jungle tales and adding a modern spin to proceedings, making it a musical, Favreau had set himself and the rest of his team a monumental task to adapt the story of Mowgli and co to appeal to a modern 21st century audience. On top of making the story relevant to a modern audience, there was also the question of whether the method he used, computer animation, would be able to tell the story well. Favreau’s The Jungle Book is a very frustrating film, like many of his efforts. There are a number of major problems here: the first is the animation. There are moments of visual genius where everything gels, like for example the scene with King Louie aka Christopher Walken is brilliantly realised with Walken’s wonderfully distinctive tones lending atmosphere and a sense of genuine threat. Neel Sethi makes for a sympathetic and warm Mowgli and Kingsley creates a sympathetic Bagheera. As you would expect, Bill Murray injects a lot of humour and humanity into Baloo the Bear too. However the quality and feel of the animation isn’t totally consistent throughout and sometimes the artificiality of the environment and its inhabitants serve to yank the viewer out of the story. Elba is decent as villain of the piece Shere Khan but he is no George Sanders, the man who brought the tiger to life in the 1967 version. The script also feels a little flat at times especially in the last third of the film, creating a sense of anti-climax. It isn’t a bad film by any means and there are a few wonderful moments which bring the filmmakers’ vision to life on the screen and when they work, there is a visual lyricism in bringing India to life. But it lacks consistency and a steadier hand on the directing, a stronger script and a more appropriate choice with some of the voice talent would have lifted it above merely a technical exercise. Also, you can’t help but compare it to the 1967 animated film and when placed against it, it does feel a little flat and less vivid. A sequel has already been greenlit so perhaps they may iron out some of the problems here. Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book is recommended with a few caveats for fans of animation and the Kipling stories as it just about manages to capture the writer’s tone and sense of wonder.
JOEL MEADOWS
The Jungle Book is out at UK and US cinemas now
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