Rudyard Kipling’s timeless tales make for engaging family entertainment and are inevitably children’s favourites, whether they be straight animation or animation combined with live action, as is the case here. Bombay-born, English writer Kipling channeled his love of India in 1894’s “The Jungle Book,” following with “The Second Jungle Book” in 1895. Though considered kids’ books, the stories – with their lush landscapes and talking animals – sparked interest among young and old alike, often introducing readers to India for the first time. Kipling published additional books and short-story collections and ultimately became the highest-paid writer in the world at age 32. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1907.
The Jungle Book circa 2016 is inspired by the classic 1967 Disney animated feature. It blends live action with CGI and remains a coming of age story. Filmmakers didn’t set out to create a beat-by-beat literal remake. While loyal to the original characters, the tone is decidedly darker. The concept of the jungle being a dangerous place is a constant. The stakes are higher than I remember them to be. There is a lot more jeopardy and survival isn’t necessarily a given. Of course, events centre around Mowgli, a man-cub (young boy) who lost his father while still an infant and was raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves, as guided by stern mentor Bagheera, a panther. Now Mowgli is being forced to leave because of the presence of a big, bad tiger, Shere Khan (who bears the scars of man), who is out to get him. Along the way, the man-cub encounters creatures that don’t exactly have his best interests at heart. They include Kaa, a python whose seductive voice and gaze is hypnotic, and the smooth-talking King Louie, who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to what is known as red flower: fire. But on his side is a free-spirited honey loving bear, Baloo.
Newcomer Neel Sethi stars as the film’s only human character, Mowgli. Sethi, 12, was selected from thousands of hopefuls who auditioned as part of an extensive worldwide search. The cast also includes the voice talents of Bill Murray (Lost in Translation) as Baloo, Ben Kingsley (Learning to Drive) as Bagheera, Idris Elba (Prometheus) as Shere Khan and Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years A Slave) as mother wolf Raksha. Scarlett Johansson (Avengers: Age of Ultron) gives life to Kaa, Giancarlo Esposito (Breaking Bad) provides the voice of alpha-male wolf Akela and Christopher Walken (The Deer Hunter) lends his vocals to King Louie. Jon Favreau (Iron Man) directs from a screenplay by Justin Marks (Top Gun 2).
The first question I have is why? Why was it necessary to make yet another Jungle Book movie when there have been so many, including a 1994 version and The Jungle Book 2 in 2003. Secondly, why so violent and menacing? It was enough to scare me, let alone little kids, who – after all – are the ones I would have thought the story is really aimed at, although you wouldn’t know that from what you see and the resultant PG rating. Littlies may be left traumatised, so my advice is not to take them if they are under 9.
Next, you have the music, which clearly has borrowed heavily from the original animated musical comedic version of The Jungle Book. Suddenly breaking out into song on a few occasions in this action adventure felt decidedly out of place. The plot is reasonably menacing throughout and the only real fun that Mowgli has is with the notoriously slothful Baloo. I wasn’t totally sold on the animation and CGI graphics, although I liked the characterisation of Bagheera – cautious and taciturn that he is.
Neel Sethi goes okay for his first outing, but the material with which he has to work is limited in its scope. So, all in all, my jungle drums weren’t beating all that hard.
Rated PG, The Jungle Book scores a 5½ out of 10.
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Scarlett Johansson
Release Date: 7 April 2016
Rating: PG
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television