"Jungle Book" Review - Forget About Your Worries!

"Jungle Book” is seriously so fantastic. This is how a remake of anything should be done. Let’s get the basics out of the way first. The cast, both Neel Sethi, and every voice actor including Bill Murray and Christopher Walken was brilliant! The cinematography was incredible, and the music was truly epic and lush. But really, there are two big reasons why this movie is amazing.

1.The effects- When I first heard there was going to be a remake of this, I didn’t believe it would do well because I didn’t think after movies like Cinderella or Alice In Wonderland that the effects would be taken seriously enough. Obviously, Jon Faverou proved me wrong in every possible way. This is probably the biggest leap of faith in VFX since “Life of Pi”. Everything you see except Mowgli is green screen. And yet nothing feels campy, out of place, oversaturated, or fake. The forests, the grass, the rocks, and the animals were created so flawlessly around the one human child that it still baffles me how nothing is real. No matter how the cinematography is work, everything still feels life-like. If something felt weird to me, it’s only because I’m a film major and I notice these tiny details. To the regular moviegoer, it won't be a problem.

2.The honor to the original movie- Jungle Book was one of the first Disney movies I remember as a kid. It’s a classic to me. The biggest problem with these Disney remakes so far has been the idea of what works in a live action movie and what doesn’t. For example, in Cinderella, there was no need for the mice and Lucifer to play Tom and Jerry. It works in a cartoon because it’s not real, but in a live action movie, it just looks stupid. What made this movie so good was the it treated itself more seriously than the original. There’s no dancing bears, or Beatles vultures, or singing elephants, but all the short little stories of the original Jungle Book were still honored in the best way. The movie had a very hefty and suspenseful plot which helped bind these funny stories together into such an adventurous and crazy new film. And by keeping “Bare Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You”, the only two songs I ever cared about, this new adaption does an insanely perfect job at being a more mature tale, but still honoring the fun and joy of the 1967 movie.

If Disney takes their future remakes as seriously as “The Jungle Book”, then maybe all these remakes aren’t such a bad idea after all. Only time will tell. But for now, major props to Jon Faverou. GO SEE THIS MOVIE GODDAMNIT.

Two Nebs Up!