The Jungle Book - Another Disney Classic Coming To Life

Certificate – PG

Directed by – Jon Favreau

Starring – Neel Sethi; Bill Murray (voice); Sir Ben Kingsley (voice); Idris Elba (voice); Scarlett Johansson (voice); Christopher Walken (voice); Lupita Nyong’O (voice).

Running Time – 106 minutes (1 hour 46 minutes)

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 ★★★★½

It doesn’t matter how old you are, we’ve all seen the classic 1967 Disney animated film and passed it down from generation to generation and the songs 'The Bare Necessities' and 'I Want To Be Like You' were embedded in our brains. Now fast forward 49 years and director Jon Favreau as done the impossible and brought that film to life in a way that will never be seen again.

I LOVED EVERY SECOND OF THIS FILM!! From the second this film starts you are immersed in this jungle and the big reason is because of the ground breaking CGI.

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It’s incredible to think this film was shot in a studio loot/warehouse in LA and I truly believe, as I mentioned in my intro, Favreau has made the most digitally enhanced film ever and I don’t know if you could take what he did further, this is it, Favreau has taken it to the edge.

Another big reason way this film is brilliant is because of the superb cast. Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli, was brilliant and the way he was interacting with the environment and the CG animals was superb to watch and it made the experience become more real.

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The voice cast was superb, I mean, Bill Murray as Baloo was pure genius and he made me smile from the second he came on screen and brought so much humour to the film. Then you have Sir Ben Kingsley’s Bagheera and this was Sir Ben at his best and was very stoic and protective. I also enjoyed Lupita Nyong’O as Raksha, who was completely believable that even though Mowgli was different from her cubs, she protected him like her own son.

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The stand outs were differently Murray’s Baloo and Idris Elba, who was very intimidating and menacing as Shere Khan and he even made me jump out of my seat a few times.

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Is it scary for kids? Sort of. Even though it’s a PG it does have its scary moments, however, if your child or little brother or sister have watched The Lion King and was able to handle it, then I think they should be fine, but only you know your little one, so if you’re unsure go and see it first and judge for yourself.

The other great thing Favreau did was able to manage was bringing the magic of the 1967 classic, but making it feel up-to-date and fresh for a new generation and a best example is the music. This was a big thing on my checklist, I wanted to see/hear two certain songs and they delivered on them and they’re brilliant and they made just the right amount of changes to fit with the story.

I mean, who doesn’t what to hear Christopher Walken’s King Louie sing one of these classic songs.

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Just one tiny negative, and it’s more of a personal thing, try and see it in 2D instead of 3D as it pulls you out of the film sometimes.

Verdict

An outstanding piece of cinema. With beautiful CG, superb voice acting and acting from young Neel Sethi it captures the magic of the Disney classic and now kids have a classic that will live forever.