Starring: Neel Sethi, and voiced by Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, and Lupita Nyong'o
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Runtime: 106 mins. Reviewed in Apr 2016
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This is an American film about the adventures of a young boy raised by a pack of wolves. As he grows up, and to escape peril, he is urged by friendly animal creatures around him to leave his jungle home and return to his own kind. The film is based on Rudyard Kipling’s book of the same name, and is a live-action, fantasy interpretation of the animated movie of the same title, produced in 1967 by Walt Disney Studios.
Mowgli (Neel Sethi) takes the part “live” of a feral, young boy, raised in a jungle in India by a pack of wolves under the possessive protection of the pact’s mother-wolf, Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o). The community of animals around Mowgli mentors him in his passage to young adult-hood. He is helped especially by Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), the black panther, who first found him and placed him for protection in Raksha’s litter of cubs, and later, Baloo, a friendly, caring bear (Bill Murray).
Bagheera and Baloo know that Mowgli has to leave the jungle to escape Shere Khan (Idris Elba), the man-eating tiger who especially doesn’t like humans, and who is on the hunt for Mowgli and determined to devour him. They talk Moghli into fleeing for his own safety. Mowgli loves his jungle home, and is reluctant to go, but knows they are right.
On his journey out of the jungle, many exciting, fantastic adventures happen along the way. Mowgli encounters Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a fabulously seductive Python, who, after luring him with her friendly tone and lilting voice, tries unsuccessfully to eat him. He is also kidnapped by a group of monkeys who take him to their huge-sized leader, King Louie (Christopher Walken), the Orang-utan, who wants Mowgli to teach him the secret of creating fire, which King Louie has never been able to do. Mowgli eventually escapes the clutches of King Louie with the help of his friends. He confronts Shere Khan, to show his courage, and goes off to the “Man-village”. Bagheera, Baloo and his beloved family know at last that he will be safe where his own kind lives.
This movie captures enthrallingly the latest achievements in cinema techniques of photo-realism, computer-generated imagery, and motion-capture technology that were used to such advantage in film series like “The Hobbitt” and “The Lord of the Rings”, and movies like “Avatar” (2009) and “Life of Pi” (2012). The fusion of fantasy and reality in this film is absolutely wonderful. The animal characters are created by computer animation in extraordinary realistic juxtaposition to Neel Sethi’s live acting, and the realism of what the film creates is visually stunning.
The film’s Director, Jon Favreau, enlivens magnificently the cinematic depiction of Kipling’s classic tale. By achieving visual integration of fantasy and reality so well, the film enhances the dramatic appeal of a young boy’s coming of age, his passage to maturity, and his striving for independency in an animal world. The film helps also to re-establish the reputation of Disney Pictures after it has been losing out a little obviously to the brilliantly imaginative depictions produced by Pixar Studios. It was Pixar that was responsible for the award-winning films, “Toy Story”(1955), “Up” (2009), and “Inside Out” (2015), and this movie gets Disney right back there. The film also has some musical tunes in it, but they are almost a distraction to the compelling, live-fantasy action.
This is a highly entertaining and enjoyable fantasy produced for family viewing, but there is a proviso. Reflecting its Classification Advice, the film contains some very realistic scenes of impending peril and fear. Parents will be needed to give comfort to their young children, who hopefully will be seated beside them. When the scary scenes are over, however, everyone will enjoy the delightful, animated credits as the film concludes.
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