Now THAT is how you remake a Disney film!
Disney’s 2016 The Jungle Book is by far their finest live action remake of an animated film, Jon Favreau’s best film since Iron Man, and on-par with the 1967 animated classic. What’s great about The Jungle Book is it blends nostalgic familiarity with interesting and exciting brand-new material: combining 1967 scenes, lines and songs with a remarkably different feeling and story—complete with a brand new ending. Even the familiar faces have refreshingly altered quirks and personalities. The Jungle Book succeeds with everything Cinderella’s remake failed to achieve, and offers an innovative new take on a great animated film.
Disney’s 2016 The Jungle Book is by far their finest live action remake of an animated film, Jon Favreau’s best film since Iron Man, and on-par with the 1967 animated classic. What’s great about The Jungle Book is it blends nostalgic familiarity with interesting and exciting brand-new material: combining 1967 scenes, lines and songs with a remarkably different feeling and story—complete with a brand new ending. Even the familiar faces have refreshingly altered quirks and personalities. The Jungle Book succeeds with everything Cinderella’s remake failed to achieve, and offers an innovative new take on a great animated film.
The plot tells of a young boy named Mowgli (Neel Sethi), who’s found as a baby alone in the jungle by a black panther named Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). Bagheera takes to being the boy’s foster father, raising him among a pack of wolves—with a female wolf named Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) becoming his mother figure. Soon the jungle’s peace is disrupted by the return of Shere Khan (Idris Elba), a man-eating tiger with a ruthless hate for humans. Khan demands the boy’s death, less the tiger begin dwindling down the pack; Mowgli decides to leave the wolves for their safety, Bagheera leading the boy to the nearest man village where he’ll be safe. The two are separated, however, by Shere Khan, initiating a lost Mowgli to be taken in by a sloth bear named Baloo (Bill Murray). Baloo suggests a partnership where the boy can remain in the jungle and live the bare necessities—yet Shere Khan has other ideas, and devises a sinister plan to make Mowgli come to him.
The Jungle Book’s visuals are outstandingly well-made, with both the setting and CGI animals. The film takes full advantage of India’s tropical climate, showcasing beautiful tropical forests, plains, watering holes, and even an ancient temple. The scenery is effective in setting the mood, such as the jungle having a dark and forbidding atmosphere when Mowgli first meets the rock python Kaa (Scarlett Johannsson), who’s abnormally large CGI figure makes for a far more menacing presence. Characters such as Shere Khan and King Louie (Christopher Walken) have, likewise, been given more intimidating appearances (Louie altered from a regular sized orangutan to a massive gigantopithecus), while Baloo is given softer facial features to balance between his formidably large size. The Jungle Book covers three 1967 tunes: The Bear Necessities, I Wanna Be like You, and Trust in Me (the latter playing during its credits). The song renditions are great, and a wonderful decision to have the first two sung during the film—a decision 2015’s Cinderella foolishly chose to forgo (the Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo rendition would have been great to hear during the film rather than during the credits).
The film’s biggest change is how it’s unexpectedly action-oriented, and a brutal one at that. Characters are straight up murdered, implied to die off-screen, and/or gashed, slashed, rammed, crushed, or mauled. Within the first-third there’s an intense chase sequence between Shere Khan and Mowgli—Bagheera barely preventing a surprise ponce by tackling the tiger, before being knocked out hard with a vicious slash. Shere Khan chases Mowgli into a ravine, creating an Oxen stampede (Stampede! In the Gorge!) where one violently rams the tiger to the ground, Mowgli escaping by clinging onto a stumbling Ox. Another scene has Baloo and Bagheera fending off a monkey army (using claws, teeth and crushing weight) while Mowgli evades the gigantic King Louie throughout a temple—Louie crushing stone pillars with his raw strength.
Jon Favreau takes the largely slapstick animated film and recreates it into an invigorating and thrilling action-adventure blockbuster (his work with superhero films most likely had a part in helping). Yet fear not, for while there’s certainly less goofy antics, The Jungle Book still contains a solid amount of wit and humor (comedy being what Jon Favreau does best!) Baloo provides the film’s majority comedic relief, with Bill Murray’s brand of humor working exceptionally well for the cynical, yet kindhearted bear (if there was anyone meant to play a modern age Baloo, it’s Bill Murray). While similar, the 2016 characters are far from carbon copies of the 1967 original. Baloo, for one, is a con artist, who fools others into doing his own work (a different breed of lazy), yet still retains his easygoing nature and heart of gold. Louie has gone from goofy king to wacky mob boss, while the elephants have leveled up in importance to the revered creators of the jungle (the other creatures bowing when in their presence). Kaa has had their gender-reversed—in addition to losing the goofy slapstick—looking entirely emotionless and gaining a highly intentional, very uncomfortable sensuality to their voice. The giant python seems less a villain than before, yet is still a far cry from the original book's wise, powerful mentor (though I’ve heard reports Andy Serkis plans to change Kaa’s cinematic villainous streak). The wolf pack now play a far more active role (in particular Raksha), while Bagheera…well, he’s pretty much the same: a respectable Panther with an awesome British voice.
The biggest character changes are with Shere Khan and Mowgli. Mowgli is a far cleverer man-cub than before, though still naïve enough to make mistakes and mature throughout the film. He’s an inventor of sorts, creating primitive tools to help him survive and overcome obstacles—a very cool idea that emphasizes his strengths over the intelligent, yet still primitive-living animals. As much as I adore the 1967 version, the 2016 remake has it completely beat when it comes to Mowgli. Shere Khan, on the other hand, is very different from his animated counterpart—yet is neither superior nor inferior, but rather an effective new take on the tiger. The 1967 Shere Khan is suave, polite and well-mannered—almost like a noble (or an...Aristocat!)—yet everything he does is calculative and there’s a sinister undertone to his words, mixed with fake compassion and an air of sporting pride. The 2016 Shere Khan is less well-mannered, more manipulative, and far crueler: devising sadistic schemes to get Mowgli to come to him, in addition to turning the jungle against the man-cub (similar to his book version). The aspect both Shere Khans have most in common is when his teeth and ambitions are bared (I’m on a roll with the animated Disney references), they become violent and merciless.
The Jungle Book is very different from its animated counterpart, and here, different is very good. The film is the finest live-action remake Disney’s made so far, and rivals the 1967 classic in quality entertainment. It adds plenty of new scenes and additions to blend with its nostalgic familiarity: reducing—though not eliminating—slapstick comedy for thrills and action. The film’s conclusion between Shere Khan, Mowgli and the jungle is an epic finale that matches even the best superhero blockbusters in raw action, excitement, and intensity. If Disney can keep up this refreshing seal of quality for future live-action remakes (I’m looking at you Beauty and the Beast), then the days of sub-par Cinderella/Sleep Beauty recreations might finally be over.
