Disney's The Jungle Book

Living in the jungle is the only life Mowgli has ever known. Rescued by Bagheera, a black panther, Mowgli grew up under the wolves' protection. For years, Mowgli lived in peace among the animals of the jungle, though he never quite fit in - he had his own way of accomplishing certain things, and the other animals didn't quite appreciate his ways. Still, Mowgli manages to stay out of too much trouble - until a tiger by the name of Shere Khan returns to the jungle from being in exile. Shere Khan immediately tries to get rid of Mowgli for reasons unknown to Mowgli. To help the boy survive, Bagheera attempts to help Mowgli return to the man village where his real family belongs and he will be safe from the wrath of Shere Khan.

To start off, I have never read the book by Rudyard Kipling, of which this movie, the 1994 version and the 1967 animated Disney movie are all loosely based on. I've only seen the three movie adaptations. I don't remember much of the 1994 version, but I absolutely love the animated movie. It's not my favorite Disney animated movie, but it's up there. Watching Jon Favreau's latest adaptation brought back so many great memories of singing along to the songs and watching the animated version as a kid. Jon creates a beautifully dark, mysterious world of the jungle where danger lurks around every corner. The animated Disney film has some moments where there is somewhat of a feeling of danger and suspense, but Jon Favreau manages to actually make the audience feel the darkness and the seriousness of the situation(s) unfolding onscreen. What's even more amazing is how the entire world of the jungle is CGI, including the animals. I've seen enough movies to where I can usually tell what's CGI and what isn't, and yet I had a really tough time figuring it out. As far as the visual elements go, I'd go so far to say this was on the level of movies such as Life of Pi and Avatar. Scarlett Johansson is absolutely freaking creepy yet wonderful as Kaa the snake, and Idris Elba is a very convincing villain as the evil tiger Shere Khan. Newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli is a joy to watch. I think it's safe to say he's got a great career ahead of him if he keeps it up. A small warning - there might be a few parts involving Shere Khan and possibly the sequence with Kaa where really young kids might have a hard time watching if they get scared easily. There aren't any truly scary parts (this isn't something like Pirates of the Caribbean after all), but there are some pretty intense and dark moments.

For those who may or may not be worried about the dark aspect, thankfully the film as a whole isn't all 'doom and gloom'. There are a few times involving Bill Murray as Baloo the bear which brings about a whimsical sense of adventure. Not to mention, there are a couple short instances which hark back to the animated movie by recreating a couple of the original songs. It was great to hear songs like The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You on the big screen again. I loved it so much I ended up being in a Disney kind of mood and listened to my Disney station on Pandora on the way home. Heck, I haven't stopped listening to it since then.

Personally, my only problem was one humorous scene involving Mowgli getting some honey down from a large cliff for Baloo that kind of felt like it dragged on for too long. Don't get me wrong, the whole scene was funny, and a welcome change from the gloomy aspect of the whole story, but it also kind of took away from me being invested in the rest of the movie as a whole. That was the only part that kind of dragged for me. Otherwise, Disney's The Jungle Book is a beautiful, wonderful story which I firmly believe is a must see.