Mark your calendars to remind yourself that this was the weekend that revolutionized the digital imaging within live-action films. Remaking the 1967 cartoon version of “The Jungle book” was a risky move by Disney. From the start, they must’ve realized the amount of post-production talent that they would need in order for the CGI to even be accepted. I myself would have never guessed that this movie would be the one to exceed the limit and break the barrier of 2009’s “Avatar”.
When I go on and on about the incredible look of all the animals within the film, I am not at all exaggerating. I was constantly blown away by the CG within this movie. The amount of detail put into the creation of the animals from thin air was impeccable and just extremely amazing. Before getting into the storyline and the characters I just want to give a huge round of applause to director Jon Favreau for really putting together a remarkable piece of art. So this is me, clapping.The Plot:
For those of you who have never seen one of the many adaptations of “The Jungle Book,” the story follows a young boy named Mowgli, played by Neel Sethi, who was found by Bagheera, voiced by Ben Kingsley, a panther who somewhat acts as the peacekeeper and father of the jungle. Constantly checking up on the different animals and making sure that everyone is treating each other fairly. While Mowgli may be a man-cub, Bagheera knew that he would never survive without a family, so he brought him to a pack of wolves where a female wolf named Raksha, voiced by Lupita Wyong’o, would care for him and teach him the ways of the jungle and the wolf-pack.
When the jungle faced a drought, the wolves led the animals into a peace offering to allow everyone to safely drink from the little water that they all had to share. This is where we are introduced to the tiger Shere Khan, voiced by Idris Elba. He hates the idea of a man-cub living within the animal’s kingdom and wants him dead to assure that he will never kill any of them when he grows up. In truth, it’s an understandable worry for an animal within the jungle to have, but as humans, we see Shere Khan as a menace who is destroying the peace that the jungle has worked hard to keep. Due to the water truce, Sheer Khan is given to choice but to let Mowgli live, yet he gives his threats that as soon as the rain returns he will kill the man-cub. It’s a chilling introduction for Sheer Khan and perfect for the audience to fall in love with the movie’s villain.
When the rain finally returns, Mowgli is given no choice but to leave the jungle and find his own kind where he can grow into the culture of a real man. Bagheera leads him on this journey where Mowgli meets many different animals. Including Baloo, voiced by Bill Murray, Kaa, voiced by Scarlett Johansson and King Louie, voiced by Christopher Walken.
The Characters:
The cast within the film couldn’t have been better. All of the voice actors have distinct voices that truly add some character towards the animals that they portrayed, plus their voice completely grasps the personality of each character. Elba’s voice represents the haunting…
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