The Jungle Book

Today I will be reviewing a movie that just topped the box office for it’s third weekend in a row. The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau, came out on April 15, 2016. It is Disney’s big screen take on the popular children’s book of the same title. I enjoyed this movie more than I thought I would. It has been a huge success so far. Here is my breakdown on why.

Movie cover courtesy of http://www.imdb.com

For those of you who do not know, 

director Jon Favreau is also the director of one of the greatest cinematic trilogies of all time: The Iron Man trilogy. He did a phenomenal job with those movies, along with directing well known films such as Chef (2014), Zathura (2005), and everyone’s favorite Christmas movie, Elf (2003). Along with being a talented director, Favreau is also a gifted actor. He has made appearances in many movies. As a matter of fact, I am almost positive you would recognize him if you saw a picture, so I’ll put one right down below.

Jon Favreau courtesy of http://www.biography.com

Favreau brought The Jungle Book to life with action, comedy, drama, amazing CGI, and a fantastic integration of characters, without losing sight that he is creating an adventure story for children. Although I think a dark, mature, violent take on the Jungle Book would have been totally bad-ass, this one was good too. Fever created a movie entertaining for people all ages and interests. I mean, who doesn’t like the Jungle Book?

The Jungle Book was the story of a young child named Mowgli who was raised by the wolves in the jungle. After a furious tiger, Shere Khan, learns of the wolves raising a man, Mowgli is forced to leave his home. Guided by a wise black panther and being hunted by the tiger, Mowgli goes on an adventure meeting an array of jungle animals along the way. On his epic journey of self-discovery he learns valuable life lessons and makes friendships that will last forever. First off, the thing that impressed me the most about this movie was how it was made. The CGI animals were phenomenal. They looked so realistic you could hardly tell that Mowgli wasn’t actually riding a real black panther. Fever was also able to create the effect of the animals talking without making it look fake or stupid. Young actor Neel Sethi did a great job playing Mowgli. Although maybe this is just the children’s movie aspect to the film, I thought some of the movie got a little cheesy. Some of the lines and dialogue was a little too fake and almost reminded you that the movie was directed towards kids. But that’s just me.

My favorite part in this movie by far was Mowgli’s experiences with Baloo the bear. They became best friends as they went on comical adventures finding honey and floating down rivers. Also, the “Bear Necessities” song is my favorite part of the book and animated film. They made sure to include this part in the movie too, and they did a great job.

Mowgli and Baloo courtesy of http://screenrant.com

So that’s my take on the movie. I recommend you go see it if you haven’t already. Although it was definitely not one of my favorite movies, it was great for children and families and entertaining non the less. I would give it an overall score of 7/10.