Jungle Book, The (2016) [Blu-ray]
Action | Adventure | Drama | Fantasy

Tagline: The legend will never be the same.

In an epic adventure directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man), Mowgli, a man-cub raised in the jungle by a family of wolves, embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery when he's made to abandon the only home he's ever known. Featuring an all-star voice cast including Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley and Scarlett Johansson, The Jungle Book is "stunning" (Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter).

Storyline: The evil Ravenna finds that her sister Freya is pregnant and in love with a noble. Freya gives birth to a baby girl but her beloved lover murders the baby and her rage unleashes ice powers and she kills him. Freya heads to North and builds a palace and an army that captures children from the villages to be raised as soldiers without love. Years later, their children Eric and Sara are grown-up and in love with each other. They plan to flee from the castle, but Freya finds and builds an ice wall between them. Eric sees Sara being murdered stabbed on her back by their friend Tull and he is dumped in a frozen river but he survives. Eric, a.k.a. The huntsman grieves the death of his beloved Sara on a daily basis. One day, Snow White is ill and her husband seeks out Eric to tell that the Magic Mirror was taken while carried to a place called Sanctuary. Eric teams-up with two dwarfs to find the mirror, but they are attacked by Freya army and saved by Sara that is alive. She tells that she ... Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Martin Liebman, August 20, 2016 When Disney was busily assembling The Jungle Book about fifty years ago, nobody involved -- not the storytellers, not the animators, not the voice actors, not anybody involved in the process -- could have imagined that the film could be made any other way. It couldn't be told any other way, either. The story, based on Author Rudyard Kipling's turn-of-the-century stories in The Jungle Book, is one of high adventure, fraught with danger, set deep in the jungle, and features a boy living with, and escaping from, a number of talking and singing animals. That can only be made in the animation department, assuming the world never sees a true-life Dr. Doolittle (a movie which, coincidentally, released only two months after The Jungle Book). Fast-forward to 2016. Anything is possible on the screen. Even talking and singing animals interacting with real humans and real environments. No, Dr. Doolittle hasn't been found and talked the animals into working on a movie set and taking direction. This is the computer age, the age of digital creation. Director Jon Favreau (Zathura) has made use of that technology and reinvented the beloved Disney animated film in a largely seamless retelling that almost passes for real in most of its moments, that features a flesh-and-bone human boy interacting with the world around him -- talking animals included -- in the latest Disney live-action update that's also a hallmark visual effects film.

Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is an orphan boy who has been raised by wolves deep in the jungle. He speaks, as does his family, including his stand-in mother Raksha (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o), pack leader Akela (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito), and friend Grey (voiced by Brighton Rose), a young wolf cub. He's welcome in the jungle and by the other animals, so long as he, more or less, behaves as one and doesn't use his "man skills" to enhance his life or alter the natural world and animal order around him. Things change when a tiger named Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba), whose personal history with man has left him burned and blinded in one eye, declares his intention to prevent Mowgli from growing into a dangerous man. Khan will restrain himself so long as an animal pact of peace made during a challenging dry spell holds, but when the rains come, Khan will come for his prey. When those torrential rains do come, Mowgli decides to leave the jungle to live amongst his own kind rather than endanger everything, and everyone, he holds dear. With the help of the one who found him as a child -- a kindly, learned, and experienced Panther named Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) -- Mowgli sets off on a perilous journey towards whatever new home awaits him.

This updated take on The Jungle Book is, tonally, much darker than its singing-and-dancing, vibrantly colorful, and often full-of-cheer animated counterpart. While that film did indeed dabble in many of the same themes, it kept open exploration to a minimum, preferring mild peril, cuddly companions, and song. The 2016 re-imagining finds a much more definitive balance between the dueling stylings. While most of the songs have been removed (two key tunes remain) and Mowgli is depicted as dirty, scarred, and even bloody for the duration of the film, there remains an underlying charm beyond harm's way in his interactions with his animal friends, whether the wolves, Bagheera, or Baloo. The favorite bear, voiced by Bill Murray, lightens the mood considerably but plays a critical part in reinforcing themes of family and friendship both as he's introduced and at a key moment late in the film. Director Favreau keeps the film perfectly balanced, never allowing its very tangible frights, or its welcome and familiar lighter moments, to dominate. The film's adventure is perilous, its humor joyous, and its heart obvious. It is, in many ways, a better film than the original, lacking the simplistic charm but finding its center, and its own identity, in its ability to tell a more complete story while maintaining a similar, but not quite so effortless, family friendly balance.

The Jungle Book does update bits and pieces of the story. Key components of its bookends are noticeably different from the animated version, though the changes fit the structural needs and thematic unfolding that this version presents. Maintaining, rather than evolving, a few portions of the storyline would have lessened this film's dramatic impact and flow. Otherwise, it plays out much the same. Broader sequences follow suit to be sure. Animals are introduced in practically the same order, and the film is lengthened with new content even as it eliminates most of the musical numbers. The digital effects are terrific. Some of the smaller animals, particularly as the operate at medium distance from the camera, tend to look a little less organic, but the big boys -- Bagheera, Baloo, Shere Khan, Raksha, King Louie, and Kaa -- look amazing, down to the finest fur or, in Kaa's case, scale. Movement is organic and natural, and the seamless integration into the live-action world and alongside a human actor is an astonishing achievement. Favreau's direction is smooth and involved, capturing broad action and emotional intimacy alike with visual clarity and an understanding of the movie's narrative flow. Cinematographer Bill Pope (The Matrix) captures the grandeur, grace, and underlying dangers of the jungle environment -- close-in locations and expansive vistas alike -- with breathtaking precision.

Disney's foray into live-action moviemaking has produced its best yet with The Jungle Book, a wonderful retelling and modern updating of the classic and beloved animated film and Kipling story. It's a bit darker, but spiritually it's essentially the same movie. Lovingly crafted from top to bottom, the film is a validation of Disney's new direction with its old favorite classics. The Jungle Book's Blu-ray release comes with more than the bare necessities. Video and audio are at the top of the food chain. The supplemental selection is fine, too. Highly recommended.


[CSW] -3.6- The movie was excellent. The visual effects were gorgeous, and the music was a lot of fun. And the story was really well paced, so it doesn't feel long. Neel Sethi is a perfect Mowgli and the casting of the voice actors is pretty much spot on. A menagerie of wonderful CGI beasts punctuates this traditional tale of Mowgli, the man cub, fleeing from a vengeful tiger. It was nicely done in the spirit of the original animation but with a sinister edge.
[V5.0-A5.0] MPEG-4 AVC - D-Box.


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