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| Shere Khan, photo courtesy of Disney.com |
Lost in a vibrant world of tangled trees, where serpentine danger lurks among gnarled branches, a little boy runs wild through an intoxicating and merciless jungle. Finding family in a pack of wolves, his greatest protector in a panther and his best friend in a bumbling bear, Mowgli must come to terms with his humanity or risk the destruction of his mammalian companions.
“The Jungle Book” will reach its flame deep into the minds of both children and adults, setting imaginations afire with a keenly created, fantastical world.
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| Photo courtsey of Disney.com |
Director Jon Favreau and screenplay writer Justin Marks infuse a classic tale with new life in a revitalization of stories written by Rudyard Kipling and popularized in Walt Disney’s final film animation of 1967. Neither exactly a live-action version of the original Disney film, nor entirely reliant on CGI, this film lies somewhere in between. Its computer effects gracefully illustrate an ethereal and dangerous world of wise-talking animals and outlandish adventure.
Neel Sethi stars as Mowgli in a strong feature-film debut, behaving with an understated naturalism, as if the Disney character stepped out of the cartoon jungle and onto the set.
Comparisons to the past are irrelevant; what Favreau has created here is both reverent to the Disney classic and Kipling’s tales, and yet utterly divergent. It is an amalgamation of a storybook, a coming-of-age hero tale, and a modern-paced spectacle, evolving into a metamorphosis of all three. It is it’s own special butterfly.
Favreau, whose greatest directorial successes are arguably “Elf” and “Iron Man,” skillfully draws on just the right amount of each flavor to create this modern “Jungle Book” revival.
“We had to draw inspiration not just from ‘Jungle Book,’ but also films like ‘Lion King’ and the big five animated ones,” said Favreau in an interview found on Slashfilm.com.
Some of this influence is strikingly apparent, namingly the stampede scene as Mowgli is caught in the fray of fleeing beasts. The death of Idris Elba’s antagonistic Shere Khan, as the scarred, giant tiger falls to the flames of the “red flower,” parallels a combination of Mufasa and Scar’s deaths in the “Lion King” perfectly.
None of these influences render the film as unoriginal, however.
After Disney experienced success with the live-action re-imaginations of “Cinderella” and “Maleficent,” they prepared to give Favreau the go-ahead, leaving the best of modern CGI technology at his disposal.
“To have those tools available for something other than a superhero movie was a big treat for me,” said Favreau.
The director certainly made the most of them. Favreau spent two years creating his own spectacular jungle world within the urban jungle of Los Angeles. The entire thing was filmed in a studio downtown, according to reviewer Andrew Barker for Variety.
Yet, “The Jungle Book” looks and feels as though it’s the real thing.
“I think just because you could do anything doesn’t mean you should do everything,” said Favreau, referring to the cinematography of the film.
While filming "Iron Man," Favreau learned sometimes the best way to infuse a film with a realistic thread is to shoot realistically, as if using an actual camera rig.
At one point the water of a swirling river splashes the camera lens. It’s almost overkill, but it doesn’t distract from the expertly-paced storyline.
Favreau’s choice in cinematography lends to the believability of the jungle world, leaving room for the viewer to immerse themselves in the blossoming relationships between Mowgli and his animal friends.
This story, though not the same as the 1967 version, makes enough nostalgic references to the original film to satisfy a generation of older moviegoers while inundating the film with a modern framework. Favreau holds back on the musical sequences, but deftly works in a short “Bare Necessities” number between Bill Murray’s Baloo and Sethi’s Mowgli.
Through most of the film, voice-acting cameos of star actors such as Scarlett Johansson and Idris Elba don’t distract from the believability of incredibly realistic yet expertly anthropomorphized animals. Unfortunately, when Christopher Walken’s voice hits the screen as King Louie, a jarring disconnect may occur for adult audiences. To hear such a distinctive voice, typecast in another villain role without seeing his actual face becomes disconcerting. When Walken’s gigantopithecus King Louie begins to sing “I Wanna Be Like You,” the melody sits out of tune with the overall direction of the film. But “The Jungle Book” quickly recovers from its falter, devolving into a crumbling action sequence.
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| King Louie, courtesy of Disney.com |
The film does not rely only on action and spectacle, pausing long enough to develop substantial character relationships and a jungle creation myth. Elephants lumber through the mists as ancient, revered creatures. Their tusks and hooves once dug ravines, creating rivers and forest, bringing life to the jungle setting.
Mowgli’s wolf pack recites part of one of Kipling’s poems “The Law of the Jungle,” surfacing the overarching theme.
Now this is the Law of the Jungle --
as old and as true as the sky;
And the Wolf that shall keep it may prosper,
but the Wolf that shall break it must die.
As the creeper that girdles the tree-trunk
the Law runneth forward and back --
For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf,
and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
“Wolf” no longer represents a uniformity or a rejection of Mowgli’s humanity, but the joining of differences to create strength in unity. In a re-visioning of the time-old story, Mowgli is not fated to return to civilization and live separate from his animal pack. Instead of emphasizing a division between animal and human, the film opens a door into the further lingerings of childhood imagination, one where a little boy is free to run wild in harmony with creatures of the jungle.
Favreau likened the production of this film to building a ship inside a bottle in the interview on Slashfilm.com. What seemed impossible became possible once every piece fit together like a puzzle, meticulously designed to rise together as something entirely new and different, captured inside an impossible vision.
Congratulations, Favreau. This ship in a bottle is sure to sail the seas of a million imaginations.
At A Glance:
“The Jungle Book,” released April 15, 2016Director: Jon Favreau
Genre: Children’s, Family, Adventure/Action
Screenplay: Justin Marks
Adaptation: From stories by Rudyard Kipling
Starring: Neel Sethi as Mowgli, Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Idris Elba as Shere Khan, Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa
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