Film Review: ‘The Jungle Book’ is a Technical Marvel Missing Some Magic

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CHICAGO – While Disney Studios’ new live action version of “The Jungle Book” is an improvement over the 1967 animated version, it’s more of a technical marvel than magical fable. And it’s unable to completely transcend the earlier version’s limitations.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

“Iron Man” director Jon Favreau has created a storybook jungle almost entirely in green screen, with nary a real animal, jungle vine, or leaf in sight, but the result on screen is spectacular to look at. The jungle itself is highly stylized, but also amazingly realistic. I actually didn’t realize that none of it was authentic until I checked my production notes after I got home from the theater.

This story unfortunately sticks closer to the flawed animated musical version, which had only a passing resemblance to the original Rudyard Kipling texts. It centers on a young orphan boy Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), who is left alone in the jungle and raised by a pack of wolves. He’s raised under the watchful eye of the panther Bagheera (voice of Ben Kingsley) until the Bengal Tiger Shere Khan (a perpetually sneering Idris Elba) threatens his life.

”The Jungle Book” opens everywhere on April 15th. Featuring Neel Sethi, and the voices of Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Garry Shandling, and Christopher Walken. Screenplay adapted by Justin Marks. Directed by Jon Favreau. Rated “PG

StarContinue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of “The Jungle Book”

Neel Sehti
Neel Sehti as Mowgli in ‘The Jungle Book’
Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

StarContinue reading for Spike Walter’s full review of “The Jungle Book”

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