The Jungle Book

Year: 2016
Genre: Action Adventure
Directed: Jon Favreau
Stars: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling
Production: Walt Disney Studios

I realize that this particular argument is going to fall on deaf ears, especially given the excellent quality of the latest installment of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book." Yes it's epic, yes it has cutting edge special-effects, yes the young Neel Sethi does a great job and the voice acting is superb. Yet with the sequel to the brooding live-action Snow White adaptation limping to the barn on the same weekend and with word that Pinocchio (1940), Sword in the Stone (1963) and Mulan (1998) are all getting their own gritty live-action reboots, I can't help but think of the big picture.

Coming 2019

Unless you've lived under a rock for the last fifty years, you probably already know the plot of The Jungle Book. Mowgli (Sethi) is a young human (hereto known as a man-cub) raised by wolves in the thick jungles of India. After a run-in with malevolent tiger Shere Khan (Elba), the creatures of the jungle decide it'd be best if Mowgli finds shelter among his own kind. While Shere Khan is out for blood, the young man-cub is protected by Bagheera the panther (Kingsley), Baloo the bear (Murray), and Raksha (Nyong'o) and Akela the wolves (Esposito). Rounding out the cast are Kaa the snake (Johansson), the late Garry Shandling playing a porcupine and Christopher Walken who is pitch perfect as Louie king of the apes.

One could easily see the appeal of this story, not only from a narrative point of view but also from a bottom-line, surefire studio box office draw point of view. The film aptly plays upon the nostalgia of adults who grew up with The Jungle Book (1967) on VHS, while introducing kids to the litany of interesting characters that color the pages of Kipling's original tome. Not only are all your favorite characters on the screen but so are the only two songs you remember from the animated version. Sure the segues into the songs are a bit tortured, and no child under fifteen is going to walk out the theater humming them, but at least adults can carry the ditties in their heads, vaguely remembering the voices of Phil Harris and Louis Prima.

Round the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran.

Disney Studios really does have a blockbuster on their hands but to hedge their bets they probably used an army of twitchy, caffeinated, sun deprived special-effects gurus to ensure that not a single shot was done anywhere near a jungle. Instead the entire film was beautifully recreated on a sound stage. No matter, as the environments are so well contextualized and director Jon Favreau's eye is so keen that you really can't tell. Furthermore the animal characters were so well done that at times the voice-acting couldn't quite jell, not because it was sloppily done but because the faces of the animals were so well mapped out, that it seemed impossible for Bagheera for example to roll his R's.

The Jungle Book continues a trend started by Cinderella (2015) as a faithful, gorgeous and oh so twee adaptation of Disney's long line of animated movies, themselves based on older stories, novellas and legends. Disney has had a lot of false starts with the goofy 101 Dalmatians (1996), the befuddled Maleficent (2014) and the abhorrently cynical Alice in Wonderland (2010). And of course there's the inspired but long forgotten 1994 Jungle Book which not only captured the essence of it's source material but added on some anti-colonialist subtext. It's hardily recommended you check that adaptation out before concluding the most recent adaptation to be the end-all-be-all.

As I said, I can't help but look at the big picture. That picture is cluttered; filling to the brim with further adaptations and reboots and sequels and prequels that prey upon your nostalgia to sell tickets and overpriced popcorn. They're not even subtle about it anymore. Jon Favreau, who has been known to take bold directorial risks every now and again, seems to be playing it safe for the foreseeable future; which is a real shame. Even on autopilot, Favreau makes something like this, which is a topnotch piece of mass-media entertainment. Imagine what he could do if he finally went off the chain.

Final Grade: C+