Genre: Disney, Remake, Adventure
The Jungle Book Movie
Review
I wasn’t particularly excited to see The Jungle Book, don’t get
me wrong; I love Disney and I am loving these live action remakes (Maleficent
is a different story) but The Jungle Book was never one of my favourites. I
wanted to see this film but in a I’ll check it out eventually way not a I need to see this film before I explode way.
Nonetheless, I was hearing great things about this and somehow managed to
convince my mom (who I have established before has a tendency to fall asleep
during films at the cinema and I have to bribe her half the time to go with me)
and my step dad (who loathes all children’s
films and constantly makes fun out of my love for them!)
The effects are brilliant, for a film that primarily has one
human in it and the rest of the characters are animals - it’s amazing and props
for that. I made a grave mistake in not researching the voice actors before
viewing because it drove me nuts throughout the film, I was half-convinced Liam
Neeson was doing a voice in there somewhere I was that keen to put a name to
the characters. Scarlett Johansson was an obvious (and the one voice I knew before
viewing anyway) and I guess she played a good part as a snake? I was watching
through my fingers (I have a serious fright of snakes and that entire scene made
me incredibly uncomfortable) which I guess means it was successful since creepy
and uneasy is probably what they were going for since Kaa is technically a
villain (and rather underused in this film actually.) I was sure Kaa makes a
second appearance in the animation (I know how dare I compare the two, the
horror!) but it meant I was on edge, waiting for that slimy killing machine to
reappear. Alas, I was surprisingly disappointed (I love the character in the animation;
he’s hilarious – even if he is a slimy, grotesque creature.)
 |
| And the snake in this is evil. I rest my case on why they cannot be trusted! |
I was pleasantly surprised to hear some of the songs from
the animated movie make an appearance and not in that ‘it’s a musical, let’s all
burst into song’ kind of way, it fit in very well and subtle too, I thought.
Now, let’s talk about Neel Sethi (Mowgli) I love Hollywood’s
use of a relatively new actor and fresh face – we see too many of the same
names pop up all the time and I was thanking the lord we didn’t see some Disney
Channel brat in this film. Did I think his performance was fantastic? No, I wasn’t
particularly fond of his performance and several times throughout the film he
grated on me, however this could land on ‘Mowgli’s’ shoulders since I found the
character to be a real brat at times in this film to the point where I was
rolling my eyes and internally telling him to shut the heck up. I have to hand
it to the kid though, first major role and carrying an entire movie, surrounded
by a CGI environment no less – maybe he really is a better actor than I’m
giving him credit for, only time will tell.
 |
| I got a bad ass attitude. And scratches. Lots of scratches. And bee-stings. |
The storytelling in this is great and rarely differs from
the animated film which shoot me or whatever (I know I keep mentioning it) but
I prefer this than a retconned attempt to make it ‘fresh and exciting’ – there are
some films I don’t want a book adaptation of when there is a stunning Disney animated
adaptation of it. The suspense was fantastic for a child friendly film also,
there was one part where I gasped and covered my mouth in shock – my mom nudged
my step dad and they both laughed at me for it. Cheers!
 |
| Now this is what I call my spirit animal. |
If I’m being honest, I was slightly disappointed with this
film and sadly, I realised that about halfway through. It’s a good film,
believe me and I think my issue with the film was my primary source of
excitement came from the hype and for me it didn’t live up to it and I like I
said at the beginning – The Jungle Book has never been a favourite of mine and
I’d probably list at least twenty other animated films to be my favourite
before I even thought of it so that connection isn’t there either.
Would I watch this again? Hell yeah, I might even appreciate
it more the second time around but am I going to rush out and watch it again
any time soon? Not likely. It’s just not that special.
I look forward to the next Disney live action remake though –
as long as it’s no Maleficent! I can’t be the only one who really wants to
watch the ’67 version now right?!
No comments:
Post a Comment