The Jungle Book
Dir. Jon Favreau
Watch Trailer
Continuing Disney's string of live action remakes of its beloved animated features, The Jungle Book definitely seemed worthy of an update after Life of Pi proved that CGI tigers can be A) Believable and B) Badass. Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Chef) has stated that this iteration of The Jungle Book is the most technologically advanced film ever made; everything, save for the main human character, Mowgli (Neel Sethi), was created in a computer and through a motion capture process similar to James Cameron's Avatar. It's a stunningly beautiful film from a pure "woah, that tree looks real!" standpoint. However, the film, for me anyway, felt like nothing more than a darker retread of familiar themes, with a bit of an identity crisis as it tries to be its own thing while sticking to Disney "fan moments" that seemed out of place in this more realistic world. Plus, it features a central performance by a child actor that was more annoying to listen to than the chatty kids in my theater bitching to their parents (I literally heard one say: "No, YOU shush!"). The Jungle Book '16 is a pleasant enough movie to watch, it moves at a nice pace, it's pretty to look at, the action looks great - but it just lacks that X-factor, that Favreau-ian sense of fun and originality that I got out of Iron Man and Chef.
