The Jungle Book (IMAX 3D)

The Jungle Book is the latest in a series of live action remakes of classic Disney animated movies. I absolutely loved last years Cinderella. It came very close to making my top ten list. So I was very interested in what they would do with this. I had of course seen the original 1967 movie and while I liked it, it was far from my favorite Disney movie. It was fun and damn did those songs get stuck in my head. So how's this version? Well, it's not perfect but it's still really good. 

I haven't watched the original in years but from what I recall this is pretty much the same story. After the death of his parents as an infant, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is found in the jungle by the panther Bagherra (voiced by Ben Kingsley) and raised in a wolf pack by his adopted mother Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o). But soon the jungle becomes too dangerous for the young man cub when the fearsome tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) returns and will stop at nothing to hunt Mowgli down and kill him. 

I can see why they wanted to remake this. Technology has come a long way and you can do so many more things now in terms of visuals than you could just a few years ago. A lot of the credit here should go to the visual effects team for their amazing work. If I hadn't known ahead of time I would've guessed they used real animals. You can't even tell the difference. And it all looks amazing on an IMAX screen (although I didn't notice the 3D at all). 

As far as the kid who plays Mowgli, he's not that great of an actor. There's several dramatic scenes in here and he just couldn't pull it off. I can see why director Jon Favreau cast him though. He's a cut kid and he looks the part. This is his first movie so hopefully he'll get better with experience. 

The actors they got to do the voice work were wonderful. Idris Elba has such a powerful, commanding voice that he was a perfect choice for Shere Khan. 

For those going into this expecting a musical like the original, you might be disappointed. There's only two musical numbers. I absolutely hated what they did to Bear Necessities. So much so that I had to take a point off my rating. However, I really liked Christopher Walken's version of I Wanna Be Like You. Very catchy. 

While I liked Cinderella better, I would still recommend The Jungle Book. It's a well made movie that can be enjoyed by both kids and adults. 

My Rating: 8/10