Film Review: The Jungle Book

The jungle is his home and the wolves his family. But Mowgli knows that he isn’t a wolf: his fondness for tricks is not the wolf way.

When Shere Khan, a vicious tiger with a hatred for man, threatens Mowgli, returning to the man village seems like the only course of action to keep him safe.

Meeting friends and foes alike, Mowgli begins his journey. But his love for the jungle and his family is strong and Mowgli refuses to leave while his family is in danger.

But to defeat Shere Khan, Mowgli must accept who – and what – he is.

Film: The Jungle Book

Director: Jon Favreau

Date: 2016

Rating: 3.75/5

The Jungle Book was the next in a long line of adaptations from Disney, turning their animated films into live action ones. But considering the nature and the plot of The Jungle Book, I knew it was going to be something a bit different.

Technically, this is a film with only one person in it. And a lot of voices. But wow… The CGI/effects/whatever you want to call it in this film is incredible. The animals look and move just as you would imagine. Dare I even say it looks realistic?

Is there such a thing as being too realistic, though? I am watching this as a 24-year-old. Yet there were scenes where I was holding my breath. The tension gets high early in the film and the realistic appearance of the animals means it is actually quite frightening when a tiger is chasing a young boy!

Personally, I thought this was a good film. However, it is rated a PG. I have a six-year-old cousin and if I had taken him to the cinema to see it on the big screen, I think he would have been terrified. Or develop a phobia of tigers. The film was powerful and well done, but I think more caution should have been used in the rating – there are no happy cartoon drawings to hide behind this time.

Neel Seethi (Mowgli) is an amazing actor. I was surprised to find out he was in his teens as Mowgli looks far younger. To be the only human actually filming, with everyone else supplying the voice-overs, shows he has incredible talent. It will be interesting to see where his career goes.

There were a lot of familiar voices. Ben Kingsley was fantastic as the long-suffering Bagheera while Bill Murray brought Baloo’s playful nature out really well. Idris Elba has the type of voice that can either be terrifying or really calming depending on how he stresses words and was perfect for Shere Khan, especially after hearing him do a voice-over in Zootropolis.

I really enjoyed The Jungle Book. It was tense and fast-paced from the offset but gave you time to catch your breath later on. Apart from concerns over the ratings, I would definitely recommend!

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