Welcome back, Mowgli and Baloo. The Jungle Book, Disney’s latest animated-to-CGI adaptation, brings us back to the jungle. Director Jon Favreau creates a place as vivid as any in recent memory, while mostly enhancing what made the animated version great. Plus Bill Murray as Baloo is as brilliant a casting as Favreau’s last one: Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man.
All of your favorites are back here as completely CGI’ed animals, anchored by little Mowgli (Neil Sethi). Mowgli starts the movie running with a wolf pack and his mother Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o). He leaves his pack when Shere Khan the tiger (Idris Elba) threatens the wolves for protecting Mowgli because of mistrust of man. Aided by Bagheera the panther (Ben Kingsley), Mowgli then tries to find his own people. On the way he runs into Kaa the snake (Scarlett Johansson), King Louie (Christopher Walken), and bear Baloo (Bill Murray), who teaches Mowgli how to embrace his true self.
This movie is drop dead gorgeous. The tracking shots in the jungle are exquisitely colored, and sometimes majestic in scope. The detail is also quite amazing; this is one of the first times I have seen a very large flying insect population in a jungle, a common afterthought that Favreau stunningly brings to life. Amazingly, no animals were used here; they are all CGI creations. A great amount of thought went into animal movements (voluntary and involuntary) and look of each creature, giving each individual creature – and there are hundreds – a distinct personality. Avatar is probably the last large world created in a movie, and the Jungle Book’s world is as beautiful as that one: well deserved high praise.
As for the story, it mostly succeeds. I took a look at the animated film sort of recently, and it has not aged super well: it’s just an ok effort from Disney. The through story of Favreau’s version is fine: about Mowgli discovering where he belongs. Shere Khan is just as menacing, and Baloo is just as lovable. The movie is 2 hours long, too much for kids. There are a few parts that could have been cut to clean up the running time including (sadly) King Louie’s section. Some of the songs from the original are used, including the beloved “Bare Necessities.” That one was ok, since it fits Baloo’s personality. However, Favreau in general struggles with the song use: he can’t decide if this Jungle Book is a musical or not. The strongest sections of the movie are the Mowgli/Baloo scenes, which are funny and fun in all the right ways. As long as those scenes worked, the Jungle Book was always gonna be entertaining.
Neel Sethi does admirably as a first time actor acting across from tennis balls. He hits scene balance reasonably well; many of his shortcomings are due to Favreau’s questionable direction, like the forced conflict with Bagheera. For the animals, Idris Elba growls his way through Shere Khan; he was scary enough for me. Ben Kingsley and Lupita Nyong’o exude discipline and quiet warmth as Mowgli’s surrogate parents. Scarlett Johansson is well cast as the mysterious Kaa, as well as (RIP) Gary Shandling as a porcupine. But, obviously, Bill Murray could not more perfectly fit Baloo’s personality. Murray’s jovial, loving behavior makes Baloo a laugh riot when hanging out with Mowgli, but also Murray gives Baloo a deceptive ferocity of friendship when Mowgli needs him to step up. As good as the final act is, the best moment is right before, when Baloo takes on Shere Khan to protect his friend; that scene works so well because of Murray’s voice acting.
Jon Favreau clearly loved Rudyard Kipling’s story. While sometimes intense, The Jungle Book can be loved by almost everyone. Kids will love the animals and songs. Adults will love the magical CGI and nostalgia of the first. And everyone will love Bill Murray.