The wolf Raksha raises Mowgli as one of her own in the depths of the jungle, Mowgli becomes a man cub. Luckily Mowgli is found by a black panther named Bagheera and taken to a pack of Indian wolves to be looked after. A baby Mowgli is left for dead in the Indian jungle after his father is killed by the ferocious tiger Shere Khan. The plot is very simple with this tale, simple and dumb.

Yet.I believe most of this is generally coming from the Disney version, more so than the original stories, seemed that way. Although I will say right now that I have not seen the Disney movie since I was a kid and I have never read any of the Kipling stories sooo.I know almost zippo here. So basically you're getting bits that you will probably recognise taken straight outta the Disney classic, and bits that have been taken from the original stories that were left out of the Disney classic. We'll see classics like The Lion King, Mulan and others roll into this 'live-action' genre soon enough, but if they can match what The Jungle Book did aesthetically pound for pound, we'll be in for a treat.ĭespite the familiar title this movie is actually a blend of the classic 1967 Jungle Book movie from Disney, and Rudyard Kipling's collective works based around the adventures of Mowgli. The Jungle Book has opened up a new phase of remakes in Hollywood.

His interaction with each beast, whether it's hugging or stroking or bumping into, makes you wonder if he really did this with actual animals! The short run time also keeps us from fully developing certain characters from the books like Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) or King Louie (Christopher Walken), but we get a ton of fun with Baloo (Bill Murray), Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and one of the best animal/human villains, Shere Khan (Idris Elba). It really is like watching an animated movie come to life. Most of our time is spent with Neel Sethi as Mowgli while he traverses the jungle on two feet while his 'brethren' paw around on all fours. So while the eye is trained on marveling at the wonderful graphics like the ruffles of feathers or individual strands of hair or oddly accurate mouth movement for the animals who speak, all that together makes for one expensive show.Īt just over 90 minutes, The Jungle Book is a short-lived wonder. It should set a standard for future films in the industry that are interested in following the same lines as this one did. Right off the top, The Jungle Book is a visually-stunning, CGI-infused masterpiece.

Das Dschungelbuch by Rudyard Kipling