Revisiting films, with KRK: The Jungle Book (2016)

Director: Jon Favreau
Screenplay: Justin Marks (based on the book by Rudyard Kipling)
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Neel Sethi
Music: John Debney
Time: 105 minutes
Bottom-line: Crafty, funny, and thrilling

If you are one of those people (like me) who dismissed The Jungle Book as a “children’s film”, revert that decision and book a ticket immediately! This film, released in India a week ahead of its US release, so that it coincided with the Indian New Year (and hence, the viewership would increase), is now the fourth highest grossing film of 2016.

Sethi as Mowgli, and Bagheera

Meet Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a man-cub raised by the Indian wolf pack, led by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito). Ever since he was brought there as an infant, by the Black Panther Bagheera (Kingsley), he has been raised by Raksha (Nyong’o). When a drought strikes, the Bengal Tiger, Shere Khan (Elba) picks off Mowgli’s scent, and, having been scarred by man before, demands Mowgli to be handed over by the end of the drought. As the wolves debate over whether they mustprotect Mowgli or let him go, Mowgli voluntarily leaves the pack to protect the others from harm. Along with Bagheera, he sets off to the man village. Mowgli’s adventures in his journey and his encounters with the python Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), the sloth bear Baloo (Murray) and the ape King Louie (Christopher Walken) are depicted throughout the rest of the film.

Mowgli, with Baloo

The story is adapted from both – Kipling’s original work, and Disney’s 1967 film. The Jungle Book balances the art of building a plot and the art of using computer graphics to give us a dazzling ride. The story is replete with humour, drama, and the message of friendship and courage. The CGI makes a big difference actually... the way the animals and sets were created was beautiful. Some scenes in particular really deserved praise, like the water truce (where every animal in the jungle is shown), the encounter with Kaa, and the final showdown with Shere Khan. As the director Jon Favreau said, all these effects gave a “dream-like” quality to the movie. There is a lot of humour too, thanks to the characters of Baloo (and friends) and the other wolves. The scene where Mowgli knocks down a bee hive for Baloo to get honey is perhaps the funniest scene in the film.

Shere Khan

Neel Sethi is quite impressive in his debut role as the man-cub Mowgli. The child artist shows joy, sadness, anger, courage, fear and pretty much every emotion in the book! Not to forget, his acting is perhaps the only thing where CGI wasn’t used, and it was a treat to watch this little guy shine! Everyone else did their bits well too! In particular I liked Johansson as Kaa – the scene where she tells Mowgli his tale, is really creepy, thanks to the graphics, and Johansson’s hypnotic voice! King Louie’s song I Wan'na Be Like You (performed by Walken) was hilarious and fun too!

Kaa

With mesmerising CGI and terrific performances and voicing by all the artists, The Jungle Book is a terrific film, for children and adults. You will be taken to a new world entirely, but it’s a journey worth your time and money!