Review Round-Up: The Jungle Book 

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Critics are going ape over Jon Favreau’s liveaction adaptation The Jungle Book, literally, they are devolving back  down to simianform and attacking each other – it’s really quite graphic.

The Jungle Book 2.0 as no-one is callingit, stars newcomer Neel Sethi as Mowgli; Ben Kingsley voices Bagheera the
panther; Idris Elba is the evil tiger Shere Khan; Scarlett Johansson is the
hissing snake mesmerist Kaa; Christopher Walken is the voice of King Louie the
fire-hungry ape and, in perhaps the stand out turn of the film, Bill Murray is
outstanding as the pleasure-seeker Baloo the bear who teaches Mowgli the
importance  of kicking back and enjoying the bare necessities of life (sounds
like a song…)

Calling the it ‘the treat of the week’ TheGuardian were particularly praiseworthy of sheer family fun of the film.

“It handsomely revives the spirit of
Disney’s original film, while also having something of old-school family movies
about animals like The Incredible Journey (1963) – it almost feels like
something I could have watched as a kid on TV. Yet also, weirdly, there’s a
touch of Mel Gibson’s jungle nightmare Apocalypto (2006).

Perhaps most strikingly of all, it
re-imports into the story elements of the Disney classic The Lion King (1994)
which The Jungle Book influenced in the first place: there’s a special rock for
the animals to gather round, a stampede scene and an evil feline with a facial
disfigurement.” 

Warning that the film may not be for smallerchildren (“If Mowgli were a paying customer, in other words, he wouldn't be oldenough to watch his own movie”) Screen Crush praised the photorealist animals,
but were left a little confused by the movies disparate tone shifts –
especially when it comes to its signature tune ‘The Bare Necessities’.

“The songs’ presence in the new Jungle Bookfeels less motivated by the needs of the story than a studio that wants to keep
old school fans happy (and possibly sell them a new version of a perennially
popular soundtrack). The sudden shifts from goofy melodies to aggressive combat
are jarring and off-putting.”

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However, Deadline were suitably impressedwith this and the movies other musical number ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, despite adarker tone than Disney’s animated classic.

“Overall this is a much darker tale that
the frothy musical comedy vibe of the ’67 effort, but it is entirely
appropriate that Disney Studios is the one to take it on again and give it such
absolute wonder. Murray steals the show as Baloo, but there is fine work
throughout by everyone and even a bit role for the late Garry Shandling, who
gets one of the dedications at the end. The real stars here are the crew and
visual effects wizards who pull all this off without a hitch. After another hit
involving an animal world, Zootopia, Disney — using the bare necessities of a
s oundstage — has done it again. Wow. Just wow.” 

While singling out Disney for having theconfidence to tackle the classics first (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, TheJungle Book…), Empire were left wanting when it came to capturing the light
spirit of the original. 

“The original movie was a jolly affair, alluptempo tunes and jolly bonhomie. Even the vultures sounded like The Beatles.
But without recourse to the cartoonish, this version is darker and more adult.
The threat of death, of tearing teeth and claws, is never far away, whether
it’s in the guise of Idris Elba’s slinking Shere Khan, Scarlett Johansson’s
seductive snake Kaa, or Christopher Walken’s King Louie, who here is more Mafia
Don than interfering ape. His growled version of I Wanna Be Like You is,
frankly, terrifying.”

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Calling it the surprise of 2016,Entertainment Weekly, who singled out Disney’s unbelievable hot streak, found
much  to love in the perhaps too faithful adaptation. 

“Directed by Iron Man’s Jon Favreau, TheJungle Book is a tender and rollicking fable that manages to touch on some grown-up
themes about man’s destructive power and the loss of youthful innocence without
losing sight that it’s first and foremost a gee-whiz kids adventure – though
definitely one that’s a bit too scary and intense for younger kids.

“My only beef with the film – and it’s aminor one – is that it felt the need to be too faithful to its Disney
predecessor. In particular, a pair of musical numbers (Baloo’s “Bear
Necessities” and Louie’s “I Wanna Be Like You”) that seem to come out of
nowhere and stop the film’s momentum on a dime. They’re fine, but they feel
like they were shoe-horned into the film for soundtrack licensing purposes, or
as a sop to old-school mom-and-dad Jungle Book fans in the theater. Favreau’s
Jungle Book is such and wall-to-wall pleasure, his song-and-dance interludes
are an unnecessary distraction. With a movie this great and this dazzling, the
last thing you need to do is break out the jazz-hands and turn it into the
Country Bear Jamboree.”

The Jungle Book isreleased this Friday, April 15. 

The Jungle Book
The movie follows an orphan boy who is raised in the jungle with the help of a pack of wolves, a bear and a black pan...
Release Dates
5 Sep 2016-DVD
30 Aug 2016-Blu-ray
30 Aug 2016-VOD
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