The Jungle Book (2016, dir. Jon Favreau)

I saw Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book today.  As you may know, its based on classic books by Rudyard Kipling and comes to us from the folks at Disney.  I don’t remember ever seeing the original 1967 Disney animated film of the story but I know of some of that original’s songs which are needlessly used a couple times in this updated, live-action version. 

It is the story of Mowgli (Neel Sethi) a boy who has been raised from babyhood by the animal inhabitants of an unnamed jungle, mainly a pack of wolves and his mentor, a panther named Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley).  One day, as a result of an intense, dry season, the animals congregate at a much receded riverbed in an instance where all the animals declare a truce and promise not to devour each other.  It is at this time that Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba), a mean tiger arrives and declares his intention to see the end of young Mowgli, if its the last thing he does. This prompts the youngster to vacate his home and venture through the jungle to try to locate a human-inhabited village where he is told he belongs.  He has adventures along the way obviously, meets a giant bear named Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray), is constantly pursued by the murderous Shere Khan and... I won’t give away the end but you might be able to guess it.

Overall, the film is underwhelming.  A lot seems to go on without anything profound ever really happening.  The voice acting is good, the animated CGI is impressive, but that doesn’t add up to a worthwhile adventure.  Perhaps it’s the child actor Sethi who fails to deliver:  he’s an OK actor, but you don’t get invested in his character totally and he doesn’t provide the emotional depth required for the role.  Furthermore, as I mentioned, there are songs used in this film from the original cartoon that seem to stand out like a sore thumb, never really cohesively gelling into the film’s structure.

I was never swept away, at any moment, by this updated version of the Kipling classic.   It is never exciting enough, never seems to kick into high gear, and as a result, fails pack the adrenaline-powered, adventurous punch that it could have been.