Rudyard Kipling’s Jungle book has been for long a fascination for many, those who have seen, read or now you have the chance to experience it. If you are unsure what Jungle book is all about, it’s the same cartoon series from the 90’s which took Doordarshan by storm. Anyways Rudyard Kipling’s “man-cub” Mowgli returns to the wild in “The Jungle Book,” but this time he’s got the latest in digital liveliness to bring his animal friends and enemies roaring on the big screen. The film is a visual extravaganza of all sorts, from the emotional setting to some spell bound VFX, the film is sure to entice you this weekend.
Everyone knows the plot of the Jungle Book, but nevertheless here goes; Discovered abandoned in the jungle by the black panther Bagheera (voice over by Ben Kingsley), Mowgli ( Neel Sethi) is raised by wolf couple Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) and Akela (Giancarlo Esposito), Bagheera scolds him for using human “tricks” like tool building, instead insists of learning the ways of the wolf pack.
When a dry season forces the predators in the jungle to prey into a brief “water truce,” the rest of the jungle starts noticing the wolf pack’s unusual new charge and almost starts accepting the little boy. The high-handed Bengal tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) is no pushover, having lost his left eye to an encounter with mankind, demands the boy be surrendered to him. It’s after this the plot falls into the familiar storyline of Mowgli meeting the lazy Baloo the bear(Bill Murray), the animation work is quite spot-on as one closer look and you can look the comedian Bill Murray straight into the eyes of Baloo.
Thanks to the wonder of motion capture and digital technology, director Jon Favreau, visual effects supervisor Robert Legato and cinematographer Bill Pope have managed to transport you to the deep jungle and walk amongst the animals. The film is almost real and the only thing that makes you aware that this isn’t real animals is the fact that they talk. We can keep bragging about the visual effects and the awesomeness of it, but some brilliant casting of the voice overs; Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba( roars into your ears), Bill Murray, Scarlett Johnson ( Ka the snake) and Christopher Walken simply are tailor made for the animals, hats off to the technical crew.
In the process, the film considers the literal problems that mankind can leave upon nature, the true meaning of family and the journey of self-discovery that all children must eventually realize and start upon, all put together with breath taking visuals and insight that’s never too sentimental or obvious. Newcomer Sethi, in his first feature appearance, is as instrumental as the movie’s artistic and technical achievements, considering the fact that he’s still a kid put into test with so much of motion capture around.
Surprisingly the movie is given a U/A rating, and nothing on the grounds of Violence nor glamour, but the censor board has deemed the movie to be scary for kids, the 3D and sound effects probing in Larger than Life experience, so you know what to expect as you walk into the theatres! The Jungle Book is not an out of the box storyline, the same old Lion King, Tarzan and dusted plot but the pure emotion that threads through the screenplay and bringing it alive makes the movie watch over again and again, even when you know what’s going to happen in the next scene.
Verdict : Join the journey of Awesomeness
