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justanothercinemaniac · 7 years

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Epic Movie (Re)Watch #154 - The Jungle Book (2016)

Spoilers below.

Have I seen it before: Yes

Did I like it then: Yes.

Do I remember it: Yes.

Did I see it in theaters: Yes.

Was it a movie I saw since August 22nd, 2009: Yes. #419.

Format: Blu-ray

1) The respect for the original 1967 film is established IMMEDIATELY, both by the use of a hand drawn opening logo and by the fact that the opening score for this film is the opening score from the original movie. Right away director Jon Favreu and the rest of the filmmakers let the audience know that they’re aware of just exactly what this film is and the expectations it needs to meet.

2) Neel Sethi as Mowgli.

When you have a kid as your lead character, it is important that you establish them as an honest character and not just a trope/stereotype. Through the film’s writing and Neel Sethi’s wonderful performance, we get just that. Paired together they make Mowgli smart, funny, crafty, but still someone who has a lot to learn. He is simultaneously someone you should not underestimate and someone who should learn humility. Sethi portrays these things wonderfully, as well as Mowgli’s issue of identity. He’s not a wolf, he’s not really a man cub, he wants to stay in the jungle but he doesn’t know where he belongs yet. Or who he belongs with. This is an interesting conflict which will carry us through until the end of the film.

3) One of the ways this film improves on its predecessor is that it puts more stock into relationships other than Mowgli/Baloo. Bagheera takes more of an active role in Mowgli’s upbringing, meaning it’s harder for him to take him back. Mowgli’s wolf mother - Raksha - is seen as a more important influence in his life. He has wolf brothers, and even his later relationship with Baloo comes about more organically. It’s wonderful way to build off of the original while staying respectful of it.

4) Grey - Mowgli’s younger wolf brother - is a surprise scene stealer for the film.

(Screenshot grabbed from GIF set posted by @daredvils)

Another instance of a refreshingly honest kid who just warms your heart.

5) This was Garry Shandling’s final film performance as Ikki the porcupine (who’s picture I cannot find), after having worked with director Favreau on Iron Man 2.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

Unfortunately Shandling would not live to see the release of this film. But as a final performance it is a nice summation of his humor and heart.

6) This film does a fine job of incorporating elements from the source material which were not in the 1967, which is able to not only make the tone a little darker but also give us a better sense of just how the order of things works. This is most notable with the Law of the Jungle, Peace Rock, and the Water Truce.

7) Idris Elba as Shere Khan.

Through the writing and his performance, Elba is able to take an already great villain from the original movie and make him even better. From the very first moment this tiger steps on screen you feel the danger he carries with him. His presence is bone chilling, heart stopping, and makes your stomach turn. Most of the original 1967 film went without Khan being seen, with his presence being felt throughout. This film makes it very clear why we should be frightened by this tiger and damn it if they don’t make him scary as hell. He’s a stand out character in a film filled with amazing characters, and I think Elba deserves a lot of the credit for that. His voice is just SO menacing it’s amazing.

8) I see a lot of movies. I’ve almost seen 500 in theaters in the past 8.75 years. I can usually tell when something is a special effect. I can usually see the seams. Yet with The Jungle Book - while I KNOW I’m looking at CG through and through - I don’t see that. I see no seams in this; I can’t tell where real life ends and the studio begins, even after I’ve seen the behind the scenes video. These are honestly some of the most impressive CGI effects I have ever seen and THAT is saying something. It is what helps make the film so effective. It doesn’t feel like a computer generated world. It feels like the jungle.

9) I think it is a smart choice having Mowgli decide to leave the pack. In the original film he can be a little passive. He just is taken from one situation to the other and rolls with it. In the 2016 version, however, he determines his own fate. He decides to leave the pack, he decides to go back and face Shere Khan, he is not as passive and that makes him more interesting.

10) Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha and is another example of the stronger relationships this film features. She also breaks my heart with what are meant to be her final words to Mowgli:

Raksha: “Never forget this: you’re mine. Mine to me. No matter where you may go or what they may call you...”

11) Ben Kingsley as Bagheera.

I discussed earlier how Bagheera's relationship with Mowgli comes off in this film than it did in the original, and Kingsley is able to portray that. Each line of dialogue is permeated with a constant care for Mowgli, expressed trhough a soft yet moving sorrow, the actions he takes for this boy, and at times angry concern. The Academy Award winner shines in the part and I don’t know that anyone else could portray Bagheera quite as well as he does.

12) If you’re not scared of Shere Khan yet, you will be. He is at his most threatening not when he comes barging in, growling and clawing at you. It’s when he’s calm. Collected. When he just sits at the top of the rock with Akeela and talks to him in a calm collected manner without ever actually looking at him. And then...

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13) Scarlet Johansson as Kaa.

While only a brief appearance, Johansson is able to create a character who is chilling, frightening, and slick. It is a memorable character, switching out the humor from the original character to make one that is much more of a threat. The once peaceful “Trust in Me” is now turned into a dark and heart-pounding score as Kaa introduces some very useful exposition about Mowgli’s parentage and why exactly Shere Khan wants him dead. Again, a short scene, but a memorable one.

14) Bill Murray as Baloo.

As with the original, the life and humor in Baloo’s character are immediate. There is no topping the performance given by Phil Harris in the original, so Murray does the smart thing and doesn’t even try. Instead, he creates a much craftier Baloo than before. One who is defined by Murray’s signature sass and snark to create some incredibly funny moments. But there’s more to him than that. He is the first person to really accept Mowgli for who he is. For while Bagheera has seen it, Baloo is the first one to encourage him to be different. Mowgli has always felt bad about his “tricks” and not fitting in, and here comes Baloo who tells Mowgli he is amazing as is. It is from that solid bedrock that they are able to craft a relationship as strong as the one in the original film, one of respect and love and caring. Murray is able to play both sides of this: the con man and the loving friend. And the film is better for it.

15) This was the hardest I laughed when I saw this film.

Baloo [after three different small critters come up and comment on Mowgli constantly]: “You have never been a more endangered species than you are in this moment.”

16) Jon Favreu and Sam Raimi both cameo in this film as some of the critters which bother Baloo. Raimi is the squirrel and Favreu is the hog:

17) The inclusion of “The Bare Necessities” in this film is nice, I feel. The movie is not a musical, so Mowgli and Baloo aren’t supposed to be singing like they’re doing a big number. They’re just two friends rocking out to a song they like. Musical purists may find it painful to listen to because it’s clear they’re not classically trained, but I appreciate the honesty to it.

18) Baloo and Bagheera have a fun conflict which is established quickly in a nice banter. It’s fun then to see this conflict change to a friendship bonded over their shared concern over Mowgli.

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19) I think the scene where Mowgli saves the young elephant is maybe the most important to understanding his character. He approaches a herd of elephants huddled around a pit - elephants being established as the most respected and dangerous creatures in the jungle - and after showing their respect he uses his “tricks” to save the child. It shows off Mowgli’s kindness, his ingenuity, and his bravery. And then he just says, “Hey guys,” when he sees that Baloo and Bagheera were watching like it was no big deal. Because to him it wasn’t. Someone was in trouble and he had to help. That’s who Mowgli is.

20) The scene where Baloo pushes Mowgli away breaks my heart. Because he KNOWS Mowgli needs to get away from Shere Khan to be safe, and the only reason Mowgli is sticking around (or at least the key reason) is because he wants to stay with Baloo. So what does Baloo do?

Baloo: “No, we were never friends.”

Baloo: “I don’t want you around anymore.”

And then after Mowgli runs away, he turns to Bagheera.

Baloo; “Well I did it. And that’s about the hardest thing I’ll ever do.”

Bagheera: “I know.”

21) Did I mention Baloo has some of the funniest moments in the film?

Baloo [while climbing a cliff side to get to Mowgli, after seeing a bird, laughing to himself]: “A bird! That can’t be a good sign!”

But the cliffside scene is also nice because Bagheera supports Baloo. He takes the time to let Baloo know he’s doing fine and that there’s not much more left. I love that.

22) Let’s take a second to appreciate this (keeping in mind King Louie is played by Christopher Walken): Mowgli finds a cowbell in Louie’s treasure hoard...

And then he shakes the cowbell...

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

Only for Christopher Walken to appear.

O_O

23) Christopher Walken as King Louie.

(GIF source unknown [if this is your GIF please let me know].)

According to IMDb:

In The Jungle Book (1967), King Louie (who was created by Walt Disney_ and his people and not by Rudyard Kipling.) was an orangutan. In this film, he's a Gigantopithecus, an ancestor of the orangutan whose range is believed to have included parts of India. This change in species was made to make the film more fantastic, since it would be a good way to represent him as King of the Monkeys and to show that orangutans are not native to India.

Like Kaa, Louie’s comedy is swapped out to make him more villainous. And it works amazingly. He is more frightening and foreboding, with Walken able to make the villain truly scary. His greed (found in the original film) and desire for power is amplified even greater, and he participates in one of the greatest action set pieces the film has to offer when he chases Mowgli through the ruins (inducing even a jump scare at one point). The one issue I have is that the presence of “I Wan’na Be Like You” always felt off to me. It is one of the most iconic songs from the original, but this is not a musical. Mowgli and Baloo were singing before just as friends do, but Louie pretty much breaks into song. I appreciate it’s presence in the movie but it just feels strange to me HOW it’s included.

24) Mowgli claiming the red flower (fire) is a great way to start off the climax of this film.

It gives him a choice: he either becomes a “real” man - the kind that lives in the man village and strikes fear into the jungle’s inhabitants - or he choses to belong in the jungle and fight Shere Khan a different way. It ties directly into Mowgli’s conflict of identity and he choses the latter of the two options, throwing the fire into the water.

Shere Khan: “That was the stupidest thing you could have done.”

But it wasn’t, Shere Khan! Because what happens next? Baloo stands up to defend Mowgli first - reciting the Law of the Jungle - and everyone follows suit.

25) This line.

(Screenshot taken of a GIF originally posted by @anjelia3)

THIS is Mowgli’s conflict of identity resolved. He’s not a wolf, he’s not a panther, he’s not a bear, he’s not a monkey, he’s not a tiger, and the jungle has rejected man. But Mowgli has learned how to be a man that can live in peace with the jungle and be the best version of himself he can be.

26) The final fight between Mowgli and Shere Khan on the dead tree is a great climax. It is wildly claustrophobic and intense and shows off how Mowgli can beat Shere Khan in a battle of the minds more than a battle of strength.

27) I mentioned in my analysis of the original film I didn’t know how I felt about the ending, that Mowgli fought so hard to stay in the jungle but also had a conflict of identity and it played into the latter not the former. On the contrary, the way this film ends - with Mowgli finding his place in the jungle as a man - is a great way to resolve BOTH of those things. I personally prefer the ending of this film to the 1967 movie because of that.

The Jungle Book was one of my favorite films last year. I thought it was truly great. I think the effects knock it out of the park, Neel Sethi is incredible as our only human in the film, the voice cast kills it, and the story is just amazing. I love this film and recommend it to everyone, ESPECIALLY fans of Disney and the original book or film. I just love this movie.

#The Jungle Book #Neel Sethi #Bill Murray #Ben Kingsley #Idris Elba #Jon Favreau #Lupita Nyong'o #Scarlett Johansson #Christopher Walken #Garry Shandling #Epic Movie (Re)Watch #Movie #Film #GIF

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