The Jungle Book 2016 Review

The Jungle Book 2016 Review

Watch the video review HERE

You guys must have probably watched 1967 jungle bookmovie at least once but do you guys know that there was a TV show jungle book it was a Japanese shonen that’s right! Ok let me tell you about it.

As a child growing up in the 90’s, Every Sundays we would get to watch 2 hours of cartoons on DD channel. For the people watching from different parts of the world Inindia (it was a channel operated by the government and it was free)(Also known as Doordarshan). Now this was before cartoon network came to india and at the time, There were no 24 hour cartoon channels like you have now.  Sowe would get to watch cartoons continuously, one after the other, for those 2 hours. Jungle Book would air during that time and it was one of those shows that had good characters, solid character development and the theme song still resonates with many of us who come from that generation. It was so popular here thatthey had it translated in many Indian languages. As far back as I can remember every sunday morning that was the routine.

Yes, it was a Japanese made version of jungle book that I was introduced to first, but it was almost a decade later that I saw the 1967 Disney version. I liked that too! Animation and the narrative was a little different but the main story was the same.

So as you I was excited to see the new version of jungle book

This movie is directed by jonfavreau and has an impressive cast of voice actors

Mowgli (Neel Sethi), Baloo (Bill Murray), Bagheera (Ben kingsley), ShareKhan(Idris Elba), Kaa (Scarlet Johansson) Raksha (LupitaNyong’o) and king louie (Christopher Walken)

Many of you would know the plot of the movie but I will give you a snipet of the plot. Mowgli is a young boy who is lost in the jungle after losing his biological parents. He gets adopted by a pack of wolves that look after him and train him to be like a wolf.  They soon find out he is a free spirit and adventurous boy. Suddenly share khan comes to the jungle and everything changes.

The narrative of this movie is quiet similar to the 1967 version more or less. It is a little darker as well. I like the characters, especially share Khan and baloo’s. ShareKhan’s first few moments are terrifying and they did every thing right with this character. Edrisalba was perfect for this role. Even bill murray’s voice was a good choice for balloo but relationship between him and mowgli didn’t seem to work as well as it did in the 1967 version. Overall voice acting is very good.

The movie looks amazing, Visually this is how a real mowgli would look if he was living in a jungle. The CGI animals look authentic and real. The movie pulls you in and immerses you in the jungle. Despite amazing voice acting, awesome animation and good talent behind the camera this film fails to capture the same charm that the 1967 version did.  That brings me to another point, Mowgli

I liked neelsethi’s work butthe 1967’s Mowgli was innocent and bit of a clueless kid but this mowgli is resourceful and sarcastic. He doesn’t even need a pack give him a few sticks and stones he will be able to defend himself. But that’s just my opinion. The balloomowgli relationship was the best part about the 1967 version but in this one we don’t see the same connection.

Even though many elements have been borrowed 1967 movie, I liked it.  They even have the same songs from the movie. But it doesn’t seem to reach the same level as the previous one did. Don’t get me wrong it is a movie, which a whole family can enjoy.  I give this movie an 8/10  I wish I could talk to animals. I would love that!

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