You have to admit, Disney has a knack for telling a good
story – or even to tell a good story well!
With the exception of the odd clanger, or period where production levels
were not as great and decisions questionable, they have now for generations
enthralled and entertained families the world over.
Recently, the company has pushed on with innovative and
entertaining animated tales doing remarkably well (Frozen, Big Hero 6, Inside Out
and The Good Dinosaur to name but a few), but they have also managed to successfully
revisit old classic tales in a more, well, live action grown up manner? Cinderella, Maleficent and Into the Woods
will soon be followed by the likes of Pete’s Dragon and Beauty and the Beast
who will both get the live action makeover.
Adding to the active rumour mill, Cruella, Tink, Dumbo, Mulan, Pinocchio
and the Sword in the Stone it appears Disney have no limit to the pool of old
stories they can dip into.
There is always a fear though that the old classic
animations would be tainted by a live action grown up retelling. The original Jungle Book was released to
great acclaim in 1967 and is still adored around the world today. The songs trip from the tongue with great
ease and although it doesn’t really adhere to the original works of Rudyard
Kipling, work incredibly well. In fact
Walt himself, when working on development of the movie told his crew not to
read the stories.
The Jungle Book, almost like the story of Peter Pan, has had
any number of retellings – very few if any have come close to the original animated
version and you are left wondering if there is room for another attempt.
Initial stories from the industry had the 2016 version as ‘completely
CGI, animals, world, the lot’. So a more
enhanced version of the 1967 animated feature then?
No, not at all. If
you have been an avid viewer of some of Disney (and Pixar’s) latest movies, you
will have no doubt identified the frighteningly authentic vision on the screen. The Good Dinosaur for example springs to
mind, you would be forgiven if you thought the water was real – and I wouldn’t
blame you if you had become distracted by the depth of feeling you get from the
visuals.
Well The Jungle Book has this, and it has this in bucket
loads!
The movie opens and runs a close parallel to the original
animated version, but before you have time to wonder if you should have gone to
see ‘The Criminal’ instead (and please don’t) you can already see director Jon
Favreau weave in the original Rudyard Kipling story.
And from here you are carried on a wonderful ride of incredible
Disney storytelling, Favreau balances the story incredibly well with one foot
planted firmly in the animated classic whilst the other resides in Kipling’s
work – whatever Walt Disney thought couldn’t be done, Favreau has pulled it
off.
The animals are beautifully created as is the landscape they
operate in, it is incredible to think that the movie really contains only one ‘real’
actor, newcomer Neel Sethi who plays the role of Mowgli. Sethi holds the attention between scenes with
his ‘co-stars’ incredibly well and I haven’t seen a young debut this good since
Daniel Radcliffe kick started the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise.
Disney characters, well the animated ones in particular,
rely heavily on voice talents and Disney have an incredible way of finding just
the right voice for the right character.
Robin Williams as the Genie in ‘Aladdin’ is the obvious one but then you
have the likes of Angela Lansbury as Mrs Potts in ‘Beauty and the Beast’ before
you can start reeling off any number of pitch perfect voices that suit the
character to a ‘t’. The Jungle Book is
no different.
Sir Ben Kingsley gives Bagheera his eminent authoritarian air;
Bill Murray (not sounding like Garfield at all) nails Baloo the bear whilst the
ever lovely Lupita Nyong’o manages to give Raksha a loving, caring and soothing
influence on proceedings. Scarlett
Johansson was initially a worry as she was playing Kaa but manages to pull it
off effortlessly, but the accolades must go to Idris Elba and Christopher
Walken who play Shere Khan and King Louie respectively.
Elba’s threateningly gravelly tones lend depth to the tiger,
he is quite menacing and leaves you wondering on occasion if this movie should
have a higher rating! Would Walt
approve? I think so, the menace is clearly there but he is a menacing character,
not a teddy bear.
Walken’s take on King Louie though is superb; in this
version he isn’t an Orangutan but a Gigantopithecus – a long extinct member of
the ape family. In fact he is the last
of his species and I had originally thought a made up one until I quickly
researched to find that they did in fact exist.
Walken’s ‘ape’ is rather larger than the original, at the size of a
small house he is quite imposing and his entrance into the movie smacks of
Apocalypse Now and brought a wry smile to my face – that was the second recent Disney
offering to take visualisation from the iconic ‘70’s Vietnam movie (can you
think of the second one, it might be a trick question but I will reveal all
towards the end).
He is typically Walken-esque as he dominates the exchange
with Mowgli trying to coerce him into giving up the secret to ‘mans red flower’. Both funny and menacing in equal effect this
is Walken at his best and you can only imagine the mannerisms and visual
expressions he had whilst reading his lines!
A little word of warning though, Louie is a loveable rogue in the 1967
film, here he is much darker and more menacing – it does work though.
Strangely Favreau keeps some of the catchy songs such as ‘The
Bare Necessities’ and ‘I Wanna be Like You’ – initially I couldn’t understand
why but again, it works but only just – this movie would have been just as good
without them and it was a risk to pop them back in but works as a nice homage
to the animated original.
If you know only the animated storyline, you will recognise
large portions of the movie – likewise if you are familiar only with Kipling’s
work. Neither will be disappointed as
this is a well-rounded telling of a familiar tale.
One of the biggest and best endorsements that can be given
to this movie is that there are times when you believe that those animals up on
the big screen are actually talking, this is a technical masterpiece – remember
how we marvelled at the technological advances we witnessed with the likes of
Jurassic Park and Toy Story, well prepare to be amazed again.
Walt would be proud of this telling of the familiar tale, if
you haven’t seen it yet might I suggest taking your kids, parents, friends,
neighbours or anyone else in a close proximity to the movie theatre…
I might just go again!!
Oh and the other Disney offering to pay homage to Apocalypse
Now…Star Wars VII, The Force Awakens
