The Jungle Book (2016)

	Also Known As: -
	Year of first release: 2016
	Director: Jon Favreau (Iron Man 1-3)
	Actors: Neel Sethi + voices: Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken,
	Country: USA
	Genre: Adventure
	Conditions of visioning: 27.08.2016, in-flight entertainment 10" screen
Synopsis: Mowgli (Sethi) is a young boy that has been raised in the jungle by a pack of wolves. After being threatened by the tiger Sher-Khan, he decides to leave.
Review: A strange idea for Disney to produce a remake of its classic animated film The Jungle Book form 1961, this time with a live young boy playing Mowgly surrounded but photo-realistic CGI animals. I loved the animated movie in my childhood (who didn't?), but I immediately had a problem with the CGI animals. Oh they look very good and well-done, but maybe for that reason it looks even stranger to have them talking, in lip-sync furthermore. And the voices used, although from recognizable actors, didn't always fit the characters. On top of that bad first impression, I found that the realism of the animals prevented the animators from giving them much character through facial expressions. The movie follows the same storyline as the original (except I think less involvement from the elephants), and maybe as the 1894 book from Rudyard Kipling which I haven't read. In fact its main impact on me was to make me want to watch the cartoon again to see if the magic still operates. I seem to remember that there were more songs in the cartoon, but in this version only two are kept: the upbeat The Bare Necessities from Baloo and the jazzy I Wan'na be like you from King Louis, also repeated during the end credits for our pleasure. The discomfort I felt throughout the movie was a bit forgotten during the spectacular and emotional ending.
Rating: 4 /10