Disney's The Jungle Book (2016)

[dkb]

 

 

This looks amazing! I can't believe that everything except Mowgli is CGI, it looks so real. I can't wait to see this in IMAX and I might even go for 3D. The music in the background is great, and the voices are perfect. 

 

I know there is another one coming out next year? but from what I've seen in the trailers and tv spots this one looks hard to top.

 

[JessePinkman]

The voices seem really off to me. As if they're not dubbed right or something because it's got this almost...voiceover quality? Or maybe the actors are just miscast? I don't know but it feels wrong somehow.

[Spartan Girl]

I thought Bill Murray sounds good as Baloo; can't wait to hear him sing "Bare Necessities"!

But after the mess that was Peter Pan Live, I am not looking forward to hearing Walken butcher "I Wanna Be Like You."

I don't know...talking animals tend to work better in cartoons.

[dkb]

Walken was the one that stood out when I first watched it but its grown on me.

Baloo and Shere Khan (Idris Alba) sound the best, and not surprised Scarlett Johanson is voicing Kaa.

This trailer just brings back memories. It might be wishful thinking and it might suck but everytime I watch the trailer I have a smile on my face.

[Spartan Girl]

Boy, this has been getting some real great reviews! The critics are loving it as much as Cinderella.

Also I'm just gonna leave this here...

Edited April 14, 2016 by Spartan Girl

[SeanC]

I saw it earlier tonight.  On the whole, I thought it worked very well, though it has kind of the same issue I had with last year's Cinderella -- for most of its run it works so well as a largely standalone version of this story that the few attempts to crowbar in callbacks to certain parts of the animated version kind of jar; in Cinderella the problem was the mice; here, it's the songs.  They already cut the music down to the two songs people remember, and those that are delivered are kind of sing-talked; "The Bare Necessities" maybe kinda works in the context used here, but "I Wanna Be Like You" absolutely doesn't.  It would have been better to excise both entirely.

 

I was uncertain about the effects on the talking animals in the trailers, but in the movie they're fantastic.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I loved the Disney Animated Version.

 

And I'm totally going to see this over the weekend. I've seen the trailers and it looks great. 

[dkb]

Saw the movie this morning, and I really liked it. I still can't believe how realistic the landscapes look, and of course the animals. Bill Murray as Baloo was the best, and I loved little Grey (the wolf).

[Spartan Girl]

The new Disney logo -- WOW!

Anyway, this was really good. The Jungle Book wasn't even my favorite Disney cartoon, but I still geeked out at all the references to the original, including the storybook at the end!

The CGI was pretty spectacular. Did anyone else think that Christopher Walken's features were noticeable in King Louie's face? Ditto with Bill Murray and Baloo.

Kudos for making Shere Kahn evil scarier. The part where he just casually sits on the rock with Akeela right before he killed him? Chills. Though I couldn't help thinking his death scene was awfully similar to Scar in The Lion King.

Bill Murray was perfection. Maybe keeping two of the cartoon's songs was a bit out of place -- they could have just left "I Wanna Be Like You" in the credits -- but you can't cast Bill Murray as Baloo and NOT have him sing "Bare Necesities." Too bad there was no way to keep the Baloo/Louie scat duet: Murray and Walken could have had a lot of fun with that.

Knew they'd keep Mowgli in the jungle since a sequel is already in the works.

Next year's Beauty and the Beast had better be worth the wait.

Edited April 18, 2016 by Spartan Girl

[icewolf]

I just saw the movie and I really loved it!

 

The visual effects for the animals and the jungle were awesome. The kid that played Mowgli was pretty good. All the actors that voiced the animals were great, as expected Baloo was a fan favorite. Shere Khan was incredibly menacing, more than he ever was in the animated film.

 

I thought the changes were fine, like making King Louie so huge, and how they handled the flashback for Mowgli's origin and how he ended up in the forest when the animated movie never mentioned it. The songs were there of course. I'm glad that it didn't become a full on musical, I'm sure they were tempted.

 

I'll give this movie an Excellent!

 

Now to get out the Bluray of the Disney animated Jungle Book and give it another watch!

[Perfect Xero]

Looks like this is a hit, can I get a live action TaleSpin movie now?

[Spartan Girl]

Looks like this is a hit, can I get a live action TaleSpin movie now?

Or hell, bring back the series!

[Dandesun]

Did anyone else crack up a the cowbell? Mowgli picking it up before Christoher Walken's King Louie made his appearance?

[Spartan Girl]

I didn't even think of that! LMAO!

[thuganomics85]

I really enjoyed it!  It's been a while since I saw the original cartoon version, but I noticed the similarities and enjoyed, while at the same time, liking the differences (especially the ending) and I thought it worked well on it's own.  I imagine this film will be the first version for some, so I'm glad it works on that level, although I hope it makes some check out the original.

 

I heard all about the visual effects going in, but even then, I was amazed over how great they were.  I really did forget at times that these animals were entirely CGI, and that the jungle was all on set and not on location.  It really felt like a living, breathing jungle, with living, breathing animals.  And the facial expressions on them were equally amazing.

 

Going in, I wasn't sure if how I would feel about Bill Murray's take on Baloo (not that I dislike him, but I pictured someone more along the lines of John Goodman), but I got a kick out of him here, and he provided some good laughs.  Ben Kingsley actually seemed way more livelier as Bagheera, then has on a lot of his recent live-action work.  Idris Elba was perfectly menacing and scary as Shere Khan.  My favorite was probably Christopher Walken.  I really can't think of anyone but him as King Louie. King Louie is like his spirit animal.  

 

Even some of the smaller roles were perfectly cast.  Lupita Nyong'o was splendid as Raksha, Scarlett Johansson made Kaa very unsettling,  and even Giancarlo Esposito made the most of his time as Akela.  My favorite though was Gray.  He was way too adorable.

 

I'm guessing Mowgli is Neel Sethi's first role, so he had some of the roughness that comes with most inexperience, child actors. but for the most part, I thought he was solid in the role.

 

Glad that it did well at the box office.  Curious to see where they go with the franchise.

[tennisgurl]

I know that Disney is basically a Borg like entity, assimilating all properties until all entertainment belongs to the massive Empire of the Mouse...but if it means they make more movies like this, I, for one, welcome our new Mouse overlords! 

 

I really liked this movie, and I was rather hesitant, as I loved the cartoon Jungle Book, and I didn't think they could improve on it, but I think I like this one just as much, if not more, than the 60s version! 

 

The CGI was amazing. The animals all looked like actual animals, and the jungle itself was gorgeous, it was that great CGI that does not have to call attention to itself, and is used to further the atmosphere and story. 

 

The kid who played Mowgli did a good job, especially for a kid actor who had to carry long chunks of movie. Really, I thought all the voice actors were giving it their all, and by the end, I really felt like I was hearing their characters, and not voices of famous people coming out of bears and panthers and what nots.  

 

A friend of mine who teaches little kids posted on her Facebook that parents should not take very little kids to this movie, and I can see why. It was pretty intense in a few parts, especially any scene with Shere Khan. People in my theater jumped more than once during his scenes. 

 

I also really liked that the animal characters really came off as animals, albeit animals that talk and have concepts of law and order. It was actually a little closer to the original Kipling stories, while still being a clear remake of the cartoon (mostly in the more serious tone, and the animals being tougher and more digified and less goofy). Just a really good time.

[Browncoat]

I just saw this this afternoon, and I really liked it.  The CGI was amazing.  Bagheera was absolutely gorgeous!  So much better than the travesty of the Narnia animals years ago.  But I think the best part for me (CGI-wise) was Kaa's mesmerizing eyes.  I remember them from the animated version and was glad to see that they were able to not only recreate that effect, but make it so so much better.  I was a little mesmerized myself.

I loved loved loved Christopher Walken as King Louie, and Bill Murray as Baloo was great, too. 

I would certainly see this one again if I get the chance.

[Rick Kitchen]

This was a lot better than I expected it would be.  But man, it was dark, I totally understand when people say little kids shouldn't see it.

 

The kid was really pretty great for not having been in a movie before.  And Gray was adorable.

[filmfan2480]

Really enjoyed this.  Amazing special effects (should get nommed for next year's Oscars, if not win).  Good story.  Good characters.  The child actor was good, not great.  I enjoyed how the filmmakers integrated a few of the songs into the film.  One thing, I jumped a good 4 times or so in my seat at some parts.  And so, I think this might be too scary for younger children.  But that's a minor quibble.  Glad that this film is well reviewed and it's killing at the box office.

[BitterApple]

I saw this with my fiance today and really enjoyed it. It did seem that it was almost geared more towards adults than kids. I thought the child actor did well, but I wasn't blown away by his performance. In fairness, it's a pretty tall task when a kid is carrying the entire movie. I thought the CGI was amazing and I loved Idris Elba as Shere Khan and Bill Murray as Baloo.

[Crs97]

We all loved it!  Boys are still talking about it almost a week later.  We saw it Saturday and then let them watch the original on Sunday.  They unanimously decided the new one is much better.  I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around the CGI, and my boys refuse to believe it was all animation.

My only quibble is that I am tired of the 3-D option.  I know it is here to stay, but I hate that now I have to brace myself throughout the movie for those scary moments when one character lunges unexpectedly.  I know 3-D viewers love the action coming toward them; I hate it, even in 2-D.

[proserpina65]

Finally saw it this weekend, and the most telling thing I can say is that, even had the end credits not been beautifully done, I would've had to sit through them just so no one could tell I'd been bawling over CGI animals.

[jah1986]

Finally saw this over the weekend and absolutely loved it! Like everyone above stated the CGI was incredible. At certain points I was thinking what parent allowed their child to act with these animals, then I remembered.  I haven't seen the animated Jungle Book since I was a little kid and had no real recollections of what it was all about so imagine my delight when Bare Necessities came in and I was five years old all over again.  Idris Elba bought real menace to his role as did Scarlett Johansen.  Great movie even through to the closing credits.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I never got to see this in the theatres like I thought I'd be able to, but did just watch it on Netflix. Amazing! And I'd totally forgotten that Idris played Sher Khan. I didn't know who played the other main characters except for Baloo, but then again, Bill Murray's voice is so, well, Bill Murray! And he was fabulous! His Baloo gave me the laughs that I needed after what happened to Akela.

And now I'm going to be that person.  With respect to how the names were so mispronounced. I mean, they all got the correct pronunciations for Bagheera and Sher Khan, Raksha (which I totally squeed at because that's my godsister's name!), yet they (actors, and whoever was supposed to tell them how the names are supposed to be pronounced) mucked up Akela's name (should be pronounced [Uh-kay-la], and Bandar-log [Bun-duhr lowg], not the way they said it. 

Ironically, Akele, who was alpha wolf and part of pack, actually means "Alone," Kaa means "Eat" which she was trying to do to Mowgli, and Bandar Log means "Monkey people"(that's literal translation, though I suspect it was used to describe it as community of monkeys.

I can't help it. In this day and age, there's no excuse for not being able to get the correct pronunciation for names. And yeah, they were Hindi names. Except for "Ami" which is Mom, but is Urdu, and used by Muslims.

And I'll finish by saying that final battle between Mowgli and Sher Khan had me on the edge of my seat and on tenterhooks! 

I don't remember how the animated movie ended, except I think Mowgli saw a girl. Or was that Jungle Book II?

Need to get that one when it's available on dvd.

Edited December 6, 2016 by GHScorpiosRule

[proserpina65]

Quote

I don't remember how the animated movie ended, except I think Mowgli saw a girl. Or was that Jungle Book II?

Mowgli gets to the Man village, sees a girl collecting water from the river, is lovestruck and follows her back to the village.