The Jungle Book (2016) Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35_iUCw6_UM

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

1967’s The Jungle Book is one of my many favorites from Walt Disney’s animated catalog, so you bet I was simultaneously nervous & excited when I found out it was next to be part of the studio’s remake trend. What became more surprising? It’s actually so good that I almost like it more.


PLOT


The 2016 version follows similar beats to its predecessors while still having new traits to the story, so bear with me when walking into familiar territory. The story begins with Mowgli being the only human to be raised by Akela’s wolf pack thanks to being saved by the black panther Bagheera when he was left alone as a baby. Although the pack loves him, the panther encourages him to rely on his speed rather than surroundings in order to be an official member. One day, the dry season passes and all animals in the jungle would join for an ancient water truce. Mowgli does enjoy being around other animals, but it gets the attention of the bengal tiger Shere Khan who despises humans for scarring his face long ago. He vows to pursue him once the raining season passes, which causes Akela and the pack debating on what to do. Not wanting to cause any trouble and also aware the pack is not strong enough to face a single tiger, Mowgli volunteers leaving for their safety and Bagheera guides him to the closest man-village for his protection. This does break the heart of the female wolf Raksha because she grew to love Mowgli like one of her sons, but accepts he has to go and will continue to love him when afar. During this journey, they do encounter an elephant herd that are allegedly the creators of the jungle itself. Mowgli ends up getting separated from Bagheera when Khan tries ambushing them, causing him to escape through a water buffalo stampede. He gets so separated from his friend that he ends up encountering a giant python who shows him memories that Khan killed his biological father before the panther found him. She almost devours him until being saved by the grizzly bear Baloo. In exchange for saving his life, Mowgli returns the favor by scoring him a nest of honey and stays with him until winter season rather than go to the man-village immediately. Bagheera eventually finds the two and is irritated that he's still in the jungle. He does let the man-cub stay for one more day before sticking to the plan and as the next night arrives, he and Baloo see the boy save an elephant calf from a ditch. After seeing this, does Bagheera tell Baloo that Khan is after him and he had killed Akela out of anger that the boy is leaving the jungle. For his protection, the bear does try to push him away by saying he doesn’t need him anymore. As this breaks Mowgli’s heart, he gets abducted by a swarm of gibbons and other monkeys who take him to their Gigantopithecus leader King Louie. He offers Mowgli a place to stay with him in exchange for teaching how to make fire, known to the jungle as ‘The Red Flower’. He doesn’t believe the boy when he swears he doesn't know how and Baloo does try distracting him long enough for Bagheera to sneak him out, only for the ruse to backfire once caught. The bear and panther duo hold off as many monkeys as possible as Louie chases Mowgli around the temple. As he chases him, he tells him what happened to Akela and the giant ape eventually causes the temple to collapse onto him. Angry that Bagheera didn’t tell him what happened to Akela, Mowgli vows to do something about it. He finds a fire torch from the closest man-village and takes it to challenge Khan. This somewhat backfires because the torch he took caused a fire to spread throughout the jungle, which scares every animal including the wolf pack. Rather than prove Khan’s point that he’ll grow to be dangerous, he throws the torch into the water to prove the jungle will always be his home. Unity is shown with Bagheera, Baloo and the pack when they fight the tiger for Mowgli before he flees into the burning jungle to use his advantages against the enemy. Mowgli would defeat Khan by luring him to climb a dead tree and make him fall into the fire. He then directs the elephant herd to put out the fire by diverting the river. When time passes, Raksha would lead the pack and the film ends with Mowgli continuing to stay in the jungle allowed to live as he wishes under the guardianship of Baloo & Bagheera


THOUGHTS

Every filmmaker takes risks in their careers and since Jon Favreau is quite familiar with that scenario, due to the fact Elf and Iron Man were considered gambles before exceeding expectations. Knowing this, it became easier to trust him directing this remake and it does please me when I say he does not disappoint. Every change he and writer Justin Marks got to do felt genius since it gave a better pace that felt more even than rushed, not to say that’s what the 60s version, but there was more time to bond with all characters equally. Speaking of which, the Oscar winning visual effects were the big selling point here for not only creating a beautiful landscape of the jungle itself, but for also making each animal feel larger than life. And if this did not work, Favreau would not have had the privilege to remake The Lion King however you feel about that one. With that aspect, it helps make the changes feel all the more special. Specifically, making Kaa and Louie gigantic are peak moments of the movie’s VFX technology as they raise the stakes more than ever storywise. Scarlett Johansson succeeds in voicing the python so seductive through her voice alone that you would become disappointed that the song “Trust in Me” gets shelved for the credits. Like the vultures, Louie was an original character for Disney’s iteration and this time, his presence felt stronger than before. As for Christopher Walken, he tops it in making the giant ape one who is actually focused on being a power hungry leader that truly wants to rule the jungle stronger than any animal can ever imagine until he becomes responsible for his own demise. At the very least, it was still cool to hear “I Wanna Be Like You” again to display how much of an extrovert he still is. Heck, even the elephants are stunning to behold. Overall, I do think this is the best remake Disney has done thus far apart from Pete’s Dragon because it does a better job in showing the importance of embracing your identity no matter the path you choose for yourself. This is the case when following Mowgli remaining firm that he belongs in the jungle more than being with his own kind because even though he’s been away from that society with its own rules, breakout Neel Sethi showed the boy to be extremely resourceful to the point that it saved his life. It’s honestly what makes him so brave when he doesn’t know it because he was willing to charge against Khan before even luring him to a trap. He doesn’t have anything against his own kind, but he is so against going to a man-village because he knows the adjustment will be rough and he doesn’t want to cope with that apart from missing those that took care of them. Again with the extended runtime compared to the predecessor, the proper time to bond with everyone really benefitted the wolf pack most since they’re not seen at all in the original after Mowgli has to leave. You get to respect how Giancarlo Esposito portrays Akela as the stoic leader who tried it play it both ways, protecting the boy and avoiding conflict with the tiger even when it still cost him his life, but you also adore Lupita N’yongo portraying Raksha as the nurturing mother Mowgli needed. Without her love, it’s hard to know if the kid would be just as confident the way he grew up. And because of her becoming so protective towards him besides everyone else in the pack, that made her an ideal leader which I’m sure she would continue to do well as time passes. What I liked a lot of Ben Kingsley playing Bagheera was the fact that he’s more stern & disciplined which is how he portrays affection towards Mowgli. Ever since he was the one that saved him when he was a baby, we know he cares for the boy deeply and he proves with action especially this was the first time we get to see him face off against Khan before Baloo does. And even seeing him fight off the monkeys felt like he was given more to do. What gave me the biggest smile from him was how he encouraged the boy to “fight him like a man” when it came to the tiger. Once he saw him save the elephant calf, he knew deep down he’ll always belong hence later saying so. Bill Murray was also a delight when it came to playing Baloo because apart from having a great cover of “Bare Necessities”, he remains the most pragmatic when not fiercely fighting for him three different times. Although he was quite lazy to have him collect honey for him, he still proved to care when overcoming his fear of heights just to save him from Louie. Most importantly, he’s the one animal that knew better that taking him to the man-village wouldn’t really help him the way everyone else thought, which is why it became a relief when things worked out after dealing with a vicious villain. For those who saw the 2018 Netflix adaptation directed by Andy Serkis, that was supposedly more accurate to the source material, you probably started debating who was the better iteration of Shere Khan after seeing an intense motion capture performance by Benedict Cumberbatch. Idris Elba is still compelling from the voice alone because he’s still on point with being sadistically vindictive when it comes to being determined on what he wants. He’s after Mowgli because it was his father that scarred his face as the flashback showed and he remembers him well enough due to his scent. That alone is supposed to be vengeance when in actuality, it is just another example of him being just ruthless since he was already hunting for pleasure according to Raksha. Had he left well enough alone, it would’ve saved him his life for sure. With the tiger gone, Mowgli can stay where he belongs and where he wants to be, which is all we all want for ourselves when life becomes unpredictable. I’ve come to love this film very much, but there are some other things that confused me upon rewatching where I understand why others would prefer the original. Like for starters, I don’t really think Mowgli shouldn’t be surprised seeing the elephants again before Bagheera tells him to kneel before them. I know this is a moment for the panther to explain their importance to the jungle but still, mowgli shouldn’t be surprised with something he’s already familiar with because he’s almost acting like he hasn’t seen them before. I know kids can be easily surprised over everything, but it also feels like Bagheera should’ve told him of their importance before needing to head to the man-village. It’s also totally on Khan he doesn’t try following the buffalo stampede if he wants to kill Mowgli so badly. I know killing Akela leads to him coming back, but he could’ve tried following him. Baloo is also a bit hypocritical when it comes to saying he doesn’t climb because before confronting Louie, he still got up the tree to save Mowgli from Kaa and it’s a surprise the boy didn’t bring it up. Lastly, I do feel like the pack should’ve jumped Khan just when Baloo charges rather than risk the bear dying by letting him have the fight to himself first because he was lucky he survived that bite from the tiger. If you can ignore all these flaws, then you can go on saying 2016’s The Jungle Book was a fantastic remake for doing a lot of right in amplifying & enhancing all the things that made the original work. If you still love the predecessor deeply, then I’m sure you could love this equally.