The Jungle Book
2016  PG  FANTASY  1h 46min
CAST— Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Neel Sethi
MUSIC— John Debney  DIRECTOR— Jon Favreau  BASED ON— The Jungle Book (book), by Rudyard Kipling

     An unexpectedly dark tale of Mowgli and the gang, though still remaining family friendly. Young Mowgli, a human boy being raised by wolves in the Indian jungle, now faces a dilemma. The fearsome tiger Shere Khan sees this man-cub as the end of order in the jungle, namely Shere Khan’s tyrannical version of order. Thus, the boy must be eliminated. Friendly panther Bagheera makes it his mission to deliver Mowgli to the man-village from whence he came. But the journey is fraught with danger; they encounter multiple threats, including “trust in me” constrictors, a horde of apes and monkeys lorded over by a ginormous orangutan and of course the ever menacing tiger. Thankfully there’s a tuneful, somewhat self-adsorbed bear named Baloo who’s always there to lend a paw, much to the delight of Mowgli, much to the chagrin of fastidious Bagheera. Fans of the classic Disney cartoon shouldn’t be disappointed in this one. Though visually arresting the overall atmosphere is far from the jazzy ha-cha-cha of the original; actually features more of a brooding aura as opposed to the campiness of the ‘60s tale. Still worth the effort for those in the mood for visual razzle dazzle. Oscar-winner for Best Visual Effects.
OUR RATING— ***
ORIGINAL— Jungle Book (1942), The Jungle Book (1967), Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book (1994), The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story (1998)