Jungle Book

The Jungle Book: Movie Review #9365 THE JUNGLE BOOK.

Remake of the 1967 Disney animated movie which in turn was based on a collection of stories written by Rudyard Kipling late nineteenth century. As a kid I never got to see the animated version & remember feeling quite left out as all my friends did.

Anyway having long since gotten over that childhood trauma, I popped along to the 3D version showing this evening in downtown Palmerston North. Have to say it is a beautifully crafted film, made all the more dramatic in 3D, albeit with a few obvious hat tips to StarWars, The Lion King & the original Planet of the Apes. Cinematography is amazing & NZ's own Weta Digital had a hand in its production. I picked most of the voices apart from Bagheera the panther whom I initially thought was Sir Anthony Hopkins but turned out to be another British knight, Sir Ben Kingsley.

If you don't know the story, man-cub Mowgli is raised by wolves in the Indian jungle & forms all sorts of interesting relationships with the animals within his surrounds. Shere Kan the tiger however is intent on man-cub for supper/revenge & pursues him through thick & thin, finally meeting his match in Mowgli's tricks, which he had previously been berrated for deploying. Along the way Mowgli meets Baloo the bear (Bill Murray), Kaa a python (Scarlett Johanssen) & King Louie a massive orangutan (a very Godfather-like Christopher Walken), each wanting Mowgli & his tricks to help with their own agendas.

A few little goofs noted; Baloo emerges from a river almost completely dry & when the wolves get rained on they don't seem to get wet, unlike Mowgli who is often submerged & drenched!

All-in-all thoroughly entertaining although being a Friday night, I was pretty jaded after a tough week & had a little trouble staying engaged. Note: make sure you see it in 3D! 9/10.