It is a rare and wondrous thing indeed to be transported by a film so completely far away from the everyday grind that you almost forget you are sitting in a cinema watching it all unfold.
But that miraculous feat is accomplished within seconds of Jon Favreau’s delightful live action reinterpretation of The Jungle Book as we witness the man-cub Mowgli (Neel Sethi) bounding through the lush surrounds of his Indian jungle home racing his adoptive wolf pack under the wise encouraging tutelage of his feline protector and mentor Bagheera (Ben Kingsley).
So immeasurably well-realised is the CGI-generated jungle, and the various animals, friend and foe, that inhabit it, that you instantly feel as if you have tumbled in among the gnarled towering trees and vines that dominate the only world that Mowgli can ever remember calling home.
The truth is, of course, that Mowgli had a life before that – his origin story is detailed later in the film as he stares hypnotically into the seductive eyes of the anaconda Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) who promises warmth and caring but intends to deliver quite the opposite – but that all changed when Bagheera found him wandering alone through the jungle and convinced the leader of local wolf pack, headed by the wise Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) to take him in.
Tended with fiercely protective maternal concern by Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o), Mowgli is convinced he is a wolf, an intrinsic member of the natural world in which he lives.
He’s aware that he is neither as fleet of foot nor as quickly reactive as his wolf siblings such as Gray (Emjay Anthony) – he makes up for this by employing what Akela calls “tricks”; using his human ingenuity to create drinking bowls and a rappel and pulley system that he uses to get honey for a covetous and genially persuasive Baloo (Bill Murray in sparklingly endearing form) – but even so for all intents and purposes he is as much a member of the natural world as his wolf pack family, Bagheera and the other animals of the jungle.
What is so pleasing about The Jungle Book is that for all it’s warm and fuzzy moments of inclusiveness and belonging – none of which are cloying or overly-emotional but feel entirely natural and authentic – it doesn’t attempt to sugarcoat the nature of Mowgli’s relationship with a world in which, as the menacing tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) reminds him, he technically does not belong.
Khan, who bears the scars of a fiery run-in with man, the keeper of what’s called “red flower” (fire), is unwilling to adopt a live-and-let-live approach demanding that Mowgli leave the jungle for the man village just outside its bounds.
But what the other animals interpret as simply the need to return the man-cub to his original home, of which he has no memory nor desire to be a part of again – a task undertaken by Bagheera with rueful necessity and only blessed by Raksha and Akela when they accede he can no longer stay in the jungle with Shere Khan railing against his presence – Khan sees a death sentence.
It sets in train an unexpectedly dark but richly-realised battle of wills between the ever-resourceful Mowgli, who fights all the way to stay in his jungle home, and Khan, who will stop at nothing, even when his own life hangs in the balance to ensure the “threat” posed by the unwelcome human boy is eradicated in the most final way possible.
Leavening this darker thread are some delightful moments of humour, delivered for the most part by a goofy Baloo, who cons Mowgli into harvesting honey for him on the basis that he needs to bulk up for the winter (he doesn’t, of course), and the insertion of two songs from the 1967 animated original film, which is the basis for the new movie in far more substantial ways than the original Kipling text itself.
The two songs, “The Bare Necessities” which is performed against a background of bucolic pleasure enjoyed by Baloo and Mowgli, and “I Want to be Like You”, performed by Mowgli, Baloo and a dictatorial King Louie who wants to use the man-cub for his own nefarious ends.
Other songs do get in as well but not in the movie proper, finding a home in the seven minutes plus closing credits which are so beautifully and gleefully animated that they you daren’t leave the cinema before they’ve run their course.
This balance of light and dark storytelling, and the rich, fully-dimensional characters which push it forward (while some mannerisms of the various actors are judiciously and winningly employed, the characters stand well and truly independent of their A-list voices) exemplify a film that barely puts a foot wrong.
From the heartfelt moments of familial and friendly togetherness to the fearful exchanges with Khan and the impressively well-executed and dramatic action sequence that closes the film, tidying up all the loose ends in the process in a way that feels neither forced nor overly convenient, The Jungle Book is an immersive treat that effortlessly and naturally tackles big issues such as man vs. nature, and the nature of belonging without every feeling like its clumsily preaching its message.
It is a masterwork, so happily comfortable in the story it’s telling and so perfectly inhabiting the world created for it, that you can’t help but feel like a little kid again, wishing that, like Mowgli, you could live there for as long as the animals will have you.
Glad to hear you give this the thumbs up. I do fancy watching this but wasn’t sure if it could work. Thanks!
It works brilliantly well 🙂 I came out humming the tunes and happy they’d found a way to make a live action remake work.