Movie Review: “The Jungle Book” Covers All The “Bear Necessities”

The man-cub Mowgli flees the jungle after a threat from the tiger Shere Khan. Guided by Bagheera the panther and the bear Baloo, Mowgli embarks on a journey of self-discovery, though he also meets creatures who don’t have his best interests at heart.

Jon Favreau has come a long way since his role as the brute Mike in Doug Liman’s seminal indie film “Swingers” (which the actor also wrote). Since those glory days of 1990s micro-budget experimentations, both Liman and Favreau have established themselves as Hollywood A-list directors, the former catapulting Tom Cruise out of an airplane in “Edge of Tomorrow,” and the latter catapulting Robert Downey Jr. out of… well, a variety of structures in “Iron Man.” After the bomb that was “Cowboys & Aliens,” Favreau returned to his indie roots with the charming “Chef” – which, as it turns out, was just prep work for his next big outing.

Now Favreau brings us the much-anticipated remake (rework? new take? retelling?) of the Disney’s classic “The Jungle Book,” in live-action – though about 80% of the film seems to have been animated, albeit with pixels instead of brushes. While usually it’s those damn pixels that suck all the magic out of big-budget extravaganzas, Favreau’s film happens to be one of the rare exceptions, like Ang Lee’s “Life of Pi” (which also had a ferocious CGI tiger), where the almost-never-distracting effects actually enhance the narrative, instead of assaulting our eyeballs, “Transformers”-style. The magic is palpable, kids. Welcome to the jungle.

In the true spirit of Rudyard Kipling’s classic, Favreau’s film is about the disparity of human and animal. Where do those distinct separations lie, if a human were to be raised by a pack of wolves? Could humans and animals ever live together in peace – or, at the very least, mutual respect? The phrase “fight like a man” takes a whole new meaning in this film. At the very beginning, as Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is being chased by his mentor, panther Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley), through a deep jungle of vines and exotic shrubbery, the latter inquires, “I realize you weren’t born wolf, but could you at least act like one?”

The dry season devastates the jungle. The exotic shrubbery dissipates, unraveling the Peace Rock in the sole water reservoir, where animals – both predator and prey – gather to drink peacefully, under the solemn oath of the Water Truce. The presence of Mowgli and his human inventions, causes a furor, especially maddening the mighty tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), who growls, “Man-cub becomes Man, and Man is forbidden!” He warns Akela (Giancarlo Esposito), the wolf pack leader, that as soon as “the water rises, this rock disappears and the truce will end… Ask yourselves, how many lives is a man-cub worth?”

Intimidated by the tiger’s threats, the wolf pack debates its next steps, until Mowgli volunteers to leave, and Bagheera takes him on a journey back to the “man village.” On their adventure they encounter a herd of God-like elephants who “created this jungle,” separate in a suspenseful moment, just to soon reunite; in the meantime, Mowgli’s backstory is revealed, and (spoiler alert!) Akela is murdered by Shere Khan, to lure Mowgli back for the Ultimate Showdown.

“The Jungle Book” is fast-paced, beautifully photographed by Bill Pope (“The Matrix”) and most importantly, filled with obvious love of the material. Favreau always approaches his projects, even the failures, with strenuous attention to detail, and here his passion for the book – and the Disney original – shows. A lot of care went into bringing Kipling’s classic novel to life, to attract a new generation of film-goers.

And what life! An edge-of-your-seat sequence of Shere Khan battling Bagheera leads to a wild chase through a buffalo stampede. A wildly original overture sees Mowgli help Baloo out by getting him honey from a tall hill edge (Baloo, to an irritating critter, as he watches Mowgli perilously approach the bees-infested honeycombs: “You have never been a more endangered species than you are now”). Mowgli’s kidnapping by King Louie’s monkey army is a sight to behold – and that’s followed by an insane musical number and a thunderous, fire-thirsty Louie (the animals refer to fire as the “red flower”) crashing through a Mayan temple…

The voice-acting is uniformly stellar. Idris Elba is savage, roaring and snarling as the villainous tiger. Ben Kingsley’s Bagheera is wise and dependable. Lupita Nyong’o is compassionate as Akela’s sweetheart Raksha. Christopher Walken does a hilarious King Louie (and he sings!). Though Scarlett Johansson appears for a mere three minutes as the sexy, coiling, hypnotizing snake Kaa (“I know what you are… I know where you come from… Let go of your fear now…”), she leaves an impression with her recognizable husky voice that the actress infuses with a slithery seductiveness. And, of course, there’s Bill Murray who, after a couple of recent missteps (“Aloha”, “Rock the Kasbah”), comes back with a… well, I wish I could say vengeance, but it’s really more like a cave-full of delectable honey, as the lovable, legendary Baloo, who doesn’t exactly “hibernate” so much as “take long naps”. Each scene involving the somewhat-dry (in that trademark Murray fashion), clumsy and loyal bear ups the already-entertaining film’s ante considerably.

Though newcomer Neel Sethi does a commendable job in the action sequences, his lack of experience behind the camera does show in the scenes where the CGI critters around him out-act the little guy. Not that Sethi doesn’t give it a valiant try – I’m sure that under Favreau’s assured guidance, the kid had a blast – it shows. The role of Mowgli is quite a hefty one, so at the very least, props to the filmmakers for hiring an unknown to shoulder it. Another department where the film falters a little is the dialogue – there are quite a few jokes that fall flat, some of the otherwise-laudable “man against nature” themes are overstated, and “sentimentality fatigue” settles in roughly 75% into the film. I blame it on writer Justin Marks, whose only “notable” work before this was the 2009 “classic”, “Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li.”

Though it doesn’t quite live up to the original – and what film ever could? – Favreau’s “The Jungle Book” is about as efficient a re-“whatever-you-wanna-call-it” as one could wish for. Absent of product placement, cheesy contemporary dance routines or pop-culture puns, it’s filled with wonder, a palpable love of nature (as well as the source material), edge-of-your-seat action, a commendable ecological message and gorgeously-animated, perfectly-voiced animal characters. The rendition of “Bare Necessities” – Mowgli lovingly splashing water onto Baloo’s mug as he rides the scruffy bear down the river – is worth the price of admission alone. You’ll envy their pure, unadulterated mirth. Favreau’s next project is “Magic Kingdom,” written by Michael Chabon (Pulitzer Prize winner and writer of “Spider-Man 2”) and Ronald D. Moore (the mastermind behind the brilliant TV series “Battlestar Galactica”). Judging by “The Jungle Book,” there will be plenty of magic to go around in that Kingdom.

In theaters Friday, April 15th