![]() ![]() The music from Basil Pouledoris, who also composed the music for the Hunt For Red October, is sweeping and rousing, and the pace and direction are slick. The costumes are fabulous, Kitty's dresses are to die for, and Lena Headey I must say looked gorgeous. The film looks absolutely stunning, the cinematography is striking, the forests are lush and the waterfalls are sparkling. The animals are very well trained, I liked how wise Baloo was and Shere Kahn gave a good amount of menace whenever he was on screen. I admit it I do prefer the animation, as I grew up with it, but I really like this version as well. I also think it is very underrated, the look of the film and the music should've at least guaranteed a 7.0 rating on IMDb, and whether I bring this film up to people the general impression is that a)they haven't seen it, b)it is inferior to the 1967 film or c)they hate it full stop. ![]() But there is so much that compensates it is actually truer to the book than the 1967 film was and it is definitely worthwhile. This film doesn't quite have the charm of the 1967 film, and there are some parts like the animal mauling that I found rather intense. I just loved how original, funny and light-hearted it all was. As I said, this sacrifices the original’s bittersweet acknowledgment that Mowgli must one day grow up and look for romance.I'd better start off saying how much I love the 1967 animated film. Interestingly, where the first film finally sticks to a never-the-twain-shall-meet attitude to humans’ long-term cohabitation with animals, this one posits the idea of living together happily (though that size of loincloth can’t last for ever). Actually, the film emphatically revives Kipling’s poem The Law of the Jungle with its collective all-for-one ethic: “The strength of the pack is the wolf/And the strength of the wolf is the pack.” Baloo prefers songs to poems and calls that one “propaganda”. It’s not a musical and yet the deployment of two famous songs – The Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You – feels easy and natural. I’ve never seen digital rendering of talking animals look so persuasive and this film also creates witty and ingenious twists on the story we all know, including a new plot development concerning wolf-leader Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and Shere Khan – and even creates a backstory for Mowgli which explains how he got that modesty-preserving loincloth of his. Newcomer Neel Sethi plays Mowgli himself Ben Kingsley voices Bagheera the panther Idris Elba is the evil tiger Shere Khan Scarlett Johansson is the hissing snake mesmerist Kaa Christopher Walken is the voice of King Louie the fire-hungry ape and inevitably – but pleasingly, and very amusingly – Bill Murray is an outstanding vocal turn as the notorious ursine slacker and pleasure-seeker Baloo the bear who teaches Mowgli the importance of kicking back and enjoying the bare necessities of life. ![]()
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