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.
There have been so few times that I’ve gone into a movie theater, lately, and been truly glad that I did. This is one of those times. This is one of the only movies, so far in 2016, that I would consider a “Must See”.
Spoilers.. well, you know, this is the freakin jungle book.. you know the story. Stop being a baby.
The CGI work was masterful. It kind of had to be.. because, although the Jim Henson Company made life sized, realistic, characters for reference, Neel Sethi (Mowgli) was pretty much the only real thing in this movie. And honestly, I couldn’t tell. Really, it was that good. The acting was great, by all involved. Especially the voice work by our primary cast of Christopher Walken (King Louie), Bill Murray (Baloo), Ben Kingsley (Bagheera), Idris Elba (Shere Khan) and Scarlett Johansson (Kaa).
OK, Let’s talk about the Gigantopithecus in the room. The performance by, and motion capturing of Christopher Walken was absolutely fantastic! This was really a CGI Giant Ape that sounded like.. and LOOKED like Walken! The eyes, the mannerisms, facial expressions, it was all just spot on. And let’s not forget the funniest part of the entire scene.
Mowgli is brought before King Louie, before the great ape makes his appearance, the boy looks around to see Louie’s “Treasures”, and on the ground by his feet.. it notices, and picks up.. A Freakin COW BELL. Which, of course, is a nod to the famous SNL Sketch.
The only down side to this movie was, honestly, I could have done without the few musical numbers. They didn’t include all of the songs from the original cartoon, so, it kinda made the 2 songs that they left in, (Bear Necessities / I want to be like you) kind of odd.
Really, go and see this movie, and buy the DVD/BluRay when released. This is a treat.
