The Jungle Book

We've seen many films with many incarnations throughout the years-- Peter Pan, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, The Three Musketeers and others, but as we see these different incarnations play out, too many of them simply fall short the more the filmmakers continue to attempt to convince us otherwise. "The Jungle Book", first was a classic, then the animated '67 version, then the '94 version, all improved with each film they produced including this latest incarnation in the offing.

In this reimagining of the classic collection of stories by Rudyard Kipling, this film uses visually stunning CGI to create the community of animals surrounding Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a 'man-cub' adopted by a pack of wolves headed up by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito). The appearance of a villainous tiger named Shere Khan (Idris Elba) forces Mowgli's guardian, the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), to shepherd the child to safety in the 'man village'. Along the way, the boy meets an affable, lazy bear named Baloo (Bill Murray), as well as a snake with hypnotic powers, Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) and an orangutan, King Louie (Christopher Walken) who wants to harness the power of fire or as the animal kingdom calls it 'red flower'. This story has Mowgli taking a journey of self-discovery and with many lessons to learn.

Others to round out the cast are Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha, Garry Shandling as Ikki and Brighton Rose as Gray.

This film was brilliantly directed by Jon Favreau ("Smog" (TV movie) '99, "Made" '01, "Elf" '03, "Zathura: A Space adventure" '05, "Iron Man" '08, "Iron Man 2" '10, "Cowboys & Aliens" '11, "Chef" '14). This version keeps all the action, adventure, emotional upheaval as with the over versions which kept it true to the stories. It was equally well written by Justin Marks based on the classic books by Rudyard Kipling. This has got to be the best written of all the other Jungle Book films in that this kept one's attention by blending all the action, adventure and self-discovery all rolled up with just the perfect amount of emotion to make it real, however not maudlin. This writer doesn't have a ton of experience, but he soon will since he's slated to write "Jungle Book 2" and "Top Gun 2" which have been announced. This will even allow him to be an even better writer if that's possible. I am a stickler when it comes to writing in films, but I have to say that this guy has quite the future in Hollywood. Favreau has been slated to direct "Jungle Book 2" as well. All's I can see is that this film was as incredibly well crafted as it was beautiful to look at, especially when the visual effects were predominantly created by Weta Digital, MPC (Moving Picture Company) and Digital Domain all with Robert Legato, asc as Visual Effects Supervisor.

The transformation from animated to live action was the best of any other film that has made the same transition.This film based on the beloved classic is a film to be seen by one and all, and if you are thinking of viewing this, please see it on the large screen preferably in a 3D format, otherwise it will lose every bit of impact on a TV screen. Kudos to all associated with this film, and I can't wait the next installment.

Out of 4 Stars: 4                                        Rated: PG                                    105mins.