First-rate entertainment for the whole family.
The Jungle Book
Grade: A
Director: Jon Favreau (Chef)
Screenplay: Justin Marks (Street Fighter)
Cast: Bull Murray (Ghostbusters), Ben Kingsley (Gandhi)
Rating: PG
Runtime: 105 min.
by John DeSando
“They want to send you to the man-village? I say, you can be a man right here!” Baloo (voice of Bill Murray)
In the new version of The Jungle Book, Baloo is insightful, in a modern way, about men’s development needing to be expressed in the environment most suited to their core selves. Director Jon Favreau and writer Justin Marks have scored a home run with this coming of age story, in which Mowgli (Neel Sethi) leaves home to find his true nature.
Rarely will you ever see such a rich combination of animated realism, from forest to creatures, and witty conversation, animals and man-cub alike. When Baloo, Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and Mowgli banter, you listen intently lest you miss one word of brilliant, human repartee:
Bagheera: Come on, Mowgli. Let's be on our way.
Mowgli: But I'm helping Baloo get ready for hibernation.
Bagheera: Bears don't hibernate in the jungle.
Baloo: Not full hibernation, but I nap a lot.
The talk is spicy and witty throughout, from the hip King Louie (Christopher Walken): “Kid, I got ears. My ears got ears.” or the insidious serpent Kaa (Scarlett Johansson): “Let go of your fear now... and trussst in meee....” Mostly, however, the talk is about Mowgli’s role as a member of the wolf pack or human society. The story weaves between his benign environment (yes, Shere Khan—voice of Idris Elba—is a bad tiger but an anomaly in this paradise) and the need to be protected from Khan by sending him to his native home among humans.
So does the allegory work for any young adventurer caught between home and adventure abroad, where he will not always be welcome: “Mowgli... they've given it a name! When was it we come to adopt man to this jungle?” Shere Khan Only in a Disney fantasy world can the boy have it both ways. See for yourself, and bring your family—it’s that good.
.John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts WCBE’s It’s Movie Time and co-hosts Cinema Classics. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.rr.com
