So I had the opportunity of watching this movie earlier than most of the world and I am thankful to Disney India for that !
So we start with a 10 year old Mowgli finding himself struggling with the wolf life....Don't worry we all will be very nicely be introduced to a younger and cuter Mowgli later on in the story in a very interesting manner .
The movie took me to my early days when I used to watch the cartoon of Mowgli dancing around the jungle and I can assure you that there are points where a true Jungle Book fan will have a wet eye coping with the emotional drama going on - the feeling I had while watching 'Dawn of the planet of the apes' and 'Life of Pi'.The scenes are so brilliantly choreographed and the soundtrack so well tuned (noticeably indian musical instruments) that you have to admire the beauty - new or fan of the concept. Once in a while you may feel swayed by the storytelling for a moment and then after a while you may just question yourself...Hey I already know this...This is actually how Mr. Favreau exploited the depths and beauty of the Jungle and its living beings !
The film is just PG as we all know .... so all of us can enjoy the film yet the tone is perfectly clocked so as to indulge even the sceptic of persons with the most joyful and light-hearted viewers !
The character I loved most was of course Baloo....Bill Murray did such a wonderful job adding fun and humour with the appropiate proportion of emotional stress.
Second comes Bagheera - There's a scene between Baaloo , Bagheera and Mowgli which will bring you to the edge of your seat.You can just feel the director's love with your much-loved childhood story but treating it with the growing respect of an adult....Its very difficult to point out negatives as they were almost negligible !
Most important of all - the evil tiger 'Shere Khan'....this version is so ferocious and cunning and there are some jump scare moments which may make you jump up the seat ! Idris Elba has used the most perfect tone he could and that went perfectly well with the story !
Kaa did not have much role neither did King LOUIE...but they were fantastic in whatever way they could be !
The main soul of the fim ...our Mowgli played by the young Neel Sethi has done a ' critical' job...in the sense of adapting , be brave , growing up to be a man yet showing at every shot the good and cheerful heart the great character has always processed.....The direcor has so well projected the Kipling character in the main screen that there's very little you can whine for more !
Talking about darkness and bleak it goes as far as a PG Disney Jungle book film can go....rest easy....without making the film lifeless and boring as the last major blockbuster or whatever did !
Now you may go sceptic and ask 'Come on ! Isn't there even a single con in the movie ?' ....Well then with much difficulty I have to put myself in the place of that dude who is responsible for bringing 'The Godfather' RT score from perfect to 99 %....Yes, you may feel some scenes out of place in contrast to the main plot and inserted just for the sake of more fun like the whole Louie thing and some others (won't spoil) !
Without spoiling anything the last I can say is that : This film is fun , excitement , action , emotional and epic ! Just go and watch it with your entire family ! You will love it !
My score is no doubt a 10/10.....I will revisit and let you know if I lower my score !
If you have seen it what is your opinion on this epic Disney take ? Does the upcoming WB Jungle Book stand any chance to surpass this phenomenol movie ?
As always be sure to leave your opinions below as comments !