By Teri Bayus
The bear necessities of life are back and I am so pleased. Hats off to director Jon Favreau, screenwriter Justin Marks and the CGI visual effects team for giving us the best version of The Jungle Book on the big screen. It’s a flawless, stunning, epic and a brilliant adaptation of Rudyard Kiplings’s fascinating story.
This has got to be some of the best animation work since “Life of Pi.” In some ways it’s very similar to that film, being about an Indian boy living with animals.
What they managed to do in this film is quite impressive, perhaps more so, than Life of Pi, because while both films were made on a sound stage, the Jungle Book has many more locations, and when Mowgli runs through the jungle, it looks like he’s actually there.
The story, almost verbatim of the original movie, centers on Mowgli who lives with a pack of wolves under the supervision of Ben Kingsley’s Bagheera and his wolf parents. Neel Seethi, the only live-action character, did a fantastic job, showing the innocence, curiosity and energy that is expected of Mowgli.
After a confrontation of Sheer Khan (Idris Elba) with the intent of killing Mowgli just because, the wolves decided to send the man cub back to his hometown with Bagheera’s assistance.
Along the way the film detours into the same scenes we expect but with different creative castings. Scarlett Johansson plays a man-hungry snake “Ka;” Christopher Walken as a massive Gigantopithecus, and Bill Murray as “Baloo.”
This movie is a visually immense feast of a film. Director Favreau is easily the best at implementing comedic quirks, unintentional or not, to deceptively lean films, the kind of aesthetic that elevates his movies.
The weird songs and bizarreness adds to the wonderful tapestry of this film. Elements like these would not work anywhere else, but somehow fits the peculiar charm of the source material brilliantly.
What a magnificent way to reintroduce The Jungle Book to a new generation of children.
Teri Bayus is the host of “Taste Buds,” shown on Charter Ch. 10, KSBY, The CW and on Central Coast Now TV. Bayus’ culinary erotic book, “Consumed” is available at: www.amazon.com/Consumed-Teri-Bayus-ebook/dp/B016DW85PA. Dinner and a Movie is a regular feature of The Tolosa Press.