The Jungle Book Review
Tonight, I went and saw Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book. I felt all the feels. I laughed, I cried, and everything in between. It was certainly worth the $18 to see it in theatres. while watching I was even slightly disappointed I chose to see it not in 3D1.
I also am glad I hadn’t watched the original recently. The Jungle Book was not in my regular VHS rotation as a kid2. Because of this, I feel as though I was able to enjoy the story very purely and was unable to compare while watching.
The music of the original Jungle Book is the one thing that has stuck with me into adulthood. I was very pleased with how this adaptation placed the music and gave nods to the original that felt true to this adaptation as well.
As I have nothing much to say about The Jungle Book other than go see it I would like to recommend you read This HuffPost Blog entitled ‘Mowgli and Me: How ‘The Jungle Book’ Shaped My Indian-American Life’. Here is an excerpt from the piece:
“The tale of Mowgli is probably India’s greatest modern fairy tale. Sure, it might’ve been written by a British man while he lived in Vermont, but Kipling, who was born in India and spent a good portion of his life there, is considered one of India’s literary darlings. And Indians consider Kipling’s Jungle Book to be their story. It’s the fabric of every Indian kid’s upbringing.”
FOOTNOTES:
- I know there are a lot of anti-3D people out there but after seeing Scorsese’s Hugo in IMAX 3D I am a total convert and completely believe that the effect can be done well and add to a film in so many ways. ↩
- My rotation consisted of Heidi (Shirley Temple), Rogers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella (The Whitney Houston & Brandy one obviously), and Hook ↩
