First Reviews for Jon Favreau's "The Jungle Book"

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I thought it was decent, not great, but the ending was nothing short of fucking hilarious - Mowgli
burns down half the jungle in a fit of rage against Shere Khan, has an "oops my bad" moment, the elephants put out the fire and everyone is instantly cool with him nearly killing everyone
?
 
Salty Catfish said:
I thought it was decent, not great, but the ending was nothing short of fucking hilarious - Mowgli
burns down half the jungle in a fit of rage against Shere Khan, has an "oops my bad" moment, the elephants put out the fire and everyone is instantly cool with him nearly killing everyone
?
Click to expand...
Yessss. Bugged me so much. And apoearantly it only takes like...10 minutes to run across the whole jungle.
 
Just saw it. I'd say it's a very good movie, but most certainly not a classic imo. Nothing story wise grabbed me that much. Maybe the RT rating got me overhyped. It had some great Favreau touches that I enjoyed and definitely worth rewatching for the visuals alone. The 3D really was excellent, perhaps the best I've seen. Enjoyed Zootopia more as far as recent Disney movies are concerned
 
Vincent Alexander said:
Yessss. Bugged me so much. And apoearantly it only takes like...10 minutes to run across the whole jungle.
Click to expand...
It was kind of funny too because once his plan finally worked:

Apparently that fall was enough to instantly kill Shere Khan? OK, let's accept that. But then Mowgli is stuck on a vine swing in a BURNING FOREST. His plan then is to...climb up the vine and just walk out? I guess it would have been too difficult to even attempt showing the climb, so they cut the scene as soon as he puts his hands on the vine.
 
Saw it a couple of hours ago. I liked it, it had it's up's and down's but the up's definitely are much more.

Some scenes were a little dull though, like the whole third act just kinda flew by without much tension.
 
Sorta liked it. Has some great moments, but yeah, that finale was kind of a shit show.

Also Christopher Walken cowbell joke in 2016... heh...
 
Saw it yesterday. My nephew loved it, the younger one was too scared by King Louie so he had to exit the theatre with my brother.

I thought Mowgli's actor was the weakest link in the cast.

Salty Catfish said:
I thought it was decent, not great, but the ending was nothing short of fucking hilarious - Mowgli
burns down half the jungle in a fit of rage against Shere Khan, has an "oops my bad" moment, the elephants put out the fire and everyone is instantly cool with him nearly killing everyone
?
Click to expand...
This bugged me as well. I was rooting for Shere Khan, actually.
 
I think it is worth mentioning the kid is acting as a sole real human in a film that is almost entirely CG. That is something even adult actors often don't handle too well. I haven't seen the film yet, mind you.
 
Harmen said:
I think it is worth mentioning the kid is acting as a sole real human in a film that is almost entirely CG. That is something even adult actors often don't handle too well. I haven't seen the film yet, mind you.
Click to expand...

Life of Pi was similar, movie will make big bucks...gets loads of appreciation and that kid who is the only thing "live action" about the entire movie will be forgotten. Just like Suraj Sharma in Life of Pi.

Edit: saw the movie today, I liked it a lot. Very faithful to the original and the source material. I would however like to watch this film dubbed in Hindi, would feel a lot more appropriate especially considering the material and character names and the fact that most Indian kids who watched the original and the TV show grew up watching itdubbed in Hindi.
 
Honestly started cracking up Louie was introduced. Not just Walken being him, but the decision to make him a mob boss slash Colonel Kurtz. Even his first lines are based off Brando's lines in AN.

Pretty good overall, last act kinda falls flat if you think about it.
 
So, two things that bothered me the most:

1. Sher Khan becoming a passive villain. Khan was so damn terrifying and villainous from the moment we first see him. And he remains as such, until he goes back to the wolfpack
and kills Akela
. At this point onward, he is no longer this ruthless hunting machine. He is passive. Sitting there waiting. Where is the tension in our movie supposed to come from? Mowgli's life is no longer in danger, unless by chance he hears of Akela's death and if by chance after that chance of hearing it he decides to avenge Akela. Not too far-fetched by itself, but definitely a weak plan when you consider who has hatched it.

2.
Mowgli being shown the human village midway through the film. Like...oh. There it is. You can go there whenever. So at this point Khan is no longer chasing, and Mowgli no longer has a goal he is moving towards
. What is the point of the movie anymore? If we're here just to have fun then OK. I can live with that. But I felt like there was some deeper message or theme that wasn't well executed.

I loved Jungle Book until halfway through, which is when I went from love to like. Then the third act
in the burning jungle
took me to Meh.
 
Quoting from the other thread.

Totakeke said:
I must say I didn't feel much for the movie, no big flaws but it didn't click with me either.

However it was worth it just for the Dolby Cinema experience though, never heard of it before and it was really awesome. Best 3D experience I've had so far.
Click to expand...

My memories of the Disney movies were the catchy songs. They weren't as effective here (I think) because there wasn't a lot of things going on the screen when the songs are playing.
 
Vincent Alexander said:
So, two things that bothered me the most:

1. Sher Khan becoming a passive villain. Khan was so damn terrifying and villainous from the moment we first see him. And he remains as such, until he goes back to the wolfpack
and kills Akela
. At this point onward, he is no longer this ruthless hunting machine. He is passive. Sitting there waiting. Where is the tension in our movie supposed to come from? Mowgli's life is no longer in danger, unless by chance he hears of Akela's death and if by chance after that chance of hearing it he decides to avenge Akela. Not too far-fetched by itself, but definitely a weak plan when you consider who has hatched it.
Click to expand...

Tension came from the Bandorlog kidnapping Mowgli when the movie needed a tonal shift. I'm watching the Disney toon right now and Shere Khan hasn't even been seen 40 minutes in and counting, only mentioned.
But I think it works in the new film, because it sets Khan up as a lame tiger too cowardly to hunt when he'd rather just wait until he's in his sights.

Vincent Alexander said:
2.
Mowgli being shown the human village midway through the film. Like...oh. There it is. You can go there whenever. So at this point Khan is no longer chasing, and Mowgli no longer has a goal he is moving towards
. What is the point of the movie anymore? If we're here just to have fun then OK. I can live with that. But I felt like there was some deeper message or theme that wasn't well executed.



I loved Jungle Book until halfway through, which is when I went from love to like. Then the third act
in the burning jungle
took me to Meh.
Click to expand...

With your second point, I feel that the inclusion of the
tools/tricks and Bagheera's disapproval added some depth to the film which lead to the climax.

Overall, I agree about going to meh. I so badly wanted the red flower scene from the book and I quickly realized I wasn't getting it.

But then I remembered the other version coming out and placed my hope in that which allowed me to reevaluate my overall score for this film. Went from a prewatch hype of A+ to a C to an A... for whatever that's worth.
 
NealMcCauley said:
Honestly started cracking up Louie was introduced. Not just Walken being him, but the decision to make him a mob boss slash Colonel Kurtz. Even his first lines are based off Brando's lines in AN.

Pretty good overall, last act kinda falls flat if you think about it.
Click to expand...
I started laughing at Mowgli playing with a cowbell knowing who voiced Louie. Fun gag.
 
If you are like me that found the elephants to be the funniest thing in the 60s movie, then you'll probably feel this one is missing something like I do. Get these force of nature beast out of my sight and bring back that pack of incompetent environmental hazards.
 
Man. I wanted to like this movie but by the end I just wanted it to be over. That last act was so contrived. The voice acting took me out of it as well. It felt like I was being spoken to from a studio a lot. I can't really explain it beyond that.

I really, really wanted to like this movie. I actually went in with high expectations and excitement. I left disappointed.

MoonsaultSlayer said:
I started laughing at Mowgli playing with a cowbell knowing who voiced Louie. Fun gag.
Click to expand...

Oh, man. I didn't think of that. Nice touch.

Vulcano's assistant said:
If you are like me that found the elephants to be the funniest thing in the 60s movie, then you'll probably feel this one is missing something like I do. Get these force of nature beast out of my sight and bring back that pack of incompetent environmental hazards.
Click to expand...

The thing I didn't like about the elephant usage was if you are going to give them such importance and then have Mowgli save one, have them factor into the end game more instead of being glorified beavers.
 
UraMallas said:
Man. I wanted to like this movie but by the end I just wanted it to be over. That last act was so contrived. The voice acting took me out of it as well. It felt like I was being spoken to from a studio a lot. I can't really explain it beyond that.

I really, really wanted to like this movie. I actually went in with high expectations and excitement. I left disappointed.
Click to expand...
Shere Khan in particular sounded like he was coming through a microphone for sure.
 
Another thing about not liking this version as much as I had anticipated is that I am now getting more hyped for Serkis' version. Hopefully he can look at this and see what not to do. I went from "who needs a second live-action Jungle Book?" to "man, I really want a better live-action version of Jungle Book."

MoonsaultSlayer said:
Shere Khan in particular sounded like he was coming through a microphone for sure.
Click to expand...

Him and Baloo were the biggest offenders for me. Excited for Idris's face to be on screen again as The Gunslinger.
 
UraMallas said:
Another thing about not liking this version as much as I had anticipated is that I am now getting more hyped for Serkis' version. Hopefully he can look at this and see what not to do. I went from "who needs a second live-action Jungle Book?" to "man, I really want a better live-action version of Jungle Book."



Him and Baloo were the biggest offenders for me. Excited for Idris's face to be on screen again as The Gunslinger.
Click to expand...
I think I'll enjoy them both as opposed to one "replacing" the other.

Assuming it's decent to great.
 
Saw earlier today and really liked it. Idris Elba killed it as Khan and the little boy did a solid job as Mowgli. The entire cast was actually very good but some scenes dragged the movie a bit but all in all it was worth the admission
 
Very good movie. It didn't know if it wanted to be a musical or not and that kinda brought it down a bit. Characters were great though.
 
Fantastic movie, and holy shit, at least for animals, I would totally believe they were real if they didn't talk, probably with the exception of the wolf puppies.
 
UraMallas said:
The thing I didn't like about the elephant usage was if you are going to give them such importance and then have Mowgli save one, have them factor into the end game more instead of being glorified beavers.
Click to expand...
I get what you're saying, but in our showing, we had a little 4-5 year old sitting next to us and she literally broke into applause during this moment. She also gasped and asked where
moglis dad went when shere khan wrecked akela.
I'm really just excited they got past the origin story and I look forward to some original material, like seeing the wolves grow, which they mention but don't really do anything with.
 
I dug it, the kids really liked it, the special effects or sometimes just astounding. Idris Elba was excellent and Bill Murray grew on me. Only thing I didn't really care for was Christopher Walken. I feel like he and Murry were just too old to sing.
 
Was anyone bugged by this version of Baloo? Something about him was a bit...off and unlikeable. And his version of getting Mogli to go back to village is to tell him they aren't friends like an asshole instead of trying to convince him to go back?
 
Vincent Alexander said:
Was anyone bugged by this version of Baloo? Something about him was a bit...off and unlikeable. And his version of getting Mogli to go back to village is to tell him they aren't friends like an asshole instead of trying to convince him to go back?
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Baloo
is a conman and only wanted mogli to feed him at first, are we even sure baloo saved mogli? He sold him all this "propaganda" about living a good life as himself doing what he wants, which was live in the jungle. He also doesn't want mogli to go "be a man" or return home to get murdered by khan, so he gambles and hopes mogli will just runaway and everything might work out. It was jarring to me as well, though i did like the irony of an animal "white fanging" a human.
 
I never thought this remake had a chance of standing up to the original, but in ten years when you think about Disney's Jungle Book I'm certain that this version will stand the test of time as well as their original animated version.

It must be seen!
 
Not a good movie.

Mowgli was a terrible choice for the actor. He just didn't convey emotion in a convincing manner at all. I didn't like him.

I found the voice over work to be meh.

Also,
did Mowgli run with the fire from the camp to the wolf den in like 5 mins? The distance didn't make sense at all.
 
never watched the old cartoon nor read the book so i didn't know what to expect,but i liked it
had no idea baloo and bagheera is bill murray and ben kingsley until i saw them on the credits
idris as khan and scarjo as khaa is pretty obvious, i found scarjo and lupita's voicework to be the most underwhelming compared to the rest though
 
I saw it today and me and my 3yr old daughter loved it.

The songs were't as good as the cartoon, but since we had just listened to the songs on the way to the theater, we were already kinda singing along to it anyway.

Action was intense, and the CG was amazing.
Baloo seemed a little off to me, but it was Bill Murray... so I overlooked it.

Shere Khan was down right menacing and brutal, and even though my daughter was kinda scared by him, she said he was her favorite part of the movie.

So between this, Zootopia, and the upcoming Finding Dory, it seems that Disney has talking animals locked up tight for 2016. Animated and Live/CG.

Actually, just looking at Disney's 2016 lineup (w/ Pixar, Marvel & LucasFilm included), they have all of 2016 Box Office locked up period.
 
The one thing that would've really tipped this movie towards fantastic for me would've been if they went all out on I Wanna Be Like You during the credits. Dancing, backup singing monkeys, Baloo in the grass skirt, the whole thing. The movie is over anyway so it would've been a showcase that the CG tech could do everything and as a celebration of the original.
 
Totakeke said:
My memories of the Disney movies were the catchy songs. They weren't as effective here (I think) because there wasn't a lot of things going on the screen when the songs are playing.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I Wanna Be Like You aaaalmost went there but without Louie dancing around it didn't feel as festive as it needed to be. Just seeing them sit there and sing didn't quite cut it. Overall I enjoyed it, though.

Beauty and the Beast at least looks like a proper musical.
 
Saw it, thought it was ok. The whole plot was pretty typical (reminded me a lot if the lion king, although maybe the lion king was inspired by the source material for this. Havent read the book or seen the cartoon in ages) and nothing really jumped out or interested me besides the visuals.
 
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