★★★☆
Biting at the mention of remakes is a truly Sisyphean act: producers are, after all, investors and want products that will guarantee returns. But in the medium of film, the return for an audience member should be something new and previously unseen in the story.
Getting Iron Man director Jon Favreau on board was the wisest move Disney could make in mounting a live action version of its beloved classic, The Jungle Book. The new elements he brings are charming, but where Disney falters is in paying homage to its own legacy.
Mowgli the man-cub (Neel Sethi) has always called the jungle home, having been raised by a wolf pack under the oversight of the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). But when the vicious Shere Khan (Idris Elba) demands the boy’s life in exchange for peace in the Animal Kingdom, Mowgli is forced to escape, and embarks on a journey to where he truly belongs.
There’s a wondrous sense of nostalgia to the whole film, one of which Favreau is keenly aware. The soundtrack twinges at the heartstrings when it references the ‘Bare Necessities’ we all know and love, and the CGI jungle feels more lively than any we’ve yet seen. In fact, the film’s effects are close to peerless, making even Life Of Pi seem dated as the grasses of the savannah (and the fur of its inhabitants) dance in the wind. The real breathtaker is when Mowgli is introduced to man’s “red flower” in a stunning flashback.
The heart of the film is Baloo (Bill Murray), an absolutely inspired piece of casting and a reconfiguring that sees the bear come across quite the con man. There’s nothing malicious to his manipulations, which makes him enormously endearing, and his relationship with the adorably gangly Sethi (as Mowgli) feels genuine. Even Murray’s efforts at crooning Baloo’s song warm the soul.
But the songs feel unwelcome. Favreau, a master of action choreography in CG environments, struggles when coordinating a song. As the camera lingers on the locked expression of Christopher Walken’s King Louie singing ‘I Wanna Be Like You’, the feeling is not delight but disorientation. (Louie is otherwise top-notch.)
The casting choices are excellent, but Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito and Scarlett Johansson feel underused. Then there’s Khan – Elba’s cockney accent genuinely disrupts the otherwise cohesive whole of the jungle. When Khan barks with authority, the audience members tremble before him; when Elba drops into Luther, they snicker.
Favreau’s skills as an action director bring pathos, joy and light into the depths of the jungle, which makes it all the stranger on the occasions when he stumbles.
The Jungle Bookopens in cinemas on Thursday April 7.
