Director: Jon Favreau. (105 mins). (PG).
Synopsis
Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a man-cub, is found as a baby by Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) who takes him to be cared for by a wolf pack.
As Mowgli ages, his human abilities makes him stand out from all the other animals. Sheer Khan (Idris Elba) is threatened by this and wants to stop Mowgli permanently.
To protect him, Bagheera begins a journey to take Mowgli to a human village. On the way, they meet various characters; such as an hypnotic snake (Scarlett Johansson), a huge orangutan wanting Mowgli to share his human knowledge (Christopher Walken), and loveable, lazy bear named Baloo (Bill Murray).
Review by Claire Durrant
Disney have recently announced a raft of new versions of their old classics or sequels to recently released films, so it was with some trepidation I approached this CGI/live-action version of their 1967 animated classic.
Thankfully, my concerns were quickly laid to rest as the film is quite simply stunning, a visual masterpiece.
The jungle is amazingly realised, resulting in it having a lot of character itself. The fact that it was created in a studio in LA rather than being filmed in an actual Indian jungle makes it that more astonishing.
The hyperrealism of the animals is also extremely impressive. Every strand of fur, every twitch of an ear, every movement looks legitimate, which makes for great characterisation, matched by the superlative vocal skills of a talented cast, with Murray (as Baloo the bear) inhabiting the top of a tree that is an absolute necessity to see.
For more, see the full review: http://bit.ly/DisneyJungle
For listings for this and other films at Cineworld MK: http://www.cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/milton-keynes/
Cast & Credits
Producers: Jon Favreau, Brigham Taylor. Writer: Justin Marks. Camera: Bill Pope. Music: John Debney. Sets: Christopher Glass, Abhijeet Mazumder.
Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito.
