Yesterday Warner Bros. Pictures has announced the one whole year delay of Andy Serkis' version of Jungle Book, subtitled Origins. Today, I know why.
This Walt Disney Pictures and Jon Favreau's creation with a new technology for CGI was unparalleled. No wonder WB wanted to put more time in between their version and this one, which just kicked some serious ass.
Once in a while, a movie would come and introduced a new level of technology. The last time a level of this magnitude happened was with James Cameron's Avatar. The Jungle Book just upped the game.
Everything was shot in front of a green screen, and everything looked so realistic that you would find it hard to believe they were not real. From the waterfall to the raindrops, from the leaves to the trees, and the animals themselves; just astonishing.
And the voice casting were close to perfection. The casting of Christopher Walken as King Louie and Bill Murray as Baloo were inspired choices. They both sang their songs from the classic cartoon and were just a great treat. Murray and Ben Kingsley's Bagheera had great chemistry together and has become one of my favourite onscreen duos.
Scarlett Johansson was an interesting choice but she only had one scene. Young newcomer Neel Sethi was under the great hands of director Favreau and delivered the best that he could. A couple of scenes showed his limitations in range and emotions. But I also felt it could be Disney or Favreau's direction where they did not want the movie to go too dark.
But overall as a story, I thought Justin Marks, who wrote the adaptation, did a brilliant job; considering he was the one who delivered that sad excuse for a script in Street Fighter: The Legend Of Chun-Li.
And Favreau's vision and direction has once again put him on top favours with Disney. He can now do whatever project he pleases.
The only other criticism I had, once again is related to how the movie lacked some depth in the emotional department. When Idris Elba's Shere Khan threatened the wolf pack in the second act, I would have liked to see the affects of Shere Khan's actions; but that sense of tragedy was not found.
Other than that, I thought this movie deserves a second viewing on the silver screen. It was really well made.
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