The 12-year-old star of The Jungle Book says it is not right to compare the latest version of the story to the classic Disney cartoon.
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And while more reviews have yet to pour in, Rotten Tomatoes editor-in-chief Matt Atchity told TheWrap that the score is unlikely to change dramatically, as the film already garnered 106 reviews. This incarnation of The Jungle Book may have a darker, more realistic look than usual, but this is a family movie that deserves a place in the Classic Disney canon, not to mention a lesson in how digital effects can be used for the better. In our exclusive interview, Favreau talks about the film and the three year journey it has taken to get to this point.
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“Disney has had a pretty supercalifragilistic box office track record with their live action reboots of their animated classics”, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore (SCOR). Young and fresh actor Neel Sethi plays Mowgli in his film-acting debut, and aside from seeing few other humans such as Mowgli’s father in a dreamlike vision, Sethi is one of the only humans present. He’s guided by a panther, Bagheera, and a lovable oaf of a bear, Baloo. We’ve seen talking animals before, but this is next-level stuff. Of course, there is also always the DVD/Blu-ray route if that’s more your style, in which case Amazon can hook you up with that as well. That is, a baby boy named Mowgli is abandoned in the jungle and raised by the animals as a “man cub”. When the fearsome scarred Bengal tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) threatens his life since man isn’t allowed in the jungle, Mowgli leaves his jungle home. Bagheera wants deliver the boy to a human village where he’ll be safe, but first they must navigate jungle and its denizens, like the hypnotic python Kaa (voice of Scarlett Johansson), ape King Louie (voice of Christopher Walken) and loyal Baloo (voice of Bill Murray), the brown bear who becomes Mowgli’s friend and ally. The all-star cast also includes Lupita Nyong’o as the voice of the fiercely protective mother wolf Raksha, and Giancarlo Esposito as the voice of wolf pack’s alpha male Akela.
