Saturday, April 23, 2016

Jungle Book - Movie Review

It's a toss up between the animated version and this one which is live-action/CG. Surely for me the animated version is more adorable because the animals seem more friendlier and we feel safer than in this version where we see them all in their real forms. So Kaa is not as cute as she was in the animated version, nor is Baloo. Mowgli however is better in this version with Neel Sethi giving Mowgli a definite face.

Mowgli's life with the wolf pack (adorable cubs and all) and the small animals of the jungle is perfect, until Shere Khan's arrival. The Bengal Tiger wants the man cub dead because it remembers that a man had branded its face with fire or what the animals call 'red flower'. Mowgli decides to leave the wolf pack which is now endangered thanks to Shere Khan's open animosity and heads into the jungle with Bagheera, his guardian panther. A skirmish with Shere Khan separates the two. Mowgli meets the not so seductive Kaa and is saved in the nick of time by what becomes his best friend, Baloo, the sloth bear. Some more action - its as dramatic and  exciting as the action scenes in Sholay - and well, all well that ends well. Some messages from the wolf pack about the strength of the wolf being in the pack and how one needs to be true to one's self  etc and we are at the end of what appears to be a very short movie. One of those movies you want to keep on going.

Sadly Colonel Haathi got sidelined a bit and suddenly became more respectful. I preferred the animated version here. But all in all, an afternoon well spent. Go watch. It's story telling, movie making at its best.

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