'The Jungle Book' is a thrilling masterpiece with both art and heart
LOS ANGELES -- At some point in the future, filmmakers will be able to create CG worlds, creatures and stories from whole cloth that are so convincing, so tactile and touchable, you'll no longer be vexed by that instinctual sense of picking apart what's real and what's animated.
Folks, that future is this weekend, when The Jungle Book comes out.
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The latest Disney live-action take on an animated classic, this one from director Jon Favreau (he of Iron Man, Elf and Swingers), contains a shocking twist at the end of the credits sequence -- "Filmed in Downtown Los Angeles" -- that reminded me what I had utterly forgotten for its entire 105-minute runtime: None of this, not one leaf, not one rivulet of water, not a single hair on an animal's back, is real.
The only exception is Neel Sethi, the young actor who plays Mowgli. Even he's probably a rendering when he's not delivering dialogue. And you'd never know it.
The electric-green screen has been one of moviemaking's biggest canvases for a few decades now, but here it's at full peak in a lush, steamy jungle filled with talking animals.
I could go on, but that would risk burying the other lead, which is this: The Jungle Book's characters, action and story are also first-rate, a completely original take on the time-honored tale that restores some of Rudyard Kipling's elements while hewing just close enough to the 1967 animated classic to satisfy its biggest fans.
And that starts with Mowgli himself.
Neel Sethi, a complete unknown from New York when Favreau cast him at age 10, has all the akimbo-limbed, good-vibes energy of the animated Mowgli, plus a lot of his bouncy physicality and a pretty dead-on voice match to boot.
They just nailed it with this kid -- and considering all he's got to rub up against for his first acting job is a green screen and some help with eye-lines, he more than holds up his end of the bargain.
Sethi's Mowgli is plucky and courageous and totally game, but there's fear in his eyes when there needs to be. The film is so seamless that within a few minutes you're there, deep in the jungles of India, watching this story begin to unfold.
Screenwriter Justin Marks' storyline is in many ways more faithful to Kipling, but takes some liberties here and there that give this version a welcome freshness. It's still more or less Mowgli's journey away from the only life he's known, as a member of a wolfpack that raised him from infancy. (In particular, this Jungle Book has an ending that would more readily allow for that rumored sequel.)
But Marks weaves in plenty of beats from the classic 'toon -- this is no musical, but the songs you want to hear most get their due -- and preserves the characteristics of your favorite animals.
Credit Favreau with getting rich voice work from each of his actors, in particular Bill Murray, whose Baloo is more schemer than layabout at first. Idris Elba's Shere Khan is a freakishly terrifying presence, but like the animated menace that came before, there's something relatable, even likeable, about this lone Bengal tiger who deals in death to keep the jungle in a state of unease.
He is surely feared, but not loathed; his menace is too powerful for that. And while he spreads dread, he also commands respect, fixing Shere Khan squarely in the pantheon of great Disney villains.
It's all a bit intense, and little ones who are particularly sensitive might even find it scary. But that's no reason to keep them at home. Disney has been delicately terrorizing children for generations, and in that regard, The Jungle Book is a masterclass.
In every regard, really. If The Jungle Book were merely a visual marvel, it would be worth seeing; same if it were just a great take on a classic fantasy tale.
But it is both, making it one of those movies that you'll want to round up the whole pack to see on the biggest, brightest screen you can find.
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Topics Disney
Josh Dickey is Mashable's Entertainment Editor, leading Mashable's TV, music, gaming and sports reporters as well as writing movie features and reviews.Josh has been the Film Editor at Variety, Entertainment Editor at The Associated Press and Managing Editor at TheWrap.com.A finalist for the Los Angeles Press Club's Best Entertainment Feature in 2015 for "Everyone is Altered: The Secret Hollywood Procedure that Fooled Us for Years," Josh received his BA in Journalism from The University of Minnesota.In between screenings, he can be found skating longboards, shredding guitar and wandering the streets of his beloved downtown Los Angeles.
