Review

'The Jungle Book' does original story justice with great cast

Everyone knows about the Jungle Book. This was a movie that I grew up watching as a little kid and it was one of my favorites (the 1967 animated movie). When I heard that they were making another remake of the movie, I was both excited and nervous because not all remakes are worthy of the original. This is NOT the case when it comes to this movie. This adaption of The Jungle Book not only did the original justice, but it improved on it.

The CGI in this movie was probably the best that I have ever seen and I mean that in all seriousness. I was completely blown away by how real everything looked. None of the animals or the locations you see in the film are real because the entire movie was shot in Atlanta. They took photos and videos of real locations and then adapted it to fit the image. Everything you see from the grass to the trees to the animals big and small were all CGI. Really the only things that were real were some small location scenes with man-made objects.

Now normally I am not a huge fan of CGI. I am in favor of using practical effects and creating set features to use in the film. I think that it gives the movie a more realistic and practical effect. In my opinion, CGI should be used sparingly and only when you have to. However, after seeing how spectacular everything looked, my opinion might be starting to change. The Jungle Book has started a new era of CGI; an era where you really can bring anything to life and make it look completely lifelike. Each frame of Baloo took over five hours to master. The dedication to making each animal look, move, and act like real animals was mind blowing.

Adding to how lifelike these animals were, the voice actors brought these characters to life in spectacular fashion. Some of these amazing actors were Bill Murray (as Baloo), Ben Kingsley (as Bagheera), Idris Elba (as Shere Khan), Lupita Nyong'o (as Raksha), Scarlett Johansson (as Kaa), and Christopher Walken (as King Louie). These people brought these characters so much depth and personality. Bill Murray was the perfect choice for Baloo and he will have you laughing and falling in love with the character all over again. Another fantastic choice was giving Idris Elba the roll of Shere Khan. He gave him such a dynamic and intimating voice and it was awesome. Each character in the movie seemed to have a perfectly fitting voice for how each character looked and acted in the film. That just goes to show how well this movie was put together.

With all honesty, there are really only a couple of very small issues here and there but nothing that amounts to anything serious. This to date is the best adaptation to the movie and like I said, I even think it improves on the original movie. I absolutely loved this movie and it brought back all the awesome childhood memories of when I watched the original. This movie is a must see!