Movie review: The Jungle Book plays along Kipling's narrative

Despite a minimal scope for diversion from Rudyard Kipling's narrative, Jon Favreau renders a masterpiece with his flick

Jon Favreau’s vision for The Jungle Book can be summarised in three words — larger than life. From the computer generated imagery of the animals to the stunts to the cast, each frame of the film screams scale. Unlike Batman v Superman, though, The Jungle Book does not leave viewers wondering what they have signed up for. Granted the genres are different and there is little scope to diverge from Rudyard Kipling’s narrative, but the scale of the vision does not come in the way of the narrative. That is where Favreau scores.

There isn’t anything to be said about the story because it sticks to the basics. In this scenario, the movie’s merit is based on the visual appeal and The Jungle Book doesn’t disappoint. From the opening run/chase sequence where Mowgli tries to keep up with the pack of wolves and King Louie’s den at the abandoned temple on the cliff top to the final showdown between Sher Khan and the man-cub, each scene is meticulously crafted and a visual treat to behold.

As far as performances go, Neel Sethi steals the show with his boyish charm as Mowgli. It may be his first major role and, yes, he speaks with an accent that isn’t Indian, but the boy looks rebellious, diffident, brave and funny at the right places. He is a treat to watch as the red langot-clad man-cub raised by the jungle animals. The rest of the cast is in the form of voiceovers and what a cast it is. Ben Kingsley is impressive in his portrayal of the restrained protectiveness of the black panther, Bagheera, while Bill Murray succeeds in bringing just the right amount of goofiness as the voice of Baloo, the bear. Lupita Nyong’o as Raksha’s voice is convincing with her motherly affection and concern, while Scarlett Johansson’s Ka (the python) is chillingly sinister. Idris Elba is menacing as Sher Khan as he threatens and terrifies from the word go. Kudos to the casting team and Favreau for picking and directing these actors, and, of course, to the actors themselves for making an impact without actually appearing on screen.

One thing parents should not worry about is if the film is “scary”. While it may be dark in parts, especially in 3-D, it is perfectly suitable for children to watch and it certainly didn’t require a U/A certification.

Indian audiences have four languages to choose from — English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Since the film has been released without subtitles, those watching it in English may miss a dialogue or two with the ambient sounds taking over and the pace of the scenes don’t allow one to read the lips of the speaker. This perhaps is the only shortcoming of the film, especially one where I know the story, but would not want to miss out on an exchange between talking animals.

The dubbed Hindi version of the film has some stellar performances by Irrfan Khan as the voice of Baloo and Priyanka Chopra as Ka. Nana Patekar as Sher Khan is just as terrifying as the Sher Khan we know, and does a fine job at being menacingly evil. The definite attraction of the Hindi version of course is the popular song “Jungle Jungle baat chali hai” recreated by Vishal Bhardwaj and Gulzar for the film. If that doesn’t take the kids of the 1990s back to their childhood, little else will.