Movie Review: The Jungle Book (2016)

The Jungle Book is a marvel to look at. Disney's live-action take on a children's classic tale is mind blowing at times. The only way to make the film feel more immersive is if we could somehow get this level of visual quality in a VR setting.

The animals look amazing and the voice acting is superb. Idris Elba, who voiced Shere Kahn the villainous tiger, had me thinking, "Where's Wallace String? Where's Wallace? They have some closeups that made my youngest cover his eyes in fear. I mean who really wants to look at a tiger's disfigured face, while he's intimidating smaller animals during a water truce? Not this kid. I had a few jump moments myself, but I never put my hands all the way over my eyes. The only thing missing were the flies that swarm an animals butt. Ok, that might not be a thing, but I can't think of any other way to criticize the visuals.
Elba's Kahn makes the tiger from The Life of Pi look like a stuffy you get from Build-A-Bear.

The Jungle Book is a tale or revenge and becoming who you are. A savage beast of a Tiger vows to end a man-cub's life in an act of revenge. The wolf-pack, who have taken in the man-cub and are his protectors, will not allow it. Can the wolves keep the tiger at bay, can the wise black panther, who found the man-cub, get him to safety? Will the man-cub grow to be a man and destroy everything? Ahhh, so much drama!

The Jungle Book may be the leap we needed from CG animated films to full on live-action. Story wise, this may not do what Toy Story did for animated films, but visually we have a new standard. If this is the level of detail and immersion we can expect, I am very excited to see what else live-action films can lead to in the near future.

Full disclosure, I paid for 5 tickets, which was close to $50. Purchased a number 2 combo which was another $20 and two of the my "kids" are 16 or over. So for around $70 I better like this movie or I would be mad as hell. I should have bought that glass of wine they're now serving at our local theater.

Visuals - 10/10
Story - 7/10
Sound - 9/10
Time my youngest covered his eyes because he was scared - 2
Overall - 8.6 minus .2 for scariness - 8.4

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