Jungle Book

Rating : 9 /10
Release Date : 8th April, 2016
Time : 105 minutes
Director : Jon Favreau; Writer : Justin Marks based on the book by Rudyard Kipling; Music : John Debney
Starring : Neel Sethi and (Voices of) Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito; And a few sentences from Jon Favreau, Sam Raimi, Russell Peters, Sara Arrington



This is one of the best remakes I’ve seen of a classic, works for kids and adults alike !

The visuals are amazing, the twists in the story (takes quite a different path to the original film) make sense, are well thought through and add intrigue, keep you gripped. Neel Sethi is a revelation, ideal for the role (sweet face, until he shows the steel he’s made of) as are the myriad superstar voices (Scarlett’s Kaa is sweet death personified, oh so deliciously tingly and Walken dry staccato tone so perfectly suits King Louie). And the songs – aaaahhhhhhh….they’ve kept elements of the familiar tunes and added some edgy magic to it (especially loved the Indian touch in the soundtrack)! Don’t leave when the end-credits are on – that’s when you get to hear them properly – the video of Kaa’s ‘Trust In Me’ is so totally worth it…

I’m not going to go into the story as I don’t want to give anything away – most of you would be familiar with the broad outline anyways and those who aren’t probably don’t deserve to be forewarned

BTW – for once our censor board seems to have got it right, with a deserved U/A guidance – if you have a young child (under 8?), it can be a little scary, so be careful

You can put the 1967 Disney Classic feature film on mute and I’ll be effortlessly and gladly able to supply the soundtrack – it’s that big a personal favourite ! I had cringed when a remake was announced but every trailer released had helped whet my appetite. And finally, this refreshing retelling of the tale has simply bowled me over. Will be going again tomorrow, despite an extremely packed schedule, to watch it again