Disney’s The Jungle Book Movie Review – Family Friendly Movie

The world is such a beautiful place and is easily captured through a film lens in the natural habitat. In Disney’s The Jungle Book, director Jon Favreau pushed technology to it’s limits and filmed this movie entirely in front of blue and green screens. He wasn’t crazy for doing this, what he actually did was set the bar high for CGI movie’s now and for the future. This moving story about a boy named Mowgli will take you on an adventure you haven’t yet explored. With animals so life-like you wish you could reach out and touch them on the screen. Truly an amazing feat with the CGI and Neel Sethi “Mowgli” blended so well on screen, you forget the animals aren’t real.

THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) MOWGLI and BALOO. ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Mowgli a boy who was orphaned and then raised by a pack of wolves is faced with an important decision which sets the course for his future. I will not spoil the movie for you but I will let you know that you have to prepare yourself to be moved by Mowgli’s story. Something I truly loved about this story was that as a viewer, you get to watch Mowgli go from a lost orphan to a strong and independent boy.

In the beginning of the movie, you will see Mowgli with his family of wolves with pack leader Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and his mother Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) and how he is in the midst of finding his self as he tries to become one with the pack. It isn’t long till a seriously scary tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elbais) after Mowgli forcing Mowgli to a serious decision. He does what’s right and leaves the pack to go back to live with “man”. This being the hardest decision he had to make, he left his pack heartbroken and alone. As he tried to find another “pack” or “family” to join.

THE JUNGLE BOOK – (Pictured) MOWGLI and KING LOUIE ©2015 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Bahera (Sir Ben Kinsley) accompanies Mowgli on his journey back to the “man’s” village, Mowgli goes through many adventures through the woods meeting Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) and King Louie (Christopher Walken), while putting his intellect and handy ideas to good use with Baloo (Bill Murphy). What I truly loved about this movie is that you get to see first hand how Mowgli eventually find’s his self. He comes to terms with who he is and finds that he is perfect just the way he is. I loved that in this movie we got to see how Mowgli becomes brave and faces the ultimate fear he was presented with at such a young age. In the previous movies I feel like there wasn’t enough time spent on Mowgli and his development as a growing boy, but more so on the overall story or plot.

THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) SHERE KHAN ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Although this movie had a few startling parts that got me even after I saw it 3 times before I wrote this review, I feel as though this movie is perfect for all ages. It was a lot of fun to watch children of all different ages jump and cheer at different parts of the movie. It startles you enough to make your heart jump, but also makes you smile meaning it was the right amount of scary in my eyes. It was also fun to watch as some ages understood certain jokes while other understood others. There’s just the right amount of music presented in this movie with the classic “Bare Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You”. While this isn’t a musical, the classic songs thrown in the movie were a great nod to the 60’s Musical cartoon Disney created.

A Rare Cape Pangolin, Foraging in the bush near Otjiwarongo walks on her hind legs because her digging claws makes walking on all fours awkward.

Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for the Pangolins in this movie. If you haven’t heard or seen these cute little creatures, you can basically look out for them knowing that they look like an artichoke. These cute little creatures are the are critically endangered species and the most illegally traded mammal in the world! You can head over HERE to find out more information about these extremely high-risk extinction animals.

THE JUNGLE BOOK (Pictured) MOWGLI. ©2016 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

My kids ages 3-10 years old can’t wait to see the movie in the theaters, we will be adventuring in the jungle with Mowgli very soon. Have you seen the trailer for the movie yet? If you have seen the 60’s cartoon, What do you hope to see in this retold story?

“The Jungle Book” is an all-new live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub raised in the jungle by a family of wolves, who embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery when he’s forced to abandon the only home he’s ever known.

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