I just had to write a review about what was a great film in chains. I'll try to explain what that means in this post. The film was the new reiteration of Disney's "The Jungle Book," a film of a Rudyard Kipling work.
Growing up, I was a fan of the movie. It has always been a favorite of me and my dad. In fact, he used to call me "Mancub" which was the nickname of the main character- Mowgli. In fact, that was a working title of one of my earlier records. In the film, it follows the story of Mowgli as his is found abandoned in the jungle and raised by Bagera the panther and Baloo the bear. As he presents a danger to the jungle in his being a human child, he is eventually cast out by the jungle that raised him. The real tyrant is found to be the Tiger Shere Khan who terrorizes the jungle inhabitants. After standing up to him as a team, Mowgli, Bagera and Baloo defeat him. In the original film, Mowgli eventually chooses to leave for the village to the sadness and relief of his friends.
This was a Disney film redone by Disney. There are zero excuses for any inaccuracies, and yet, they were right there. And this happens for a reason I've stated years ago. In this film, Mowgli stays in the jungle, and there are moments in the film that have a fan of the original like myself rolling their eyes. The reason this is the case is because The Jungle Book is a true musical film from a jazzy era in Disney history. People know Disney has memorable tunes, but most people forget that they were very authentic. Similar to the movie Aristocats, The Jungle Book was a move that music aficionados would appreciate. Scatman Crothers did the voice for King Louis the ape, and the entire film was full of rich compositions and stand up and dance jazz tunes.
2016 has no one like that. I personally would have loved the opportunity to have played King Louis. You can't do a Jungle Book movie right without powerful music being the centerpiece, and music of that caliber has no value today. We live in an auto-tuned, tone deaf, simplistic generation, where people like myself and scatman Crothers are considered either cornballs or useless enigmas. And while people like to wave me off whenever I say things like that, the proof showed in the film. With the technology today, and how nicely the film was made, it could have been even more gripping than the original. But that musical passion wasn't there and left you with a film that was cheesy in spots where it could have shined. Remember, on my first Magnum Opus album, I stated on the final track that today, the definition of connoisseur has changed? Today, even a company like Disney is guilty of that, when a film that is their own, looks as if they only loosely know about it in reproduction.
Two of the most memorable scenes in the Jungle Book original, are the scenes where Mowgli is singing with Baloo about the Bear Necessities, and the scene in King Louis' castle where the go to rescue Mowgli after Louis is attempting to learn the secret of making fire. Those scenes are musical and powerful. In this film, as a fan I was expecting the film to catapult off of those scenes, and yet they ended up being very transient. It left an empty feeling in the scenes. There is no longer the mentality in films, for music to be the foundation. And with that thinking, films like this will always underachieve. And what's so frustrating, is that it was beautiful in every other aspect. The acting of the boy was spotty at times, but if the film was more gripping, I feel like that would have been fixed. There were tear-jerker moments in that film that were as amazing and moving as scenes from "The Secret Life of Pi." There were also powerful undertones and messages that could have made this film bigger and more global than the first film by far.
I really liked the movie a lot, but I would love to have seen it done more passionately. But honestly, given the times we live in, I think it was sadly as good as it possibly could have been. It just reminds me of the eras and great things that have been lost over the years I give the movie a 8.5/10
