The Jungle Book, which we all grew up reading and watching, was granted a U/A certificate by CBFC. A U/A certification means that children would need to be accompanied by an adult while watching the film in theatres. Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chief Nihalani’s viewpoint on Disney’s The Jungle Book comes with a sound advice, “Please don’t go by the reputation of the book. See the film and then decide on the suitability of the content for kids. The 3D effects are so scary that the animals seem to jump right at the audience. It’s not just the story that determines certification. It’s the overall presentation, the packaging and most important of all, the visual affects used to tell the story. In Jungle Book, the jungle animals jumping at the audience in 3D is startling. It’s up to parents to decide how much of these effects are suited for their children.”
The movie has been a box office hit. No matter what, the film has been given a PG (parental guidance) rating in the UK, US, Canada, Australia and the Philippines. This new Jungle Book opened up recently in town on 8th April and has crossed the mark $7.6 million USD. It features an incredibly robust list of voice talent (Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o, Scarlett Johansson, Christopher Walken) and was shot entirely on sound stages in downtown Los Angeles. Almost everything in the movie, except for star Neel Sethi, is computer generated.
The movie is a visual delight as director Jon Favreau’snew screen version of the Rudyard Kipling classic comes with the magic of CGI and special effects. This version is based less directly on the book and more as a live-action take on Disney’s 1967 animated film that actually was the last one Walt Disney personally supervised before his death in late 1966.
The story line is well known. Mowgli brought up by wolves and watched over by the elegant and dignified panther Bagheera (voiced by Sir Ben Kingsley). It is an idyllic life for the lad, who can swing from the trees better than the many monkeys who populate his part of the planet. But evil lurks with the menacing presence of Shere Khan (Idris Elba), the tiger who has his own specific reasons for wanting to do away with Mowgli and threatens the wolf pack regularly in order to get him. Bagheera sends Mowgli on a journey to join his own kind. And continuously, Shere Khan is keeping tabs on the boy.
The film really comes to life when the kid runs into the lovable , honey-obsessed bear Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray). He uses Mowgli to his own ends and lends the purest comical touches to this tale — as well as a duet of the Oscar-nominated tune “The Bare Necessities.” Baloo joins the boy on this journey, particularly to another great set piece where they come upon the “kingdom” of King Louie (Christopher Walken), a royal but rather domineering orangutan who lords over the monkey servants and gets to sing another tune from the ’67 original, “I Wanna Be Like You.” Trouble looms here, and it is a narrow escape for the boy who still hasn’t ditched the determined tiger.
Neel Sethi as Mowgli wins hearts. The iconic song, ‘Jungle jungle baat chali hai’, one associates with the series earlier has once again been recreated for the film. Written by Gulzar and composed by Vishal Bhardwaj, the song has been re recorded and sung once again by a bunch of kids and it is absolutely awesome. Rudyard Kiplings’s classic novel is once again being adapted for the big screen. And while the original film, directed by Jon Favreau is in English, a dubbed Hindi version released in India have voiceovers by Irrfan Khan, Om Puri, Priyanka Chopra and others.
The 1967 Disney animated movie has taken a new curve and shape. It is a fact that over the last two years, director Jon Favreau built a jungle in Downtown Los Angeles on computers making this adaptation of The Jungle Book, a true big screen fantasy. The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by English author Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–94. Inspired by Disney, 1967 animated classic, the film features state-of the-art technology that immerses audience thrill into action adventure film. A 5 Stars by Kidsfreesouls.
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