"The Jungle Book" is another Disney animated film that has been adapted into a feature film. I was not the biggest fan of the original animated film and was not that excited for the movie until I saw the trailer. I have seen the movie twice now and I enjoyed it even more the second time. I think this is now the definitive version of The Jungle Book. There have been a couple other adaptations but this is by far the best. Let's start with the visual effects. This was some of the best CGI I've ever seen. With technology constantly advancing it's hard to be wowed by special effects. But I believed the whole movie that these animals were real and baby wolves were speaking. The whole movie was shot in Los Angeles in a studio. Every single thing besides the child actor Neel Sethi is a special effect. It's easy to get lost admiring the visuals because they were just that good.
The movie is a well-paced, fun jungle adventure with great voice acting talent. Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli a little boy who was raised by wolves, and he gives a really good performance, Adults have trouble acting on the green screen, it's not easy to do, but he found a way to give a believable performance.
The main plot is a tiger named Shere Khan wants Mowgli dead, he does not like humans living in the jungle. Bagheera is Mowgli's mentor and helps him avoid Shere Khan.
My favorite parts of the movie were the chemistry Mowgli and Baloo, who was played by Bill Murray. Murray was a perfect choice to voice Baloo, he was funny and did a good job with the song bear necessities.
I also really enjoyed the sequence with King Louie. His encounter with Mowgli was really fun to watch and led to a great action sequence with them. While Baloo and Bagheera had to fight off the rest of the monkeys, which also had some great comedic moments.
The standout performance is Idris Elba as Shere Khan. He's everything a villain needs to be in this movie. He has a great introduction and set's an intimidating tone every time he's on screen. You will be always worried about what he's going to do next, and he makes the rest of the characters feel uneasy. Especially Raksha who is Mowgli's wolf mother. She is always a nervous wreck when he's around, which makes the audience feel nervous as well.
Overall, "The Jungle Book" is a great experience, and I can't recommend it enough. I don't think there will be a more visually stunning movie this year. I'm also excited to see how good it looks on blue ray.
