'Blu-ray or Bust' - THE JUNGLE BOOK

'Blu-ray or Bust'

THE JUNGLE BOOK (2016, PG, 106 minutes, FAIRVIEW ENTERTAINMENT/WALT DISNEY PICTURES)

Jon Favreau has magic eyeballs.  Really.

The visionary—and I’ll fight you on this one, if I have to—director of IRON MAN, CHEF, and ELF knows how to tell a story so well that you are willing to buy into it from the first frame.  He pays attention to details a person with ordinary eyeballs wouldn’t even think to do, all in an effort to get you to pay attention to the story.  Even if you have heard it before.

In his live-action reimagining of the Disney classic, Favreau not only has you believing animals can talk, but he does so with a righteous zeal that you accept as scripture.  OF COURSE a man could build a flying, bullet-proof suit in the caves of a desert!  OF COURSE a human could be mistaken for an elf!  And, like the aforementioned talking animals, OF COURSE Christopher Walken as the voice of a gigantic ape is entirely plausible!

The casting is as ingenious as the animation.  Walken does a terrific job as baddie “King Louie”, but he isn’t the only voice in the film.  Scarlett Johansson, Idris Elba (he makes a wonderfully scary Shere Khan), and Ben Kingsley also lend their talents.  The one that most gives Walken a run for his money in the voice department is the hysterically under-played talent of Bill Murray.  His lazy “Baloo” earns the most laughs, and you can imagine Murray lounging on a couch, carefully—and not to mention, rather lackadaisically—reading his lines, not a care in the world.

Again, you have Favreau’s magic eyeballs to thank for every stinkin’ detail; from the actors to Baloo’s fur, he misses not a single beat.  He is also smart enough not to rest the entirety of this production upon the shoulders of newcomer Neel Sethi (“Mowgli”).  Don’t get me wrong—Sethi does a wonderful job in his first feature film, especially considering the fact that he was playing to illusion most of the time.  But surrounding him with bonafide movie star voices makes his hesitancy, his human emotions and fallacies, that much more applicable to the situations. By drawing attention away from him with a familiar voice, Favreau also manages to make you not forget any part of this boy’s journey.

Magic eyeballs, I tell ya.

If you do not purchase this on Blu-ray, there is something wrong with your brain.  Seriously, look up “neurologist” in the phone book and go have your noggin checked out.  The movie translates even better to the small screen than it did in theatres.  The animation, the voice acting, and the music all come through crisper and clearer with the transition to video.  Until you hear Baloo’s thundering paws barreling through the jungle, you haven’t experienced this film the way you should.  And the special features include a thirty-five minute documentary which shows you every trick these humans used to pull off a film that should not be as realistic and plausible as it should be.

Go watch this film, and watch it on Blu-ray.  Go put some of Jon Favreau’s magic in your eyeballs.

Grade: A

Special Features: A+

Blu-ray Necessary: Most Definitely

-- T.S. Kummelman