The Jungle Book

Last night my family and I saw an early screening of The Jungle Book and let me tell you now that it is absolutely magical!  My whole family loved it and my Dad even said that he wants to see it again as we were walking out of the theater!  This movie is a live action version of the stories written by Rudyard Kipling about the man-cub Mowgli and his adventures in the jungle and it is very much informed by the 1967 animated classic (If, like me, you grew up watching the animated version you will love this movie).  Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is an orphan who was left in the jungle and raised by the wolves Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o).  When the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) learns that the wolves have been raising a man-cub, he threatens them causing Mowgli's protector, the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley), to tell him that he must leave the jungle and join the man-village.  After an attack by Shere Khan, Mowgli gets separated from Bagheera and he has adventures with Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a giant python, Baloo (Bill Murray), a bear, and Louie (Christopher Walken), a giant orangutan.  When Mowgli learns that the wolves are being threatened by Shere Khan, he returns for a final showdown.  The voice cast is absolutely perfect!  Ben Kingsley, who also narrates the film, is a wise Bagheera, Idris Elba is a truly frightening Shere Khan (more about that later), and Christopher Walken is a suitably bizarre King Louie, but Bill Murray absolutely steals the show as Baloo and hearing him sing "The Bare Necessities" is worth the price of admission alone!  The visual effects are simply stunning!  Even those who are not fans of CGI are sure to be impressed by the beautiful images on the screen.  I found the animals to be absolutely enthralling, particularly the baby elephant.  I loved this movie and I highly recommend it for families, but I think it might be a bit scary for really young children (many children were taken out crying during my screening).  There are some incredibly frightening scenes with Shere Khan that actually made me jump and both Marilyn and I covered our eyes during some of the scenes with Kaa.  However, I am sure that this movie is destined to become a classic and you definitely want to see it on the big screen.