Movie Review: The Jungle Book

Diversity rules and Donald Trump’s wall-favouring immigration policy drools in Jon Favreau’s timely update of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

There’s a question to be asked whenever a beloved book or movie gets its umpteenth big-screen reboot (or every time Guns ‘n’ Roses mount a comeback): “Why now?” What about 2016 necessitated not one but two fresh takes on Rudyard Kipling’s already well-and-truly covered Jungle Book saga? (Andy Serkis has his own version in the works.) After all, the story of a boy raised by wolves in the Indian jungle doesn’t exactly scream ‘Millennial catnip!’, and Kipling’s questionable, imperialistic politics are probably better left in the 19th century.

And yet, here’s Disney’s brand new, big budget tentpole release, all about that mancub Mowgli, directed by none other than Iron Man and Elf helmer Jon Favreau. What gives?

Well, you could argue that childhood love for The Lion King has fermented into an exploitable nostalgia among now-grown cinemagoers seeking jungle-based drama for their own mancubs. Couple that with eye-popping developments in CGI, pioneered most obviously by Ang Lee in the hit Life of Pi, and suddenly The Jungle Book ’16 makes good business sense.

However, what makes it really relevant is the way in which screenwriter Justin Marks unfurls the story, turning The Jungle Book into a timely, animal-led parable about equality, diversity and immigration (Disney’s second of the year, after Zootopia). With the Syrian refugee crisis upon us and a globally-divisive American election nearing, you can’t help but take this story’s call for peace among many varied jungle species as a potent metaphor for 'right now'. And Shere Khan, the tiger who’s suspicious to the point of supervillainy at the presence of an interloper, is something like the doomsaying Donald Trump figure.

The film has a more kid-friendly way of putting its message, of course: Can’t we all just get along? Newcomer Neel Sethi plays the mop-haired Mowgli, and his is the only human face we see. (The remaining cast-members only offer their voices to the animals – and their considerable names to the poster.) Abandoned in the jungle as a baby and rescued by Bagheera the panther (Ben Kingsley), Mowgli is taken in by wolves Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) and Akela (Giancarlo Esposito), until Shere Khan (Idris Elba), noting man’s destructive ways, threatens to kill any animal harbouring a human as their own. Not wanting to put his family at risk, Mowgli goes on the run, eventually befriending a honey-loving bear named Baloo (Bill Murray) and facing such foes as Kaa the python (Scarlett Johansson), enormous orangutan King Louie (Christopher Walken) and Khan himself. Very occasionally, the animals sing; a leftover relic from Disney’s old animated flick that would inspire a cynically cocked eyebrow if Murray and Walken weren’t such delightfully hammy singers.

Favreau - who attempted to recapture his storytelling spark with the personal, low-budget Chef - seems comfortable in the ambling environs of The Jungle Book, which treats plot like an afterthought, unlike his heavily-manipulated Marvel movies. Still, he’s in journeyman mode here, with little besides the special effects and new social context to distinguish his feature from countless others. Nonetheless, he’s been asked to tell a story well, and he has.

Shot mostly on a sound stage (by Bill Pope) and brought to life by Weta Digital and Moving Picture Company, The Jungle Book’s photorealistic animal stars truly are something to behold, and the similarly diverse voice cast are equal parts commanding and alluring, even if they are hidden from sight. Elba, in particular, is delicious as the sonorous Shere Khan (with a cockney inflection).

Fact is, you can’t blame tigers for a bit of paranoia when it comes to the hunting-happy human race. It’s only when viewed as a surrogate for racist, isolationist people that Shere Khan appears villainous. Sadly, mankind in 2016 looks a lot less forgiving than the comparatively ordered world of the wilderness.

3/5

In cinemas April 7.

Rated PG for mild threat and violence; some scenes may scare young children.