Let's start with a statement that may seem obvious, but is definitely necessary: when it comes to operations such as bringing The Jungle Book back to the big screen, the comparison with what has already been released in the past is natural but not always obligatory.
Although we all agree that the film produced by Walt Disney in 1967 is a great classic that has shaped generations of children, it is wrong to think of this new cinematic adaptation as a mere commercial operation.
Because, thinking about it, today children grow up differently and get used to receiving increasingly consistent and realistic stimuli from an early age. Attracting their attention is becoming increasingly difficult and the way of communicating something to them must necessarily become more direct and impactful.
Are we perhaps insinuating that the Disney classic no longer deserves to be seen by the new generations? Never, simply that the age of the initial target may have lowered and that, to convince contemporary audiences, more action, realism, adventure, passion may be necessary.
What Jon Favreau, who also directed Iron Man and Iron Man 2, tried to do with The Jungle Book was to create a film halfway between the classic animated film and Kipling's original adventure, focusing heavily on the action and the dangers of living in the jungle, without forgetting the lightheartedness typical of having a child protagonist.
And, we happily admit, the fear that the whole thing could turn into a sad disaster was erased after the first few minutes of the film, which immediately presented itself as an engaging show suitable for all ages.
Man or wolf?
The story of Mowgli (played by newcomer Neel Sethi), a man cub raised in the jungle by wolves Raksha (voiced in hindi by Shefali Shah) and Akela (voiced in hindi by Rajesh Khattar), is known to more or less everyone. Mowgli finds it difficult to live with the wolves, because obviously he can't be exactly like them, he always feels a little different.
But they are the only family he has ever known, who loves him for who he is. But not everyone in the jungle is happy with his presence among the animals. The ferocious royal bengal tiger Shere Khan (voiced in hindi by Nana Patekar), who bears the scars of a fight with man on his face, wants to kill him before he becomes a threat to them all.
So Mowgli is forced to abandon the wolves and, accompanied by his faithful Bagheera (voiced in hindi by Om Puri), tries to reach the human village. Along the way he will meet new friends, such as the carefree and clever bear Baloo (Irrfan Khan), and unexpected dangers, including the python Kaa (Priyanka Chopra) and the slimy Bornean orangutan King Louie (Bugs Bhargava Krishna), but above all he will learn new things about himself and his role in the world.
The differences with the original
As expected, this version of the film rightly has some differences, not only compared to Rudyard Kipling's stories, but also to the 1967 cartoon. The little human protagonist, for example, gets bruised and scratched, he even bleeds on numerous occasions: the jungle is not an easy place to live, it has its own laws and they must be respected.
This is evident in the period of drought, when all the animals put aside the food chain in favor of the only available source of water, because "drinking comes before eating". It is also the moment in which the direction lingers on the many animal species represented in the film and the dubbing work is magnificent in characterizing them in terms of size and behavior.
The entrance on the scene of Shere Khan, magnificent and cruel, highlights another particular aspect of this Jungle Book. Not only is the beast to be feared more than any other, because of the "rakt phool", the red flower, of which he is as enchanted as he is unfit to handle it, but it is the attitude of human beings, even before their species as such, that brings destruction and overturns the laws of nature.
And, like a virus, it infects everyone in this lust for power and in the will to place themselves at the top of the food chain, without rules and without respect for anyone.
The valorization and deepening of the figure of the tiger Shere Khan, the revelation of his background and the origin of his resentment, the more precise explanation of the dynamics that regulate life in the animal kingdom, are all elements that point decisively in this direction.
The live action rendering of the characters, entirely digitally reconstructed, gives an unusual sense of naturalness to movements and dialogues; a result that is not a foregone conclusion, net of the obvious absence, in the english version released in theaters, of the voices of the various Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba and Scarlett Johansson.
The use of 3D, for its part, proves more functional and effective than the average of today's stereoscopic productions: the direction often plays with verticality and the natural immersive power of the sets, exploiting the third dimension to give an appreciable added value to the imaginative potential of the environments. Remarkable, from this point of view, is the long final sequence, a showdown significantly distant from the ending of the animated film, against a background devoured by flames and unusually veering towards dark.
A more mature film
Paradoxically, it is the scarred tiger who is the most human character, in the strategy of terror that she will apply against the pack of wolves, when they do not deliver Mowgli to her. One scene in particular, in which she is the protagonist together with the cubs of Raksha, the human's adoptive mother, sends shivers down the spine.
This, in our opinion, moves this Jungle Book onto a more mature and less carefree level than its predecessor and will give children several nightmares. And that's a good thing, because then they will grow up, become men or women and stop being cubs, as Shere Khan underlines on more than one occasion: it is important that they know what the responsibility of being the dominant species entails, the importance of the pack and, more than anything else, respect for nature.
Man as a foreign object also emerges in other passages of the film. Above all, in the encounter with the enormous orangutan King Louie, the King of the Bandar-log, the monkeys that not by chance populate the ruins of an ancient civilization, destined to collapse on their heads. He also presents a non-animal behavior. He calls himself King, first of all, and is in search of fire to rule over all the other species.
The power of simplicity
Watching The Jungle Book, you will be immediately fascinated by the atmosphere and by how everything is immediately credible and truthful. The mind, especially that of the adult viewer, knows very well that the images on the screen are entirely the result of computer graphics, but everything is so well conceived and represented that you forget it after a few minutes of the film.
The mind leaves room for the emotion of a great timeless adventure, told in a simple way, without technical virtuosity and above all without screenplay blunders, capable of conquering thanks to its narrative sincerity. This Jungle Book has an extraordinary, crazy visual impact, even and especially in 3D.
The film mixes live action performances with incredible digital settings and extraordinary animals resulting from photorealistic animation. The Jungle Book thus becomes a perfect demonstration of how to best use highly advanced technology without getting lost in showy exaltations of the same, using it to serve the story and the emotional involvement of the audience.
"I think movies should be an emotional experience" says director Jon Favreau. "A great visual spectacle is worthless if the audience can't connect emotionally with the characters. Every story has to have humanity, emotion, character depth and even humor, as long as it doesn't betray the drama of the film.
There are moments of tension in the film where you ask yourself: What's going to happen to this child?" And it's true: even knowing how the story of Mowgli, played by a very good and adorable Neel Sethi, evolves, throughout the duration of the film you are constantly on the edge of your seat, chained by this exciting adventure with its fast pace and breathtaking settings.
The mediation work carried out by the director between the work of Rudyard Kipling and that of Walt Disney is clear and perfect. If on the one hand it follows the progress of the story of the man cub as Disney had modified and softened it in the 60s, it does so with the maturity, adrenaline and slightly darker and more dangerous tone with which the writer had narrated it at the end of the nineteenth century.
The more adult viewer will recognize clear visual references to the classic animated film, with scenes recreated ad hoc and frequent musical references to it. Children, although probably not being able to appreciate any of these subtleties, will still remain glued to their seats, fascinated by a world in which fun is constantly mixed with fear, generating constant interest and a physical and emotional dependence on the fate of Mowgli and the other animals of the jungle.
The Jungle Book is precisely the visual care of the anthropomorphic characters. Tigers, wolves, bears, cubs among the most varied, buffalo and lush fauna, look at us both from the depths of a very strong humanization – they all have eyes and looks full of feelings – and from the realism of the physiognomies and movements – which have a precise adherence to what we expect these wild animals to actually do in their daily lives.
Thus The Jungle Book turns out to be an original work suspended between a fairytale and an adventurous rhythm, where it is impossible not to notice the strong environmental dimension of a story that, by giving centrality to the vegetal and animal dimension, communicates to us at the same time its vital and lively importance.
The animals are real and believable, protagonists from the first scene in a wild and detailed environment. The story is narrated by the panther Bagheera, who in the original version has the imposing voice of Ben Kingsley, while in the hindi dubbing by Om Puri. The winning card of the film is certainly also the voice cast, nothing short of stellar not only in the original version.
The Jungle Book is not a simple remake of the Disney animated film, but neither is it a carbon copy of Kipling's version. It mixes both products in a perfect balance, generating a unique and truly well-written film, directed with passion and accuracy.
Favreau's adaptation draws inspiration from the animated classic (also seen in the continuous musical and visual references to it), while retaining the drama and mythology present in the writer's original stories. For the Hindi dubbed edition, acclaimed music producer Vishal Bhardwaj has composed a special song.
The jungle in this film is not a safe place for a child. Starting from the original structure of the story, in fact, the threats have been increased, making the setting dangerous, a place where survival is not at all a given but entertainment is guaranteed on all levels.
The Jungle Book becomes a contemporary classic, adrenaline-filled but tender, funny but scary, educational but never boring. The credit must certainly be given to the filmmakers and, for once, also to the excellent cast chosen for the hindi dubbing of the film, with a superb Irrfan Khan in the role of Baloo.
