MovieNotes: The Jungle Book

Title: The Jungle Book (IMDB)

*ing: Neel Sethi (Actor) & Nana Patekar, Irrfan Khan, Om Puri, Priyanka Chopra, Shefali Shah (Voices)

Language: Hindi (dubbed)

Director: Jon Favreau

Genre: Fantasy, Action, Adventure

Basic Premise

A human boy, Mowgli, is raised in the wild by a pack of wolves. And he has to face-off against his arch-enemy Shere Khan with a little help from his friends.

MovieNotes

The Jungle Book brings a full bag of nostalgia for those who have grown up in the 90s. The animated series was a staple part of our Sunday entertainment diet. And specially the title song "Jungle jungle baat chali hai, pata chala hai". So when the trailers came up a new version of the song that was enough to ensure a visit to the theatre.

The highlight of the movie is the depiction of the jungle. The CGI makes the jungle come alive and makes it the biggest character of the movie [Reminds me of the opening scenes of Life of Pi].

Some scenes are genuinely scary. No wonder our censor boards gave UA certificate to the movie. But that did not deter a large number of kids from attending the screenings.

The jungle has its own laws. And all animals follow the same. After all their biggest enemies are not the ones residing in the jungle but those who reside outside and wield the "red flower".  In times of drought everyone gets equal and safe access to the water --a stark contrast to the human world.

A key message: "The strength of a wolf lies in a pack and the strength of the pack lies in the wolf."

There are variations from Kipling's tale, which is not surprising given that it wasn't one story but rather a collection of stories. [Bookmarks - Jungle Book]. But couldn't stop comparing the story with the original tale.

Rating - 9/10. For bringing Kipling's tale of the jungle to life. Overall a fun watch, brimming with nostalgia. Although disappointed that the trailer song did not feature in the movie.

Previously on MovieNotes: Kung Fu Panda 3