Film Review: "The Jungle Book" (2016).

"The legend will never be the same" with The Jungle Book (2016). This live-action/CGI fantasy adventure remake directed by Jon Favreau, adapted by Justin Marks and based on the 1967 Walt Disney animated classic of the same name, as well as Rudyard Kipling's eponymous collective works. The film follows Mowgli, a boy who is brought up in the jungle by a pack of wolves. When Shere Khan, a tiger, threatens to kill him, a panther and a bear help him escape his clutches.

In early July 2013, it was announced that a live-action remake of Disney's 1967 animated classic was in development with Marks to pen the adaptation. In November, Favreau was hired to direct. He was encouraged by Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn to take advantage of the film's setting and story as an opportunity to use the latest advancements in photorealistic rendering, computer-generated imagery, and motion capture technologies. The filmmakers cited Shane (1953), Goodfellas (1990), Apocalypse Now (1979), Bambi (1942) and The Lion King (1994) served as influences for the film. Pixar Animation Studios assisted in the development of the story, as well as providing suggestions for the film's end credits sequence. John Lasseter, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios' then-chief creative officer, suggested to end the film with the original physical book featured in the 1967 film opening. Principal photography took place entirely on sound stages at LA Center Studios in Los Angeles, California. The animal characters were created entirely in computer animation, with the assistance of footage of real animal movement, the actors recording their lines, and performance capture for reference. The production team underwent a thorough process to realistically convey the animals' speaking, while still making them perceptually believable to the audience. Favreau researched earlier films featuring anthropomorphic animals, such as Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) and Bambi, as well as Babe (1995) and adopted certain techniques from those films into the film. Nearly seventy separate species of animals native to India are featured in the film, with several species being portrayed as "150% larger" than their actual counterparts. The musical score was composed and conducted by frequent Favreau collaborator John Debney, mostly drawing from George Bruns' original music. While Richard M. Sherman, who originally co-wrote songs for the 1967 film with his brother Robert, was originally reported to be writing new songs for the remake, Favreau decided not to make the film a musical. Still, he and Debney incorporated several songs from the 1967 animated film.

The film stars Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Walken, Garry Shandling, Sam Raimi, Russell Peters, Dee Bradley Baker, Emjay Anthony, Favreau and Neel Sethi. Despite the superstar talent of the cast, it misses some of the heart that placed the original securely in the pop culture canon.

A beat for beat remake may prove enough from some, but there's no denying that this is simply a less compelling, emotionally vacant re-hash of a story that has been delivered with so much more imagination in the past.

Simon says The Jungle Book (2016) receives:

Also, see my review for Chef.