Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

Beystiman It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

froyo1999 Walking into the theater I was prepared to be underwhelmed with this movie. I was sure that the reviews to an uneeded disney reboot were biased and the very handsomely paid cast was just a showing to reel in fan bases of all the diverse actors. However, this movie exceeded my expectations. The graphics in this movie are absolutely incredible, near breathtaking, and similar to the visual sensations in Life of Pi. There are times in the film where it seems Jon Favreau (spelling? idk) can not decide whether he is catering the film to children or an older generation. The beginning of the film seems incredibly innocent but then progresses into an incredibly violent series of animal planet like encounters. I found myself thinking quite often that children really would be probably very frightened of some of the animals, particularly Shere Kahn. Aside from all this though, I find the film entertaining, and frankly quite funny. I think it perfectly uses human emotion and relationships to allow the audience to feel genuine loss when the hero fails and genuine happiness when he triumphs in the end. Beautifully shot and endlessly entertaining, I believe The Jungle Book deserves a high review.

theresamgill I think I saw the original back in 1st grade and didn't care about it at all except for "The Bare Necessities." So flash forward to present day when we have already had Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, and even Snow White redone. I had zero excitement about the update of The Jungle Book.Then I started to become curious. I read articles about how newcomer Neel Sethi did pretend basketball for his audition tape because of how much green screen and nothingness he would be working with. And I will start with Mowgli because he is fantastic. Think of Life of Pi as a reference point. But then think of a kid's imagination and why people might have fallen in love with the original in the first place. This kid brings the movie to life, and there wasn't a moment I wasn't impressed by him.Now for the jungle. It is beautiful. I have no idea how they were able to accomplish it, but it's so stunning. In an extended compliment, I tip my hat to Iron Man and Elf director Jon Favreau. Whether it's the placement of the animals or the way the camera moves with the jungle, the man knew exactly what he was looking for and he got it.Mowgli isn't quite on his own; you have an all-star cast lending their voices with Bill Murray, Idris Elba, and Christopher Walken being the highlights. Not only do they add with their voices, but the animals they represent are such a feat to behold. I loved how the camera would trail Mowgli talking to Bagheera the panther and the way the shoulder blades moved in stride with the walk. The look is there, the behavior is there, and the characters are there.The next thing is both a compliment and also one of the complaints I hold. The story arc follows Mowgli as he has all these different encounters with the creatures of the jungle-- whether for better or for worse. For the most part, the encounters are brief, for this movie had to be under 2 hours while still having scenes with all these different animals. And while segments with Kaa (Scarlet Johansson) or King Louie are welcomed, the main character isn't given much time to spend with Bagheera or Baloo; this is a problem becomes we're supposed to feel this bond grown that even though Mowgli is a man cub, he will instead choose the life with the animals he loves. And his interactions with Bagheera and Baloo are fantastic, but they don't provide the depth and framework that animated and kids movies often fall prey to. Furthermore, the two songs played are a great relief of pace, but they can't help that some scenes I described as brief still feel stretched. The pacing isn't quite there, and the development of the story suffers for it.There are moments that will probably scare some children, especially when the red flower is introduced, but the animals presented and the diverse characters they represent are fresh and needed. And there's no doubt that Bill Murray fits the bill as Baloo the bear. Top it off with the beautiful jungle and some borrowed elements of The Lion King, and well, you have one of the most exciting Disney films of recent years. You will enjoy it in the theaters, but perhaps not as much as you would hope to. You can find this review and dozens of others at gillipediamoviereviews.blogspot.com

Trey Yancy This could have been a fantastic film except for the casting. Bill Murray is barely passable in the spoken parts but his singing is atrocious. It always has been this way, going all the way back to 1976. Everybody knows he can't sing. It totally ruins what was the number one song in the original Disney film. I had to watch the original all over again to wash Murray's off-key, lousily timed groans out of my ears. Scarlett Johansson is great at speaking in a dull monotone voice without any soul or expression. For her to be cast as a seductive enchantress is utterly ridiculous. There are dozens of actresses who could have knocked this out of the park. Terrible casting. Christopher Walken did an okay job with the speaking parts but this man, like Murray, has absolutely no sense of musical time, Again, a major casting mistake. As for Gary Shandling, he is a lousy voice actor. Dozens of actors could have done a far, far better job. If Disney had hired a casting director with any talent whatsoever, this could have been one of the best films of the decade. Again, there are a ton of great casting directors out there. Disney has no excuse. The producers have no excuse. I was very disappointed.

Majikat The animated feature length film of the same name is so iconic, the new version had to pull out all the tricks.The animation is incredible, the characters brought more to life, the storytelling varies, (possibly more fitting to the book?) but still builds the tale to its popular build up. An upgrade for the young to enjoy and older to compare.