Neel Sethi is Mowgli and Bill Murray is Baloo in The Jungle Book

Along with “Deadpool”, “The Jungle Book” is certainly the most fun I had at the movies so far in 2016. The film’s primary audience are children, in the sense of being suitable for all members of the family, and it is common for such movies to be enjoyed by grown ups .. But this time it is a bit different. This time I enjoyed the film without having to look down at it or act like an observer to how my children are engaged with it. This time I was invested in all chapters and I connected with the events on all levels. The drama, the comedy, the suspense, they were all real and effective.

“The Jungle Book” is nearly perfect on all aspects, but the most important characteristics I have for it are: courageous, realistic and original. Not a single decision was made to dodge challenges, and yet after mastering all the elements of visual effects and characters animation, I cannot say that any achievement was abused or even repeated.

In Zootopia, the cast selection process ensured that no actor has to work so much on his voice to suit the character he’s playing, the match was made in the selection itself. I cannot say that the same principle was followed here, in “The Jungle Book” I could sense how several cast members really worked on the way they sound to find some middle ground between their own voice , the nature of the animals and the nature of the character they’re playing. The only exception to this comparison is Idris Elba, whom I praised as the best voice performance in Zootopia since he managed to strike the balance between the 3 elements in his portrayal. In “The Jungle Book”, Elba steps into further dimensions.

Shere Khan is by far the best villain in 2016. He has a motive and he has real powers that make him superior to any confrontation. He’s so powerful that he knows nobody can stop him. He knows what he wants and he makes sure that everybody knows it too. However, he’s smart enough to try and lobby for his agenda. He doesn’t really have a plan with phases, he can go ahead and explain his logic for the lack of a better thing to do, but he’s not really waiting for a trigger to go after Mowgli. He doesn’t have an evil side, he’s just pure, intelligent, evil. He’s magnificent.

The other portrayal that stands out is Bill Murray’s in the character of “Baloo” the lazy, conning bear. Murray is among the best actors who can deliver subtle jokes with indifferent facial expressions. Baloo proves that the veteran comedian can do the same with his voice. Neel Sethi, the 12 years old newcomer, plays “Mowgli” with the challenge of being the only real character in the middle of CGI creations. It’s important to remember that to appreciate his performance which I believe was rather adorable than wild. When looking at “Mowgli”, the first character that comes to mind in recent years is “Spot” from “The Good Dinosaur”. The key difference is that Spot’s loneliness was well reflected his hostility, while Mowgli had the privilege of being raised with love and care. It is only the wild nature of that loving environment that was missing in Sethi’s performance.

The coherence of Justin Marks’ script is astonishing. Our adventure spans across different phases with different characters in different places. However the build up of the key dramatic threads expands with extreme clarity across all the phases. The rivalry between Mowgli and Shere Khan, Mowgli grasping the value of teamwork and dedication to the pack, and Mowgli understanding that he’s of a different specie with strong and different powers. Those are the threads that develop in every stage, with a lot of small details that come together perfectly in the final showdown.

“The Jungle Book” is bit of a turnoff from a technical description point of view. It is one of those “chroma” movies, filmed entirely in front of a green screen and within the walls of a studio. It is actually a bit more than that. It’s probably the most realistic work I’ve ever seen with CGI characters design and animation. If the inspiration comes from such movies as “Life of Pi” and the recent adaptation of “Planet of the Apes”, then “The Jungle Book” is the advanced level.

With all of those excellent elements into play, praise is due to the way they’re all orchestrated by the true master of his craft “Jon Favreau”. After his work on the Ironman movies, followed by “Chef” and now “The Jungle Book”, I believe it’s about time we start anticipating Favreau’s movies, the same way we anticipate the work of the heavyweights.

“The Jungle Book” is a refreshing cinematic experience in the rather dull world of CGI productions. It’s a loyal adaptation of a familiar story, but the unique creative vision and dramatic philosophy makes it necessary to label it “unparalleled”.

Most Hilarious Scene of Zootopia

Several aspects are perfectly balanced in “Zootopia”, helping it avoid mostly every mistake that we clearly witnessed in animated films in the last two years. It’s not too straightforward, and it’s not too complicated. It’s not too usual, and it’s not too strange. It’s not too obvious and it’s not too mysterious. It also manages to mix all the needed components to attract children and grown ups alike. It carries a positive message, flows through adventure, inspires with imagination, it even wraps around a solid plot and a few surprising twists, and it entertains with very well executed action sequences and extremely humorous comedy. The major sign of success for this formula is that I’m unable to determine if it was the action or the comedy that I enjoyed most.

Not every moment of Zootopia is enjoyable, when extremely invested in its message, it can drive a sense of impatience to the audience for getting quickly to the entertaining stuff. However, the movie finishes strong. The ending is generally a very important tool that most movies underestimate. Even if your film is filled with flaws, providing a quality ending sequence can be a good way to have a great deal of your mistakes forgiven. Not that “Zootopia” needed it that much in all cases.

The obvious message of the film deals with differences in race, and invites for tolerance and coexistence. That’s not the message that interested me the most though. The one I cared about more is encouraging the younger audience to challenge all stereotyping and negative classifications to achieve their dreams. Probably it stuck with me because it was in the lyrics of Shakira’s awesome song in the movie.

Balancing is extended from all technical and artistic aspects to choices of cast members. We have some big names and some who aren’t equally famous. Most voice actors just went on and used their regular speech, and it’s surprising how well it worked. I sensed that maybe Idris Elba, in supplying the voice for the character of Chief Bogo, is the only one who managed to find some middle ground between his trademark voice, the nature of his character and the animal that he is portraying.

Zootopia is constructed on the kind of concept that you would feel is a bit abused, but it’s really unlike anything we’ve seen that had talking animals in it. Anthropomorphism is taken to new dimensions with a simple idea; “Zootopia” is not a city where animals live, it’s rather a city that animals built, using collective life lessons that taught them that everybody matters, and that everybody can indeed live together in peace.

The extreme creativity in building the concept for “Zootopia” the city wasn’t met with equal creativity in building “Zootopia” the animated feature. I believe the designs and the animation were very well executed, but I don’t sense they brought anything new to the table. Maybe that’s why the film does feel a bit too familiar from the trailer and, unlike most elements of the movie, I don’t mean that as a plus.

“Zootopia” is the best Disney animated movie, either with Pixar or without it, since Toy Story 3 in 2010. It works in every classification that it attempted to belong to, but most of all as a comedy. I watched the whole film with a smile on my face and the smile developed into hysterical laughing with the scene of “Flash” the sloth, which is probably one of the smartest hilarious scenes that I’ve seen in any animated movie.

With the exception of an uninspiring visual experience and a few scenes where the message gets a bit too direct and too repetitive, “Zootopia” is a cinematic experience that I would strongly recommend for all family members.