‘The Jungle Book’ fails to meet expectations

photo from web.

You all might be pumped for the new “The Jungle Book” movie, a dramatic live-action, animation-integrated remake of one of our childhood favorites.

It was pretty decent, but had flaws, just like many movies.

Bad news first: Mowgli (played by Neel Sethi) shows pretty much Disney Channel-level acting. It was probably the most distracting part of the movie for me. I understand that this movie was made for kids, and that great child actors come few and far in between, but it still irked me. Also, Christopher Walken singing? Oh boy, we all laughed in the theater. It was just ridiculous.

Good news is that nearly everything else was decent, if not actually good. Animation of the jungle animals was seamless. After the movie concluded, I was reminded that these characters weren’t actually real live animals. By all means, the movie was good. I laughed and enjoyed it and even felt a bit sad when Shere Khan died (hey, it just looked like a beautiful tiger dying, and that’s sad).

But, as I sit here trying to write this review, it’s honestly hard to even recall the movie. It was hard to have something to say about it rather than just, “Yeah, it was good.” The movie isn’t that memorable. Feelings are not left with you when you exit the theater and go home. Which, with a budget of $175 million, is a concern.

Yes, it was “good.” But a lot of movies are good. I’m a bit disappointed, looking back on my experience. If you’re a huge Jungle Book fanatic, it’s worth seeing, but if you are only mildly excited to see it, wait until it comes out on Redbox. You’ll thank me later when you watch it curled up on your couch and realize I was right.

I give this movie a 3.5/5 on the gorilla scale.

Advocate Staff