Are you ready to head deep into the jungle?
The Jungle Book is the live-action version of the 1967 Disney classic. An orphan boy, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is raised in the Indian jungle by wolves, a panther and a bear. But raising a Man Cub in the jungle is no easy task when a fearsome tiger, a sneaky snake and the King of the monkeys are after you!
The film’s cast reads like an Oscar Ballot with Sir Ben Kingsley (Bagheera), Bill Murray (Baloo), Scarlett Johansson (Kaa), Lupita Nyong’o (Raksha), Christopher Walken (King Louie), Idris Elba (Shere Khan), Giancarlo Esposito (Akela) and introducing Neel Sethi (Mowgli). The Disney Studios film is directed by the talented Jon Favreau, written by Justin Marks and based off the Rudyard Kipling book.
I haven’t even seen the film yet and I’m already in love with it. Disney has been on a live-action kick lately and while I’m hesitant about a few (looking at you new Genie movie), I’m really excited about a bunch of them. Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast are at the top of my list mostly because Disney did an admirable job at casting. At Disney, they have the means to get the A-List treatment classic films deserve.
This film will also be one of the most innovation films with the amount of CGI it uses. I attended the panel at D23 for the film where Jon Favreau and spoke about how they shot the movie twice with Neel Sethi, once completely in front of green screen and the second time on location. The newcomer had never seen an cuts from the film until that moment and his reaction was adorable, asking with wide eyes as his jaw dropped to the floor, “That was me?!”.
With Jon Favreau at the helm, it makes sense he would add a lot of action sequences to the film. The trailer definitely sets the tone for more adventure than the animated film. And although this is not a musical adaption, you will see a Bare Necessities moment! There was a brief teaser in the trailer with Baloo floating on the river with Mowgli on his stomach, but (SPOILER ALERT) at D23 they released some exclusive clips and there was a scene where Mowgli tells Baloo he’s never heard of singing.
What did you think of the first trailer? Let us know @PopHeartsTV!
The Jungle Book is currently set be released in theaters April 15th, 2016.
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