The Jungle Book

[peter]

This Jon Favreau remake of the Disney classic (not forgetting the earlier Sabu version) skillfully mixes the darkness of the Kipling story with the essential elements of the cartoon version to produce a magical 90 minutes of cinema that once seen, won't soon be forgotten.
It must have been daunting prospect, given the earlier Disney versions place in our hearts, to have taken up the challenge of doing a remake - and a live action-CGI one at that; one almost designed for career defining failure, but wow did the man pull it off. The jungle scenery is almost made for modern cinematographic effects and the rich potential is mined here to its full extent. The 'law of the jungle' theme is brought to the fore early on, stating unequivocally the films debt to Kipling, and the scene's pertaining to the pact of peace surrounding the waterhole in times of drought are amongst the time best. The appearance of Sher Khan at this gathering is as menacing a bit of cinema as I've seen in a good while. King Louis is awsome and Kaa as voiced by Scarlet Johansen would have won my trust any day.
There were little failings; the songs were a little difficult to integrate into the 'feel' that the rest of the film had established - but they are easily forgiven given the films manifest triumph against the odds and I'd give an 8.5 out of 10 any day.