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Rating:
A live-action remake of a classic Disney animation; put that way, Jon Favreau's new cinematic challenge seemed almost impossible. The whimsical beauty of an animated cartoon, especially a historical one, is essentially impossible to replicate in a film shot with a camera. What sense does it make to risk such a delicate balance? However, watching The Jungle Book, one quickly realizes that the work has been executed impeccably, or almost. The film indeed manages to build an almost miraculous balance between a more pronounced (and necessary) realism and the whimsical and fantastic dimension, which nonetheless remains intact.
Favreau thus succeeds in formulating a hybrid language, which must reconcile almost antithetical elements: the director depicts a world more realistic than that of the cartoon, yet knows how to keep it on the tracks of the fantastic narrative, without creating stylistic short circuits. The animals are almost always credible, but not for this reason, when they speak, do they seem ridiculous; the two opposing forces are perfectly balanced, except for some instances where plot necessities introduce slightly hyperbolic elements. I refer, for example, to King Louie's gigantic size, with limbs that destroy stone walls, or to the fire Mowgli inadvertently starts. These are slightly forced passages compared to the rest, which hinder a perfect symmetry between realism and fairy tale. Even the songs present blend somewhat awkwardly with the diegetic structure.
It must be said that a film like this is primarily possible thanks to technology. The computer graphics effects are astounding and animate almost all the characters, as there is essentially only one actor, Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli. Many CGI-created faces/muzzles, yet all wonderfully expressive, detailed, furry; capable of being believable but also connected to a childlike imagination. This balance is thanks to the artistic team, but also the technical team. In short, 175 million dollars well spent.
Otherwise, the story flows well and without hitches, except for a few brief moments of stagnation in the central phase. Favreau's ability to harmoniously connect the elements prevails; his cinema gives a strong sense of congeniality, of light elegance, without overly emphatic highlights. Favreau shows the beauty of the natural world without exaggerating it, narrates the contrasts between the feral and human components of the protagonist Mowgli without the stress of forcefully bringing out the story's moral. For these reasons too, The Jungle Book convinces; even without focusing exclusively on the moral and existential issues of the story, it unfolds them with great effectiveness. A film that follows the course of the great adventure, a simple adventure with well-oiled mechanisms, which works decisively well because it knows how to reconstruct the wonder in the eyes of the viewer. Every time Shere Khan is framed up close, every time the elephants arrive, when the monkeys kidnap Mowgli: this is cinema that knows how to surprise and move.
A separate note on the dubbing issue: the Italian one is not bad at all, but the list of original voice actors is truly impressive: from Bill Murray to Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley to Idris Elba, with the ever self-deprecating Favreau lending his voice to a pygmy hog.
3.5/5
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