Visually this movie is a masterpiece. Favreau and the effects department deserves a ton of praise for the work they did on this. Visual effects is already a very difficult department of the film industry but when your movie solely relies on one live action performer surrounded by CGI animals, it's pretty important that they pull it off. The jungle, the animals, everything in this movie is visually marvelous.
Sometimes movies will go more style over substance but The Jungle Book is not that kind of movie. The story is very intriguing. Right from the start we get this high octane pace that lingers throughout the film with great performances to keep the audience invested in the characters. It's always nerve-racking watching kid actors especially when the movie is their first feature role. However Mowgli played by Neel Sethi is great. There are times when you can tell he struggles a little but nothing that takes the audience out of the film. He is surrounded by a great list of supporting actors, as well. Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kingley as Bagheera, and Christopher Walken as King Louie are just a few members of a very talented ensemble. The biggest standout to me was Idis Elba as Shere Kan though. The tiger has such a powerful and menacing onscreen presence. He was arguably my favorite part of this entire movie.
There are few things to complain about with this movie. The only aspect that comes to the top of my head is the tone of this movie. It's was a lot darker then I expect but then there are a couple of musical numbers in it. The "Bear Necessities" scene was pulled off very well done but "I Wanna Be Like You" felt a little out of place. King Louie sounded great but I am not sure it necessarily fit the tone of the movie well. That's a very small nitpick though.
Overall this movie is FANTASTIC. It's a beautiful mix of style and substance that I wish more directors would get on board with. The tone sometimes struggles but that's a very small nitpick
Rating: 9.7 out of 10
