THE JUNGLE BOOK: Bearly Coherent

Director: Jon Favreau
Writer: Justin Marks
Cast: Neel Sethi, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito, Scarlett Johansson
Runtime: 106 mins.
2016

The Jungle Book amounts to a mediocre but entertaining film. It's so entertaining, in fact, that it successfully distracts its audience from its own flaccid plot. The film exists first and foremost as a piece of spectacle, and within that realm it accomplishes exactly what it set out to do. What you've probably heard concerning the visuals is true; they move beyond impressive and into immersive. From the very first moment it's as if you've stumbled into the jungle and are hanging out right alongside Mowgli (Neel Sethi). Not for a moment did the seams show enough to divorce me from Favreau's lush jungle environment, which is shocking when you learn that the entirety of the movie was filmed in an LA soundstage. This is so vividly a living, breathing world. Spending a couple of hours there is a blast.

The impulse to focus on the setting produces some iconic work, but the screenplay is barely enough to prop it up. The result is a tonal mishmash that is trying so hard to please everybody that it fails to achieve a distinct identity of its own. I counted three warring movies existing within Favreau's Jungle Book, any one of which would have been excellent on its own. Three movies that sapped strength from each other, and interrupted each other at inopportune moments. Here is my window into The Jungle Books that could have been.

1. Favreau could have made The Jungle Book a full-on musical. This would have nailed the target nostalgia demographic--what people typically remember the most from the Disney cartoon is its musical numbers. They're damned catchy. Imagine a film that brings a slough of contemporary musical talent together to create and recreate Jungle Book musical numbers, all using the vibrant jungle setting to maximum effect. It would be a fantasy-musical the likes of which had never been accomplished in anything resembling live action.

Instead we get a workmanlike score as well as two isolated musical numbers, performed by Bill Murray and Christopher Walken respectively, that rear their head so late into the movie as to be totally baffling. Baloo's "Bear Necessities" tries to play off the sudden singing as a character quirk--this bear just likes to sing! The movie lampshades the weirdness of the tonal shift with an awkward dialogue exchange in which Baloo explains to Mowgli what a song is. All of this happens during a lull in the film, so this detour especially sticks out, although it is mostly forgivable.

King Louis' sudden outburst of singing, however, is the weirdest, most tonally dissonant moment in the movie. Everything about the mise en scene sets King Louis up to be a threatening, villainous figure. He lives in the shadows of a crumbling temple. He is enormous. He is glowering. His monkey servants shrink from him. Then he starts singing this joyful little diddy and tossing fruit around like it's confetti. Finally he attacks our protagonists.

If you feel the need to service the fans by including a musical number in your remake, don't just shove it in there with a shrug, destroying your tone and delaying your plot. Making art is about committing to your choices. It's fun to hear Christopher Walken belt out this classic, but it also undercuts everything we are supposed to believe about this world.

2. Favreau could have made a wandering, loosely plotted Bildungsroman. Significant portions of The Jungle Book already fit that description. In an effort to flee the threatening tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), who wants him dead because he is a human, Mowgli journeys towards the man-village and meets all sorts of creatures along the way. The film is sporadically interested in exploring the difference between Mowgli and the animals, but the theme never develops meaningfully. Imagine if The Jungle Book had been bold enough to simply let its plot follow Mowgli's wanderings without any sense of urgency. Mowgli would meet friendly animals and dangerous animals, not always initially sure which was which. Each new encounter would teach Mowgli something about himself, and each new encounter would showcase a new aspect of Favreau's incredible digital world.

The plot of the film is already halfway there, but if it were to commit to this kind of story, it would have to jettison all the unnecessary boilerplate hero's journey plot mechanisms. Stop cutting back to Shere Khan threatening the wolf pack. Stop reintroducing Bagheera with pertinent plot information. Let Mowgli be more of a silent avatar than an angsty hero. Don't worry about making Mowgli save everyone in the end. Maybe Mowgli doesn't even return home. For me, one of the most disappointing moments in the film was the climactic sequence when Mowgli runs all the way from the man-village back to the wolf pack. Until that point it had felt like Mowgli was on an Odyssean journey, going far deeper into the unknown than ever before. But then it turned out he could have run home anytime.

Whereas the musical version of The Jungle Book would have been more of an adaptation of the Disney animated film, this version would be closer in spirit to the Rudyard Kipling stories. Of course, this probably wouldn't be the most bankable version. But it would have been compelling.

3. Favreau could have made a moody action thriller. This is in many ways the inverse of the previous two options, as well as the version that has most of its DNA in what we actually got. Shere Khan, Kaa, and King Louis are legitimately unsettling characters despite the film's apparent kid-friendliness. We watch Shere Khan murder several times over, and he threaten a baby wolf. The Jungle Book could have easily amped up these elements, but it would have called for a much more thrilling and engaging plot. The wandering would have to be cut in favor of something more propulsive and purposeful. Let the suspense simmer and the action boil. Don't leave your primary antagonist sitting around for 4/5ths of the movie while your hero hangs out with a bear.

The film would also have to be recast. Hearing the voices of beloved celebrities coming out of these animals is delightful, but it does pop the immersion bubble a little bit. Every actor does good work here, but the only casting that I would retain for this slightly darker adaptation is Idris Elba, who absolutely nails the sinister gravity of Shere Khan.

This version can keep Neel Sethi though. He gets a bit grating at times, but all in all Sethi does incredible work considering the kid is acting on a soundstage opposite animal puppets.

Maybe you're noticing a theme here: including the two famous songs, giving Mowgli a hero's journey, casting some of Hollywood's most likable and recognizable voices... these are all choices that were made for the sake of pleasing the crowd at the expense of the movie itself. It's not surprising. The Jungle Book was aiming to be a four-quadrant hit, and it has done exactly that. But that doesn't mean I have to like it.

Typically focusing on what could have been is bad criticism, but I feel The Jungle Book is noteworthy for being so close to being so great in so many different ways. Instead it's jumbled, not unlike Favreau's other entertaining failure Iron Man 2, or the even uglier mishmash Cowboys & Aliens. The easiest thing in the world is to let these big budget blockbusters get away from you. Just ask George Lucas or Peter Jackson, masterminds behind two of the most disappointing trilogies of the modern age. When there are thousands of people working on one story, keeping it strong and unified is a monumental task.

Honestly, I do recommend The Jungle Book, but see it now while it's still in all of its big screen 3D eye candy glory.

2.5 / 5  BLOBS