What movie did YOU just FINISH watching?

I've always liked the character of Bagheera ever since the animated film. Yes, he was oftentimes exasperated at things Mowgli did/said, and could be misconstrued as 'no fun', but he always clearly cared about Mowgli and put his safety first. I thought Ben Kingsley was able to walk that line between being disapproving, but not coming off unlikeable. I also liked that he was able to take on Shere Khan a couple of times - though I, of course, worried for him each time and hated seeing him get injured - as it showed he could hold his own.

Speaking of Shere Khan, I thought Idris Elba was suitably menacing. Especially in the scenes where he delivered the thinly-veiled threat to Raksha about her putting Mowgli's life before her own pups, and the scene where he had a somewhat civil conversation with Akela, then suddenly lashed out and killed him (I hated seeing Akela die - though knew it would happen eventually. It figures that the first role I enjoyed Giancarlo Esposito in would be the one where his character dies).

Despite it being in vain, I'd so hoped Shere Khan was going to be reasonable and just be happy that Mowgli was gone - but he made it quite clear that he was obsessed and wouldn't be satisfied with anything less than getting the pleasure of killing the 'man cub' himself. I had wished that rather than just telling Mowgli to hide behind him at the 'water truce', Akela had told him to run as far away as possible and not let Shere Khan see him. Though, of course, that probably wouldn't have helped much since he no doubt would've still smelled him, but still...I was just annoyed that Mowgli cost Akela his life (obviously he didn't *mean* to, but considering Mowgli was my least favourite character in the movie...I would've rather Akela remained alive in his place).

Lupita Nyong'o was so kindly-sounding as Raksha. Very 'motherly', but also wasn't afraid to stand up to Shere Khan. She didn't appear to mourn Akela for very long, though. And I do think Shere Khan had a fair point about her seeming to put Mowgli's life above her own pups. Speaking of those pups - they were just so gosh darn CUTE!



I find most kid characters in movies/shows are always annoying...but somehow the pups were not. I just wanted to see them kept safe at all times - especially whenever Shere Khan was around. The scene where he threatened them and briefly stopped one of them from returning to their mother was nerve-racking despite knowing there was no way this movie was going to have them harmed. I felt sorry for them (and especially Gray when he wanted to play) due to Mowgli ignoring them after his opening scene. I was just saying to the screen, "HOW can you ignore them?! They're ADORABLE!". It was probably part of the reason I wasn't so fond of Mowgli - but I'll get to him later.

When this movie was released in theatres, I'd listened to one review that talked about "strangely sexy snakes" - and I hadn't gotten it until actually seeing the film (I mean, how could a snake be considered 'sexy'?)...but, dang, Scarlett's voice was indeed pretty alluring. It makes sense that she was cast, as I could understand Mowgli being hypnotised by her voice (and eyes). She may have only had a brief amount of screentime, but she certainly made an impact. I'd like to believe that because we hear her sing over the end credits, that means Baloo didn't actually off her - though I highly doubt her credits song is evidence of her being alive. Annoyingly, I didn't even get to hear Kaa's/Scarlett's 'sexy snake song' over the end credits - I only know of it because of having read about it. So I sought it out on YouTube - it's very nice. I had no idea she could sing.



I was left wanting to see more of Kaa's character. I really did kind of hope that Baloo didn't off her.

As for the bear - I had heard some saying he was one of the best, if not the best, parts of the movie...and I did grow to like him fairly quickly. He got a few good lines. One of my favourites was when he was being annoyed at all the little creatures coming to intrude on him getting Mowgli to fetch him some honey and threatened them with, "You have never been a more endangered species than you are in this moment. ", and the other moment was when he was climbing and realised just how high he'd gotten...



As someone who isn't overly fond of heights, I could identify with his attitude towards them. I thought Bill Murray (and the animators, of course - the way they animated his facial expressions just made you want to give the bear a hug) did a good job of making Baloo likeable so that you'd feel sorry for him when he got hurt - which made it all the more surprising when the moment came later in the game that he got hurt by Shere Khan and it was pretty much a blink-and-you'd-miss-it moment which was largely glossed over. It barely even registered. I remember in both the animated movie and the live action one (which I think was one of the first films I ever saw Lena Headey in), the moment where Baloo got injured was deeply emotional/effective - this movie kind of failed matching those films' moments, I thought.

It wasn't the only misstep I found in the movie, however. Another one was the rather forced use of songs from the animated movie. 'The Bare Necessities' felt a bit awkwardly worked in - though not half as clunky as 'I Wan'na Be Like You' from King Louie was. With the other voice actors, I didn't really 'see' the actors behind the characters, but Christopher Walken was different. His voice and even the face of his character made me hear/see nothing *but* Christopher Walken. And his song seemed to not fit the context of how it was originally intended in the animated movie. Also, I must forgotten that Louie died in the original? Or was that added? Because it sure seemed like he got squished...which was a bit 'dark'.

I couldn't help but feel some moments seemed to rip off The Lion King a bit. It made me think that now when they do the remake of that movie (which I believe is completely unnecessary, as the original movie was perfect the way it was and remains my favourite animated movie ever), it will seem like some moments in it were ripped off from this film, when in fact it'd be vice versa (unless they change parts in it like they did here). One change that was somewhat of an improvement was the defeat of Shere Khan. In the animated film I have a vague recollection of him just getting a flaming tree branch tied to his tail and him running away? His defeat here was much more 'final' - and certainly well-deserved (though he seemed to lose some IQ points all of a sudden, when it seemed like he knew the branch he was standing on wasn't sturdy, yet still continued to walk along it and leap for Mowgli. I guess he was just too consumed with hatred to think straight, but it just made him seem a bit foolish).

And now for my least favourite part of the film - the character of Mowgli. The actor playing him was obviously quite young, so I guess that was his excuse for being not so great in parts of the movie with his performance (there were other times where he wasn't so bad/felt more at ease in the role/wasn't so awkward with his line deliveries). However, the character of Mowgli himself just bugged me most of the time. I didn't like his attitude and that he carelessly set the home of all of his animal 'friends'/'family' on fire with that torch. I hated that some animals died to protect him (especially Akela), and I'd wished one of them had knocked some sense into him at times. I also felt a make-up scene between him and Baloo was noticeably missing (Baloo pulls the old 'make someone you care about think that you DON'T care about them so that they'll get as far away from you as possible and therefore be "safe" trick'...but after that, we never got a scene of him saying he meant none of it. Though I guess Mowgli just figured as much when he saw a bit later on how concerned Baloo was for his safety when he came to rescue him).

I also found that Mowgli using the word 'cool' to describe something took me out of the movie a bit, as did Baloo mentioning 'propaganda'. There was at least one or two other instances where I felt they used words/terms that really didn't 'belong', and it just felt somewhat jarring.

Anyway, I think it was always going to be the case that I liked all the animal characters in the movie, but not the one human character - as I'm more of an 'animal person' (it's one of the reasons The Lion King film is my favourite - no annoying humans). Still...the visuals and voice acting made this movie pretty enjoyable. 

Okay, so I hadn't gotten to see the actual end credits properly because the useless TV stations here have to instantly put on ads for all their reality TV crap and so the end credits to movies get shrunk down so you can't see them and can't hear them. I'm only just now getting to see/hear the end credits as they were intended (via YouTube)...



On the one hand, I guess King Louie singing at the end could be construed as him having survived...except Shere Khan's also there, and I'm pretty sure we conclusively saw him die in the actual film (though they always say if you don't see a body, then they're not dead). Anyway, it was a fun way to end the film (and ensure people stayed to watch the end credits).