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The Jungle Book: A visual marvel that delivers incredibly on effects and a simply story.

There were moments in this movie that genuinely terrified me. This is because animals, particularly of the wild-kind, are fucking scary (see the bear scene from The Revenant and every nature special). Why they terrified me were because the visual effects work in this movie are in-cred-ible. I honestly have no idea how Jon Favreau directed any of these scenes and the people responsible for the CG work deserve all the awards. I was hooked from the first second of the first scene and loved witnessing whatever it was I was witnessing throughout it.

Besides the incredible visuals, the voicework implemented was fantastic. I am honestly ecstatic that the actors involved gave a genuine shit about their roles and you can tell while listening that no one phoned in their performance. I love watching/listening to performances on-screen, no matter how small or big, and feeling their presence.

The Disney Blog has a great article that showcases the actors alongside their Jungle Book counterparts and honestly, everyone delivered. If you are hesitant in watching the movie, go watch it solely for Bill Murray’s performance as Baloo. He had me and a majoirty of the adults in the audience, cracking up. Neel Sethi as Mowgli wasn’t particularly bad or insanely good, he was fine. His lines were delivered painfully occasionally and there were moments where his over-enunciation became annoying, however as mentioned, his performance overall was fine.

Now to make a confession: I have never seen the original animated Jungle Book.

Bare Necessities song Thankfully, however, my living arrangements for the past couple of decades aren’t under any rocks so I was aware of certain aspects to the film like theand the red trousers Mowgli wears. If you’re one of the five people on earth that hasn’t seen the original animated, don’t worry, you will definitely enjoy watching it. The effects and voice performances are honestly worth the price of admission. It is one of those movies that I don’t really feel the need to rewatch again but I’m certain I will be watching that final climatic fight scene many times in the future. Shit was more intense than Batman v Superman. If you’re looking for a visual masterpiece (it is honestly eye-orgasmic worthy) with incredible voice performances, check out the 2016 adaptation of The Jungle Book.. we’re going to get another one from Andy Serkis in 2018 so I can’t wait to see how he visualizes the world of the Jungle. The Jungle Book (2016) receives 4/5 Matt Damon heads.