The Jungle Book is a famous collection of stories written by Rudyard Kipling at the end of the 18th century, apparently inspired by his life in India. Roughly fifty years after the successful animated film, a new movie version of “The Jungle Book” is being released on April 15 in the UK and worldwide, and this article is brought to you by Cineworld Cinemas.
Kipling, Disney and other Facts
As most of you already know, Kipling was an English journalist, a short stories writer, a poet, and a novelist. His best known works are “The Jungle Book”, “Kim”, and the poem “If”.
Kipling was born in Bombay, the son of an art school principal and sculpture teacher, raised quite fine, with a Portuguese nanny. At five he was sent to England, to a boarding school for children with parents serving in India. It was awful, of course. From that experience his awkward desire for extreme freedom was born. I said awkward because he was a very keen promoter of the British Empire, loved especially for his narrative capacities, somehow considered controversial.
Kipling strikes me personally as the most complete man of genius (as distinct from fine intelligence) that I have ever known. – Henry James
The Jungle Book – poster
In 1967, the Disney Studios made an animated film (one of the best and funniest at the time) which is still famous now as it was then, despite not having much to do with Kipling’s book or ideas. A boy raised by wolves escapes into the jungle and comes under the protection of a bear and a black panther. He meets at least three fiendish characters, and escapes from them.
In the Disney animation, he escapes mostly because he was helped by Bagheera and Baloo, but in this new IMAX movie, it seems he was also exceptionally talented. It seems like they took the ’67 film and made everything bigger, louder, more spectacular, leaving the original book even farther behind.
This new take on “The Jungle Book” is directed by Jon Favreau (Chef, Iron Man series, etc.) and written by Justin Marks. Favreau took advantage of a wide range of technology and used plenty of photo-realistic rendering, computer-generated imagery and other smashing screen effects.
The Jungle Book – Mowgly with King Louie
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The Jungle Book – Cast
“Mowgly”, the Indian boy raised by wolfs in the jungle, is played by the cute Indian American (born and raised in New York, US of A) Neel Sethi, discovered and chosen over many thousands of other kids who auditioned in the US, Canada, UK, and even New Zealand. The funny thing is that the Disney Studios wanted someone born in the “civilized world”, leading to less complications with visas, statuses, English language proficiency and other modern requests.
Bill Murray is “Baloo”, the funny bear, Ben Kingsley is “Bagheera”, the overprotecting black panther, Idris Elba is “Shere Khan”, the fearsome Bengal tiger, Lupita Nyong’o is “Raksha” the she-wolf who raised “Mowgly”, Scarlett Johansson is “Kaa”, an Indian python, Giancarlo Esposito is “Akela”, Raksha’s “husband”, Mowgly’s wolf father, Christopher Walken is “King Louie”, the smooth-talking orangutan. All these great actors only lent their voices to the CGI characters. Scarlett Johansson’s voice doesn’t match the evilness of Kaa’s appearance, though; Favreau needed to choose someone more annoying.
Cineworld Cinemas Trailer
Cineworld Cinemas, with its Unlimited card, offers you the opportunity to watch unlimited films in the UK, starting at just £16.90 per month. Take your kids and enjoy!
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