The Jungle Book (2016)

There's a moment in Jon Favreau's The Jungle Book where you sit back and think: this is genuinely extraordinary. The light filtering through the canopy, the weight of Baloo's fur, the coiled menace of Shere Khan prowling through the undergrowth. Almost nothing you're looking at actually exists, and yet it feels more real than most films shot on location. It's a proper jaw-dropper. And then, slowly, you start to notice that jaw-dropping is more or less all it's doing.

Let me be fair: the technical achievement here is staggering. The environments are lush and immersive, the animals rendered with astonishing detail, and set pieces like Mowgli's desperate flight from Shere Khan or the python hypnotism sequence are genuinely gripping stuff. This is modern filmmaking pushed right to the edge of what's possible, and you can feel the craft and the ambition in every frame. The voice cast earns its keep too. Bill Murray as a laid-back, deeply unbothered Baloo is inspired casting, warm and effortless in the role. And Idris Elba brings something genuinely terrifying to Shere Khan, a real, coiled intensity that makes the tiger feel like a proper threat rather than a pantomime villain. Both are highlights.

The film is smart about how it handles the music. Rather than leaning hard into the songs of the original animated film, it keeps them minimal and organic. Murray's rendition of "The Bare Necessities" is relaxed and charming, slipping into the story naturally rather than grinding the film to a musical-number halt. It works precisely because it doesn't try too hard. The film borrows from Rudyard Kipling's darker tone in places too, which gives it a bit more weight than a straightforward nostalgia trip might have had.

But here's the problem: for all the craft on display, I never really felt much. Mowgli's journey is clean and efficient, perhaps too clean. The whimsy and warmth that made the 1967 original stick in the memory for decades has been traded in for visual spectacle and brisk pacing. We're constantly reminded how impressive it all looks, but the film doesn't do enough to make us care about the boy at the centre of it. The emotional core is thin. Streamlined in a way that feels like it's been focus-grouped rather than felt.

This is exactly the trap that catches a lot of these live-action Disney remakes. I had similar reservations about The Lion King, which pushed the photorealism even further but left even less room for genuine warmth or expression. There's a pattern emerging: the more technically flawless these things become, the more the soul seems to drain out of them. You're watching artists do something extraordinary, but you're watching it at arm's length. Like standing outside a bakery. Everything looks perfect and nothing actually feeds you.

That's not to say this is a bad film. It really isn't. It moves well, it looks incredible, the voice performances add real personality, and there are stretches of genuine excitement. If you're after an inoffensive, visually stunning adventure with some solid work from a terrific cast, it absolutely gets the job done. It's two hours that won't waste your time.

But there's a difference between a film that dazzles and a film that wonders. This one does the former and mostly skips the latter. It plays like a very expensive, very accomplished cover version of a song you already love. All the notes are right. The feeling isn't quite there. You end up admiring it more than you enjoy it, and that's a strange place to be with a story that's fundamentally about joy and belonging and the wild freedom of running through the jungle.

Two and a half stars. Technically marvellous. Emotionally a bit thin. Doesn't swing as high as it thinks it does.

Rating: ★★★★  | Year: 2016  | Watched: 2025-08-13

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Where to watch

Watch in the UK
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

Watch in the US
Stream: Disney Plus
Rent: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US

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More from Jon Favreau: The Lion King (2019) · Iron Man 2 (2010) · Iron Man (2008)
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More from the 2010s: Wonder (2017) · Beautiful Boy (2018) · The Witch (2015) · What We Do in the Shadows (2014)
More family: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · Wonder (2017) · Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anastasia (1997)
More adventure: Alice in Wonderland (1951) · The Eagle (1925) · Louisiana Story (1948) · The General (1926)