SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS

THE JUNGLE BOOK (1994)

Hey, everybody! Sorry for missing out on my Throwback Thursday review yesterday. But, I had some important homework to finish. So, I just decided to write and post this review today, Friday. But, you’re still gonna get the same review with the same opinion. With that said, let’s get started!

So, today, Disney’s live-action Jungle Book has just hit theaters nationwide. And if the TV spots are to be believed, it is getting nothing but rave reviews from critics. Now, I will see for myself how good this movie is when I go see it this weekend. But, today, I will be giving you my thoughts on another live-action Jungle Book that Disney released in 1994. It was entitled Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book.

Before I go on, I must address the Kipling purists yet again. Guys, if you couldn’t handle the 1967 Disney movie diverging from the original stories, then this one will drive you even crazier. Just throwing that out there. So, don’t read on if you’re that kind of person. Anyways…

Plot summary: During the British Raj in India, Mowgli is the son of an Indian guide (Faran Tahir) who is guiding the British Army through the dangerous Black Jungle. One night, Shere Khan, attacks the British camp and kills Mowgli’s father in the process. During the attack, Mowgli accidentally boards a runaway carriage that runs off into the Black Jungle. It is there that he spends most of his life, learning the ways of the jungle and making friends with animals including a bear named Baloo and a panther named Bagheera. Years later, Mowgli (Jason Scott Lee) is a young man and happens upon an ancient city loaded with treasure and inhabited by monkeys, including an orangutan named King Louie. Mowgli also happens upon a young woman named Kitty (Lena Headey) whom he met in his childhood. He is subsequently captured by British forces and imprisoned in the British-occupied Indian village. However, Kitty offers to try and civilize Mowgli, along with the help of Dr. Plumford (John Cleese), much to the chagrin of her father, Colonel Brydon (Sam Neill). However, Kitty’s evil boyfriend, Captain Boone (Cary Elwes) sees this as an opportunity to find the much fabled Lost City of Hanuman (the ancient city Mowgli happened upon earlier) because of a bejeweled knife he found on Mowgli’s personal.

Just from that plot synopsis alone, you can see what might turn some people off about this movie. Despite the fact that the title is Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book, the only thing this film has in common with those stories is the names of the characters and nothing more. Heck, the animals don’t even talk in this version. This film feels less like an adaptation of Kipling’s stories and more like a mix of Tarzan and Indiana Jones. However, much like the 1967 film, if you’re willing to get past that, the movie turns out to be very entertaining. It’s not a masterpiece, but as its own separate thing, the film is pretty solid.

One of the best things this movie has going for it is the acting. Jason Scott Lee is awesome as a grown Mowgli who is trying to fit into British society but also trying to maintain his connection with nature. They focus on him going back and forth between these two feelings and it’s well-acted. Also, his naiveté about the human world and complete innocence have a unique charm which really starts to grow on you. In fact, some of the funniest scenes in the movie are when Mowgli is trying to learn about British society.

And all the other actors do a solid job too. Lena Headey is good as the love interest, John Cleese is hilarious as a proper British doctor who has a sense of humor about him, and Sam Neill is good as the overprotective father who eventually comes to respect Mowgli and his beliefs. But, my favorite performance, aside from Mowgli, is Cary Elwes as Captain Boone. It is clear that Elwes is having a ball playing this overly smug, self-confident British officer who does everything you expect an over-the-top villain to do. He smiles maliciously, he says lines that sound threatening and cheesy at the same time (“So, you’ve come to seal your fate, have you?”), and he commits every heinous act with the greatest sense of panache and style. He’s absolutely perfect.

Something else I really like about this film is the look. The look of this movie is just huge and really does help to create an adventurous, epic atmosphere. The production design, cinematography, and the lighting also help give this movie a great atmosphere. The director of this movie, Stephen Sommers, also directed the first two Mummy movies. And it shows; both Jungle Book and The Mummy have this sort of Indiana Jones-esque quality about theme. And Sommers definitely knows how to manipulate all the cinematic elements of these films to give them a great sense of adventure.

Speaking of the adventure aspect of this film, I’m just gonna warn you now that if you have really little kids and you’re thinking about watching this movie with them, I’d advise against it. Once Captain Boone and his colleagues force Mowgli to lead them to Hanuman and the adventure gets going, the violence is upped to a disturbing degree. We have people drowning in pools of quicksand, getting mauled by tigers, and falling off high cliffs. There’s even a particularly disturbing death scene where a man is buried alive by a booby trap he accidentally activates in Hanuman.  I mean…yikes! So, this can definitely be a turnoff for most people. And I would even argue that it’s kind of a problem with the movie, in that it takes sort of a dark turn without any real preceding dark turns in the movie.

Any other problems I can find in this film are nothing more than nitpicks that belong in a CinemaSins video. Aside from that, Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book is a fun, thrilling adventure ride that definitely deserves a watch or two. I’d say that if you’re a big Kipling fan, again, I’d avoid this like the plague. But if you’re curious and you wanna see how this film fares as its own thing, I’d definitely recommend it. You won’t be disappointed…but if you have any kids, just make sure they are able to handle some very intense death scenes.

I mean…yikes!

Stay tuned for tomorrow, when I review The Jungle Book (2016). Till then, have a pleasant evening!