Granted anthropomorphized animals are nothing new to film, they're a staple of allegory, but how they're personified here was really exciting. What helps this film define its reason for existing is its sense of heart and humanity - in a film with only one human character and a ton of animated creatures. The film is too much fun to disregard in such a way. Part of me wants to feel jaded and express my frustration that this version of 'The Jungle Book' exists at all, but I can't. Considering this is actually Disney's second live action adaption of the story, I was surprised at how fresh and fun the film was while retaining some familiar elements of the original animated feature. Like it's 2015 compatriot ' Cinderella,' 'The Jungle Book' is Disney's latest entry in an ongoing effort to take one of their older properties and breathe some live-action life into it. It's a masterful blend of familiar elements from the original animated film while bringing in new culturally relevant themes and some stunning visual effects work to make a film that feels fresh and fun and most importantly - entertaining.Ĭonsidering the standing of the Wolfgang Reitherman animated classic Disney film from 1967, it feels like a redundancy to continue onward with my traditional story rundown of this film. Such is the case with Director Jon Favreau's take on the Rudyard Kipling classic. As many of these films fail to define their purpose for existing beyond being an obvious cash grab, it is important to step back and see that some of these films are worthwhile endeavors. It's quite possible that 2016 could be labeled "The Summer of the Remake." While reboots and remakes of hit properties are nothing new, it does feel like it has come to a head. "You must be the very worst wolf I've ever seen."