The Jungle Book: A Happy Medium

I'm writing a more in-depth review about this film for the Huntingtonian, so I don't want to go on too long here without possibly contradicting myself or revealing items for that article, but let me say that I think this is the year of children's media. After the success of Zootopia and the newest rendition of The Jungle Book, it's hard not to think that way. Honestly there was very little about this film that I didn't like, if anything at all. The 1967 film is one of my favorite Disney originals and the book is in my top five, and this film felt like it landed right in between those two. It had plenty of source material taken from both sides, but stands out as it's own artistic creation. The acting is awesome (especially with a kid actor who has to talk to a green screen, and does this well!?), it's a visual wonder, the sound design is incredible, and the story, while pulling more similarities to the original Disney film, definitely tries to bring in those darker themes and instances from the book. The casting was on point, the cinematography was great, and Jon Favreau really did an amazing job heading up this project. Plus, there's the fact that he took a note from Apocalypse Now when creating the scene with King Louie, the orangutan-now-turned-gigantopithecus king! I think that this film definitely had a best of both worlds scenario to it, bringing together some great things from the past iterations and creating something new for a whole new generation of younger viewers.