The Jungle Book (2016) Movie Review

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Go see The Jungle Book, and see it on the big screen. If you don't,you may end up regretting your decision for a long time. Worry not, this isn't some once-famous Disney property remade in live-action just to be hampered by the need to appeal to children. Despite its PG rating, this movie is filled with violence, intensity, depth, and more beauty than you'll see in most films catered to an adult audience made in recent years. One might think after my animosity towards last year's Cinderella that I might be disinclined to enjoy this movie. One would be wrong.

The Jungle Book is a mystical adventure to a place distant in space and time. Our viewing experience is one of revolutionary and immersive visual effects, grounded to the real world only by "man-cub" Mowgli (portrayed by newcomer Neel Sethi). After being rescued by panther Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley), the boy is raised by the pack of wolves led by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and mother figure Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o).

The pack teaches Mowgli to be a wolf-like - aggressive, quick, and dominant. However, Mowgli enjoys using wit, trickery, and a clever mindset to tackle his problems. This riff escalates when tiger Shere Khan discovers Mowgli on his turf and vows to kill the child and any animal that stands in his way. Mowgli decides on his own volition to return to the nearby man village, but this doesn't stop Khan's drive to kill.

On the journey back to the land of his people, Mowgli encounters the enormous snake Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), the laid-back bear Baloo (Bill Murray), and a gathering of apes in a temple led by King Louie (Christopher Walken). With fascinating effects from a clearly dedicated visual team, Mowgli's adventures are enough to enthrall on their own from a visual standpoint, but this movie does more than just please your eyes.

For one thing, enough praise cannot be given to this cast. These voice performances are astoundingly unique, as they bring to the characters a level of recognition from a voice known universally. Yet their inclusions were not distracting in the slightest - these actors were cast perfectly and brought something to their characters that I can't picture being brought by anyone else. Highlights include the impending voice work by Idris Elba as the villainous Khan, the enchantingly treacherous tone of an underused Scarlett Johansson, and the lovable presence of Bill Murray's Baloo.

All of this, however, means nothing without the one who brought these effects to reality. Neel Sethi is outstanding as our main focal point for the film. Conveying the range of innocence, happiness, fear, anger, and love without any on-screen partners with no obvious effort, Sethi has delivered what I would argue to be one of the greatest child performances of all-time. Sitting in the director's chair is Jon Favreau, who delivered one of the most technically impressive movies of this decade so far. Seeing the performances he brought out of those on-screen and off, it would not surprise me if we saw this man's name on the Best Director oscar shortlist at the end of the year (after all, George Miller made it for Mad Max, which came out at a similar time).

As much as it pains me to say it, The Jungle Book was not flawless. My biggest complaint was the sudden attempt to cater to children with 30 minutes left in the film by including the King Louie "Be Like You" jam. It broke the tone of the film and didn't fit with the story being told, even though the inclusion of "Bear Necessities" felt not only seamless, but appropriate. I also noticed an abundance of bait-and-switch with my emotions. While this may have just been a personal problem, there seemed to be a bit too much of unwelcome tension-building. When warranted, the tension was genuine and paid off. Sadly, it bordered on excessive and occasionally felt uncalled for. Despite these flaws, The Jungle Book is easily the best film that I have seen so far in 2016.

The Jungle Book is a rare film that can somehow win you over for both its visuals and its story. Beautiful to look at and wonderful to experience, The Jungle Book is a tremendously-acted movie helmed by those who have a clear love for filmmaking. Fun, exciting, and intense, The Jungle Book deserves to be appreciated in the theater. I suggest you take advantage of this opportunity while you can.

Rating: 4.5/5

Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016) Movie Review

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Comic book lovers rejoiced upon hearing that two of their favorite heroes, Batman and Superman, would go toe-to-toe on the big screen for the first time ever. Then they sent a public outcry when Ben Affleck was announced as the Caped Crusader. Later, they reversed decision when the universal consensus that Affleck wasn’t too shabby as the billionaire vigilante. In short, the road leading up to viewings of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was a complete roller coaster – just like the movie turned out to be.

READER – BE WARNED: Major spoilers ahead. If you haven’t seen this movie, please skip to the last two paragraphs for a spoiler-free summary.

Following the mess of Man of Steel (no, I’m actually talking about the destruction in the movie, not the public’s perception of the film), Superman/Clark Kent continues to save the day in and around Metropolis while failing to convince much of the world he is there with the truest intentions. Bruce Wayne, of the neighboring city of Gotham, is still mentally recovering from the destruction of his Metropolis tower and the death of his friends and employees. Bruce states that even if there is a 1% chance that the alien is their enemy then he must be destroyed. Meanwhile, Superman looks over the bay to Gotham and frowns upon the brutal lawlessness displayed by Batman.

Enter Lex Luthor. The movie already seems like it’s biting off more than it can chew, but Lex adds a whole new layer to this. In a forced attempt to add as many comic book faces to this film as they can, Lex (played by Jesse Eisenberg) feels like a completely unneeded character, as the eventual BvS fight that takes place could have been written to exist without his encouragement. However, Lex doesn’t like the very idea of Superman, and hopes that with a bit of a push, Batman will figure a way out to take him out. Luthor also kidnaps Superman’s adoptive mother Martha (Diane Lane) as incentive for the Kryptonian to take out the dark knight. Not motive enough for you? Don’t worry – you’re not alone.

I’ll admit – I bought into the initial premise. I enjoyed the establishment of Batman’s world, and his reasoning for resenting Superman made complete sense. I also enjoyed seeing the characters from Man of Steel again, even though Superman’s reaction to the events in the prequel weren’t as post-traumatic as I had expected. Adding to this were what I argue to be great performances in a tightly-edited first hour (despite those questionable dream sequences for both heroes). But then came the conflict that we had all been waiting for. Worth it? Guess again!

The Batman and Superman fight that some people have waited decades to see was a mere 10 or so minutes of Batman and Superman punching each other. Then Superman says his mom’s name and a conveniently-placed Lois Lane explains the meaning behind it. 20 minutes later, one of the heroes refers to his recent foe as a friend.

This brings us into the Doomsday fight. While fun to watch and arguably well-constructed, it did come off as a generic superhero movie fight finale. The differentiator was Wonder Woman, who admittedly added a lot to that scene. However, her potential seemed squandered. Without much development of this one character, what should’ve been the face that stole the show seemed more like an underdeveloped cameo that we whose full potential we were robbed of. Gal Gadot delivered in her minimal time and promises to offer much to the DC Comics Extended Universe (DCEU for short), but it saddens me to say that the movie and its script did not do her justice.

And here’s where the movie lost me (again – spoiler warning). I absolutely hate that this movie involved the death of Superman. The fact that they actually went through with this was one thing – we’ve seen Superman die plenty of times in movies and TV shows. But – as expected – he always comes back, and everyone knows he will come back again this time. This time, he didn’t. To go through with the funeral, newspaper headlines, and sorrowful friends and family until the very last frame was a step too far, since his return to the DCEU is inevitable. By not only killing Superman, but going as far as they did with it, it seemed like the filmmakers were milking a cow everyone knew was dry but tried to trick us by dropping fake milk from another hand. You might fool a couple people, but most are smart enough to see right through you. And when you come out and say you pulled a trick, no one’s going to be impressed – they’re just going to be pissed off. When Superman does come back, I won’t be rejoicing, I’ll be contemptuous with the filmmakers for dragging something out in a too-long ending when everyone knew how unnecessary it was. And if for some reason Superman really is dead, it’s an even stupider move by the DCEU.

As much as part of me hates to give this movie a good review, I can’t ignore its plusses. The acting from a cast too big for its own good is tremendous, the film has a very promising start, the Doomsday fight is good, and the movie is well shot and (somewhat undeservingly) ambitious. However, if you want to see Batman and Superman fight on the big screen, you should know that while they do this in the movie it is not done as well as it could have or should have been. A true incentive from both fighters was needed, and while Batman v Superman doesn’t completely waste its potential, it’s sad looking at the good and bad parts of this movie knowing they could have been great.

Side note: I also thought it was hysterical that news anchors were there to tell everyone that even when a building collapses or the entirety of an island is engulfed in flames that the area was uninhabited. I guess moviegoers didn’t take too kindly to the massive destruction in Man of Steel after all.

Rating: 3/5