8 Reasons The Jungle Book Remake Is Better Than The Original Animation

4. The Story Builds Towards Its Concluding Moral

What's so striking about The Jungle Book remake is that it ends on a polar opposite note to the original; instead of giving in to human urges, Mowgli stays with the wolf pack, Baloo and Bagheera (at least for now - a sequel is already in development). While that seems incredibly reductive, revisionist for the sake of leaving the door open for more, it actually fits the film better than the original ending would have.

On a basic level it would have been a cop out. We already saw Mowgli visit the man village when stealing the fire to fight Shere Kahn and he had a severe apprehension to going any deeper, so to let his libido get in the way mere hours later would have felt forced.

But, beyond that, the entire movie was building towards something different, with themes centering on conformity, belonging and individual talents; for his first nine years Mowgli was told to be a wolf and stifle his human tendencies, but over the course of the movie he's taught (both explicitly by Baloo and through dire events) to not hide that part of himself.

The original only really dealt with the belonging aspect and, because the narrative was thinner, the impact it could have on the film's concluding moral was weaker. It was a kids animation, so no real harm there, but that doesn't hide that the 2016 take is superior here.