Ranking All Of The Live-Action Disney Remakes
2. The Jungle Book
For as long as filmmaking may continue as an art form in this world, there may never be a stroke of genius quite as brilliant as casting Bill Murray as Baloo.
Jon Favreau's live-action remake of Disney's classic The Jungle Book manages to be a great film in its own right. Visually speaking, its a marvel to watch. The digital effects remain ground-breaking, with Favreau's frames maintaining a depth and vividness that is sorely lacking from so many digitally-crafted worlds.
The narrative here is also of note, as Favreau takes elements from Kipling's original novel and incorporates them into the story of the original film. But unlike Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, which spent its entire runtime trying to shove square-shaped objects in round holes, Favreau incorporates these elements delicately and lovingly.
The added backstory of Shere Khan's fear of man's 'red flower' comes straight from Kipling's work and fits organically into the narrative, propelling it forward rather than hampering it.
The cast is also, obviously, of note. Favreau assembled an all-star cast to fill out his digital world including Scarlett Johanson, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken, and the late great Gary Shandling in his final movie role, all giving tremendous performances. Not to mention Neel Sethi as Mowgli, who consistently astonishes, or the aforementioned Bill Murray, who steals the whole film out from under everyone.