The Jungle Book

Reviews

r96sk
Very good. I wasn't sure what to expect from this 1994 version of <em>'The Jungle Book'</em>, though I'm pleased to say it exceeded my expectations. It's a very different telling of Rudyard Kipling's work from what I've previously seen, which actually gives it a fresher feel. If we're comparing film adaptations, the 2016 remake is the better film. I still thoroughly enjoyed this one though. I liked the switch-up of events, while the death scenes are excellent. Cast-wise it's strong, with Jason Scott Lee (Mowgli), Cary Elwes (William), Lena Headey (Katherine), Sam Neill (Geoffrey) and John Cleese (Julius) all appearing. Lee and Elwes are the standouts, but I rate all five of them. The score is mostly alright, but some moments of it are superb; one part in particular reminded me, somewhat randomly, of television's <em>'The Crown'</em>. There are a few things that I can understand being deemed as downsides, those include the silent animals (voices wouldn't have worked here, imo) and obvious nature of the plot. Pleasant film, one of the best adaptations of TJB that I've seen.

Wuchak
_**Mowgli Jones of the Jungle**_ From 1887 to the turn of the century a boy is raised by wolves in the jungles of India where Shere Khan the tiger dwells and threatens. With assistance from Baloo the bear and Bagheera the black panther, Mowgli (Jason Scott Lee) learns the "Law of the Jungle” before going back to civilization and learning the strange ways and corruptions of humanity, as well as love. Sam Neill, Lena Headey, Cary Elwes and John Cleese are on hand. "The Jungle Book" (1994) mixes the sweet innocence of Rudyard Kipling's fables with “Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan” (1984) and Indiana Jones. Don’t expect talking animals as this is a relatively realistic adventure with some cute animal reactions, but not overdone. While I prefer “Greystoke” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” it’s at least on par with “Temple of Doom” and “The Last Crusade.” It needed more human interest to keep the attention of adults, but has enough I reckon. Some people have complained that Jason Scott Lee was miscast, but it’s assumed Mowgli’s mother (whom we never see and died when he was born) was of Asian descent. Keep in mind that, geographically, Southeast Asia is right around the corner from the Indian subcontinent, not to mention Nepal/China to the north, and so mixed marriages weren’t exactly unheard of. Meanwhile Lee himself is a mix of Polynesian & Chinese blood. For the movie, making Mowgli part-Asian made him an outsider to both the British and the Indians, which works for me. The beautiful Lena Headey does well in her role while Elwes is effective as the odious Brit snob. Lee, of course, kicks total axx while the live-action animals and spectacular locations are worth the price of admission. The film runs 1 hour, 51 minutes, and was shot in Jodhpur in northwestern India (scenes featuring monkeys and elephants), as well as Bombay (Mowgli's urban interaction scenes), Tennessee (Fall Creek Falls & Ozone Falls) and South Carolina (Fripp Island & nearby Beaufort). GRADE: B/B-
Movie Recommendation
- Lassie1994-07-22On their way to start a new life at a sheep farm in rural Virginia, the Turner family are halted by a wreck on the highway that has claimed the life of a truck driver. Spotting the trucker's now-abandoned collie on the side of the road, they take pity on the dog and adopt her. As the city family copes with the change to rural life, including a feud with a neighboring farm family who resent the city interlopers, the ever-loyal Lassie helps them adjust to their new surroundings.More...
- Mister Twister: Class of Fun2012-10-03Casey is a student teacher who gets his very first placement in class 5b. He is not sure how to teach yet, but thankfully the children are more than willing to help him.More...
- Ustica: The Missing Paper2016-03-31On the evening of June 27, 1980, a DC9 of the private airline Itavia disappeared from radar screens without sending any emergency signal. The aircraft, stabilized in cruise at 7.600 meters above sea level, sank into the Tyrrhenian Trench, between Ponza and Ustica. 81 people lost their lives, including 14 children. There are three hypotheses about the disaster, but none has ever been proven, until the analysis of the findings and documentary material reveals a fourth, chilling possible cause of the disaster.More...
- The Jungle Book: Mowgli's Story1998-09-28Told from Mowgli's point of view, it's the story of how a boy became a mancub and a mancub became a man.More...
- In a Dark Place2006-07-21The disturbed arts teacher, Anna Veigh, is hired by Mr. Laing as a governess to raise Flora and her brother Miles. Anna believes that the ghosts of the former governess, Miss Jessel, and housekeeper, Peter Quint, are in the property haunting the children, and she decides to help them to face the spirits and get their souls free.More...
- The Island at the Top of the World1974-12-16A Victorian gentleman hopes to find his long-lost son, who vanished while searching for a mysterious Viking community in a volcanic valley somewhere in uncharted Arctic regions. The gentleman puts together an expedition team to go on the search, but when they reach their destination they must escape from some Viking descendants who will kill to keep their existence a secret.More...
- Prêt-à-Porter1994-12-23During Paris Fashion Week, models, designers and industry hot shots gather to work, mingle, argue and try to seduce one another.More...
- All About the Benjamins2002-03-08Bounty hunter Bucum Jackson teams with the small-time con artist, Reggie Wright, that he is pursuing, in an attempt to locate a missing stash of diamonds and a lottery ticket worth millions of dollars. Bucum and Reggie find themselves in a race to the finish as they embark on an unlikely partnership that should -- when all is said and done -- prove beneficial to them both.More...
- Tom and Huck1995-12-22A mischievous young boy, Tom Sawyer, witnesses a murder by the deadly Injun Joe. Tom becomes friends with Huckleberry Finn, a boy with no future and no family. Tom has to choose between honoring a friendship or honoring an oath because the town alcoholic is accused of the murder. Tom and Huck go through several adventures trying to retrieve evidence.More...
- Way Out West1937-04-16Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.More...
- The Next Karate Kid1994-07-18Mr. Miyagi decides to take Julie, a troubled teenager, under his wing after he learns that she blames herself for her parents' demise and struggles to adjust with her grandmother and fellow pupils.More...
- There's No Religion Anymore2016-12-07Set on the small island of Porto Buio, the traditional live Christmas Nativity scene might not go ahead because the baby who’s always played Jesus has grown up and no new babies have been born on the island in years! With this fundamental tradition on the line, newly elected Mayor Cecco (Claudio Bisio) wants to ask the local Tunisian community to “borrow” one of their children, but there’s conflict between the two communities. Cecco enlists the help of local Islam convert Bilal (Alessandro Gassman) to cross the cultural divide… but both communities are not sure what to make of a baby Jesus that may need his nationality, and even his religion changed!More...
- Femme Fatale2002-04-30A $10-million diamond rip-off, a stolen identity, a new life married to a diplomat. Laure Ash has risked big, won big. But then a tabloid shutterbug snaps her picture in Paris, and suddenly, enemies from Laure's secret past know who and where she is. And they all want their share of the diamond heist. Or her life. Or both.More...
- Radiofreccia1998-10-16April 24, 1993: it's the last broadcast of Radiofreccia, an independent radio station closing after 18 years, barely one minute before coming of age. Bruno, one of its founders, begins to tell its story, the story of a group of friends—especially troubled Freccia's—and a period of their youth in their small hometown.More...
- Curly Sue1991-10-25Bill is a penniless drifter who scams strangers out of just enough money to feed himself and his partner in crime, an orphan girl known as Curly Sue. Bill and Curly Sue target Grey, a yuppie lawyer, but their con takes an unexpected turn when the successful woman begins to like the ramshackle duo. But there's one problem—Grey's jealous, conniving boyfriend, Walker.More...
- The Clan2015-08-13In Argentina, between 1982 and 1985, the Puccios, a well-established family of San Isidro, an upper-class suburb of Buenos Aires, kidnap several people and hold them as hostages for a ransom.More...
- It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown1966-10-27Join the Peanuts gang for a timeless adventure as Charlie Brown preps for a party, Snoopy sets his sights on the Red Baron, and Linus patiently awaits a pumpkin patch miracle.More...
- The Cave2005-08-26After a group of biologists discovers a huge network of unexplored caves in Romania and, believing it to be an undisturbed eco-system that has produced a new species, they hire the best American team of underwater cave explorers in the world. While exploring deeper into the underwater caves, a rockslide blocks their exit, and they soon discover a larger carnivorous creature has added them to its food chain.More...
- The Jungle Book1967-10-18The boy Mowgli makes his way to the man-village with Bagheera, the wise panther. Along the way he meets jazzy King Louie, the hypnotic snake Kaa and the lovable, happy-go-lucky bear Baloo, who teaches Mowgli "The Bare Necessities" of life and the true meaning of friendship.More...
- The Jungle Book 22003-02-07Mowgli has been living in the man-village with his little stepbrother Ranjan and his best friend Shanti. But the man-cub still has that jungle rhythm in his heart, and he misses his old buddies Baloo and Bagheera. When Mowgli wanders back to the wild for some swingin' fun, he soon finds the man-eating tiger Shere Khan is lurking in the shadows and planning his revenge.More...
Similar Movies
The Wild Child
1970-02-26In 1798, a feral boy is discovered outside the town of Aveyron, France. Diagnosed as mentally impaired, he is relegated to an asylum. A young doctor named Jean Itard becomes convinced that the boy has normal mental capacity, but that his development was hindered by lack of contact with society. He brings the boy home and begins an arduous attempt at education over several years.Nell
1994-12-23In a remote woodland cabin, a small town doctor discovers Nell — a beautiful young hermit woman with many secrets.Maître Pygmalion
1975-07-27Juliette, a young woman of twenty-five, works unsuccessfully as a sales representative. Discouraged, on the point of giving up, Juliette meets Christian, a brilliant and seductive salesman, who offers her to play Pygmalion: he will be the master, she will be the pupil. But the master falls in love with Juliette.Legends of the Fall
1994-12-23In early 20th-century Montana, Col. William Ludlow lives on a ranch in the wilderness with his sons, Alfred, Tristan, and Samuel. Eventually, the unconventional but close-knit family are bound by loyalty, tested by war, and torn apart by love, as told over the course of several decades in this epic saga.Sandokan the Great
1963-11-19After the capture of the Sultan of Muluder, Sandokan, the sultan's son, leads a guerilla army through treacherous jungles to free his father and defeat Queen Victoria's army of invaders.Heart of Darkness
1993-10-01A trading company manager travels up an African river to find a missing outpost head and discovers the depth of evil in humanity's soul.Igby Goes Down
2002-09-13Igby Slocumb, a rebellious and sarcastic 17-year-old boy, is at war with the stifling world of old money privilege he was born into. With a schizophrenic father, a self-absorbed, distant mother, and a shark-like young Republican big brother, Igby figures there must be a better life out there -- and sets about finding it.Shoot to Kill
1988-02-12When a cunning murderer vanishes into the rugged mountains of the Pacific Northwest, pursuing FBI agent Warren Stantin must exchange familiar city streets for unknown wilderness trails. Completely out of his element, Stantin is forced to enlist the aid of expert tracker Jonathan Knox. It's a turbulent yet vital relationship they must maintain in order to survive... and one that becomes increasingly desperate when Knox's girlfriend Sarah becomes the killer's latest hostage!Eaten Alive!
1980-03-19A woman's search for her missing sister leads her to the jungles of New Guinea, where she and an expatriate guide encounter a cult leader and flesh-hungry natives.Cannibal Ferox
1981-04-24Three friends out to disprove cannibalism meet two men on the run who tortured and enslaved a cannibal tribe to find emeralds, and now the tribe is out for revenge.The Thin Red Line
1998-12-23The story of a group of men, an Army Rifle company called C-for-Charlie, who change, suffer, and ultimately make essential discoveries about themselves during the fierce World War II battle of Guadalcanal. It follows their journey, from the surprise of an unopposed landing, through the bloody and exhausting battles that follow, to the ultimate departure of those who survived.Ice Age: Dawn of the ...
2009-06-26Times are changing for Manny the moody mammoth, Sid the motor mouthed sloth and Diego the crafty saber-toothed tiger. Life heats up for our heroes when they meet some new and none-too-friendly neighbors – the mighty dinosaurs.Dersu Uzala
1975-08-02A military explorer meets and befriends a Goldi man in Russia’s unmapped forests. A deep and abiding bond evolves between the two men, one civilized in the usual sense, the other at home in the glacial Siberian woods.Australia
2008-11-18Set in northern Australia before World War II, an English aristocrat who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a stock-man in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape, they experience the bombing of Darwin by Japanese forces firsthand.Tropic Thunder
2008-08-09A group of self-absorbed actors set out to make the most expensive war film ever. After ballooning costs force the studio to cancel the movie, the frustrated director refuses to stop shooting, leading his cast into the jungles of Southeast Asia, where they encounter real bad guys.Open Season
2006-09-27Boog, a domesticated 900lb. Grizzly bear finds himself stranded in the woods 3 days before Open Season. Forced to rely on Elliot, a fast-talking mule deer, the two form an unlikely friendship and must quickly rally other forest animals if they are to form a rag-tag army against the hunters.Sometime in August
2009-02-08Thomas and Hanna, a deliriously happy couple in their late 30s, buy an old house in the country with plans to fix it up over the summer. Hanna is looking forward to their time together – so when Thomas invites his older brother, Friedrich, who is deeply depressed over the failure of both his business and his marriage, to join them, she is disappointed by the intrusion. Easygoing, charming, and talkative, Thomas seeks to counterbalance the cloudier mood with an impetuous frenzy of activity, but Hanna retreats into sullenness and retaliates by bringing in her nubile young godchild Augustine until things smooth themselves out. Augustine’s youthful sexiness has anything but a soothing impact on Thomas, however, whose adolescent impulses linger just below the surface.Surviving with Wolves...
2007-11-21In 1942, the young Jewish girl Misha, her Russian mother Gerusha and her German father Reuven hide from the Germans in a small house in Ardennes, Belgium. Misha is very connected to her mother that advises her that if one day a person comes to her saying "love of my life", she would follow him or her without any question. When her parents are captured by the Nazis, Misha is delivered to a German family and the abusive matriarch gives a bad treatment to the girl. However, she finds support in the family of Ernest and his deranged wife Marthe that supplies groceries to foster family. Misha loves Ernest's dogs and the old man gives a compass to her and tells that her parents have been sent to East to forced labor. When the old couple is denounced for sheltering the girl and arrested by the Germans, Misha flees through the woods heading east. Along her journey seeking out her parents...Winnie the Pooh: Seas...
1999-11-08A collection of Winnie the Pooh's memorable holiday adventures, as Winnie, Piglet, and Tigger set out to find the right ingredients for Winter, Rabbit learns how to manage a complicated Thanksgiving dinner, and everyone gets a special visit from a new friend. Featuring a number of delightful songs for singing along, this video is sure to become a favorite holiday classic.Assholes
2017-03-11Adah and Aaron are recovering addicts who are struggling to stay sober. After meeting in their psychoanalyst’s waiting room, they fall in love, relapse on poppers, and become the biggest assholes in New York City.