The Jungle Book

***The Jungle Book*** is a 2016 American adventure drama film directed and produced by Jon Favreau who also voiced Jerome the brown bear in Zookeeper, written by Justin Marks and produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Based on Rudyard Kipling's eponymous collective works, the film is a live-action talking animal

## The Jungle Book

### Starring

Bill MurrayBen KingsleyIdris ElbaScarlett Johansson

### Budget

$175 million

/CGI remake of Walt Disney's 1967 animated film of the same name. Neel Sethi plays Mowgli, an orphaned human boy who, guided by his animal guardians, sets out on a journey of self-discovery while evading the threatening Shere Khan. The film includes voice and motion capture performances from Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken.

Favreau, Marks, and producer Brigham Taylor developed the film's story as a balance between Disney's animated adaptation and Kipling's original works, borrowing elements from both into the film. Principal photography commenced in 2014, with filming taking place entirely in Los Angeles. The film required extensive use of computer-generated imagery to portray the animals and settings.

*The Jungle Book* was released in the United States in Disney Digital 3D, RealD 3D, IMAX 3D, D-Box, and premium large formats, on April 15, 2016. It grossed $966 million worldwide, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016. The film won accolades for achievements in visual effects at the 89th Academy Awards, 22nd Critics' Choice Awards, and 70th British Academy Film Awards. The Rotten Tomatoes critical consensus describes it "as lovely to behold as it is engrossing to watch". A sequel is in development, with Marks as the screenwriter, and Favreau returning as director and as a producer.

## Plot

In the jungles of India, Mowgli is a child raised by the wolf Raksha and her pack, led by Akela, in an Indian jungle ever since he was brought to them as an infant by the black panther Bagheera. Bagheera trains Mowgli to learn the ways of the wolves, but the boy faces certain challenges and falls behind his wolf siblings, while Akela objects to him using human "tricks", like building tools, instead of learning the ways of the pack.

One day, during the dry season, the jungle animals gather to drink the water that remains as part of a truce during a drought that enables the jungle's wildlife to drink without fear of their predators. The truce is disrupted when a fire-scarred and vicious tiger named Shere Khan arrives, detecting Mowgli's scent in the crowd. Consumed by a vendetta against humans for scarring him with fire, he threatens to kill Mowgli at the end of the drought. After the drought ends, the wolves debate whether or not they should keep Mowgli. Mowgli decides to leave the jungle for the safety of his pack. Bagheera volunteers to guide him to the nearby "man-village".

En route, Shere Khan ambushes them, but Mowgli manages to escape amidst a buffalo stampede. Later, Mowgli meets an enormous python named Kaa, who hypnotizes him. While under her influence, Mowgli sees a vision of his father being killed by Shere Khan while protecting him. Kaa attempts to devour Mowgli, but she is attacked by a bear named Baloo who rescues the unconscious Mowgli. Mowgli later awakens and retrieves some difficult-to-access honey for Baloo as repayment, with the two bonding in the process. Mowgli agrees to stay with Baloo until the winter season arrives. Meanwhile, upon learning that Mowgli has left the jungle, Shere Khan kills Akela and threatens the pack to lure Mowgli out.

Bagheera eventually finds Mowgli and Baloo and is shocked that Mowgli has not joined the humans as he had agreed, but Baloo calms him down and persuades both of them to sleep on it. During the night, Mowgli finds a herd of elephants gathered around a ditch and uses vines to save their baby. Although Baloo and Bagheera are impressed, Baloo realizes that he cannot guarantee Mowgli's safety after learning that he is being hunted by Shere Khan. Baloo agrees to push Mowgli away to get him to continue onward to the man village.

Mowgli is kidnapped by a gang of monkeys known as the "Bandar-log", who present him to their leader, a deranged gigantopithecus named King Louie. Assuming that all humans can make "the red flower" (fire), King Louie offers Mowgli protection from Shere Khan in exchange for it. Baloo distracts King Louie while Bagheera tries to sneak Mowgli out, but their ruse is uncovered. As King Louie chases Mowgli through his temple, he informs Mowgli of Akela's death, but Mowgli doesn't believe him. King Louie's rampage eventually causes his temple to collapse on top of him. Bagheera and Baloo confess the truth to Mowgli about Akela.

Furious that Baloo and Bagheera neglected to tell him about Akela's death, Mowgli goes to confront Shere Khan. He steals a lit torch from the man village and heads back to the jungle, accidentally starting a wildfire in the process. He confronts Shere Khan, who claims that Mowgli has made himself the enemy of the jungle by causing the wildfire. Seeing the wolves' fear of him, Mowgli throws the torch into a river in rage, restoring their trust in him. Baloo, Bagheera, and the wolf pack hold off Shere Khan when he attacks, giving Mowgli enough time to flee into the burning jungle. Shere Khan defeats all of them single-handedly and goes after Mowgli, who lures Shere Khan up a dead tree and onto a branch, which breaks under the tiger's weight, and Shere Khan falls into the fire to his death. Mowgli then directs the elephants to divert the river and put out the fire.

In the aftermath, Raksha becomes the new leader of the wolf pack. Mowgli decides to utilize his equipment and tricks for his own use, calling with Baloo, and Bagheera.

## Cast

Neel Sethi, the actor who portrayed Mowgli

* Neel Sethi as Mowgli: A young boy who was raised by wolves. The search for casting Mowgli was extensive, with thousands of children auditioning from the United States, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Canada. Eventually, newcomer Neel Sethi was confirmed for the role, with casting director Rebecca Williams describing him as embodying "the heart, humor, and daring of the character. He's warm and accessible, yet also has an intelligence well beyond his years and impressed us all with his ability to hold his own in any situation". Sethi underwent parkour training in preparation for the role.
	+ Kendrick Reyes as toddler Mowgli.
* Ritesh Rajan as Mowgli's father.

### Voice cast

* Bill Murray as Baloo: A bear, referred to by Bagheera as a sloth bear, who encounters and befriends Mowgli. Favreau had Murray in mind to voice Baloo since the beginning of the project. “He’s perfect", says the director. “Bill just exudes all the charm and humor that you need and expect from Baloo. He has a certain dryness and a rebellious quality”. He had also always wanted to work with Murray, having been a huge fan of his work, though he was aware of how hard it is to contact him. Fortunately for Favreau, he was able to get a hold of Murray, and he agreed to come on board, with Favreau going on to comment that “Once he came aboard, he was incredibly passionate. He has a very high standard”. “I just couldn’t say no to playing Baloo", says Murray. “Jon [Favreau] is a terrific storyteller and I’m such a huge fan of the original stories. Kipling wrote a lot of amazing stuff. I read that book when I was about 22 and I’ve always thought that it was just extraordinary writing".
* Ben Kingsley as Bagheera: A black panther who is Mowgli's mentor and protector. Favreau said that Kingsley "brought this elegance and refinement to the character, yet with great firmness. He's an interesting dude with crazy range". Kingsley said that Bagheera's "role in Mowgli's life is to educate, to protect and to guide". Kingsley said that "[Bagheera] is instantly recognizable by the way he talks, how he acts and what his ethical code is", and stated that "Rudyard Kipling’s stories of Mowgli’s adventures with these extraordinary, beautifully defined characters introduce many around the world to the Indian subcontinent and its culture" through he felt that both the film and the book's story was ultimately about Mowgli's search for a family. "There are many wonderful stories that are based on the struggle of an orphan to find a family—to create a family around him, which is a very poignant part of Jon Favreau’s version of the film. It will have its beautiful, thrilling, exciting, joyous moments of celebration. But must also quite rightly have its darker moments, because we’re dealing with a very isolated child who triumphs over enormous odds".
* Idris Elba as Shere Khan: A fearsome, scarred Bengal tiger with a blinded left eye who wishes to kill Mowgli. Favreau felt that Elba's voice "wields tremendous presence in a room", and that "[Elba]'s got such gravity and brings his steely presence, a deep timbre that echoes in a larger-than-life way. He understands this scarred, imposing tiger in a way the character demands". Elba said that "Shere Khan reigns with fear. He terrorizes everyone he encounters because he comes from a place of fear". Elba was highly impressed with the film's effects, stating that "[w]hen Jon [Favreau] showed [Elba] Shere Khan's expressions and how he moves, [he] had to ask, ‘Is that a real tiger?’ The technology is incredible".
* Lupita Nyong'o as Raksha: A female Indian wolf who is Mowgli's adoptive mother. Favreau and Marks decided to give the character of Raksha a more predominant role in the film similar to Kipling's original tales. Favreau chose Nyong’o because he believed her voice imbued the emotion required for the role, commenting "Lupita has tremendous depth of emotion in her performance. There's an emotional underpinning she brings, and a strength, and we wanted that for this surrogate mother. Much of that comes from her voice". Along with saying that she was a fan of the original Disney animated film, Nyong’o also commented, “I really enjoyed preparing for this and learning about wolves and how social they are, how they stick together", continues Nyong’o. “There’s such an order—a hierarchy to a wolf pack. Mowgli tries to fit in with the other wolf pups. He has his challenges, but he is very much a part of the pack as far as Raksha is concerned".
* Scarlett Johansson as Kaa: A gigantic Indian python. Favreau decided to cast Johansson, a recurrent collaborator of Favreau's, to play Kaa, originally a male character, as he felt the original film was "a little too male-oriented". On Kaa's role in the film, Favreau said that "Mowgli is exploring different regions of the jungle—mistier, darker, more mysterious parts of the jungle. That’s where Kaa lives. That’s where she gets ahold of him—till Baloo rescues him and brings him back to his cave". Johansson said that "For [her], the opportunity to play Kaa as envisioned by Jon [Favreau] was so exciting", and described Kaa as "the mirror into Mowgli’s past".
* Giancarlo Esposito as Akela: A male Indian wolf who leads the pack. Producer Brigham Taylor praised Esposito, claiming that "Giancarlo is an esteemed actor who absolutely embodies the nature of the character". Along with commenting that he's a fan of both the animated film and Kipling's books, Giancarlo described his character as “...a fierce patriarch of the wolf pack. He believes that the strength of the pack lies in what each and every wolf offers. He knows if they stick together, they can survive. He’s a great leader, a wise teacher. I aspire to be like him”.
* Christopher Walken as King Louie: A Gigantopithecus who rules the Bandar-log. Favreau decided to change King Louie from an orangutan to a Gigantopithecus due to the fact that orangutans are not native to India, where the story takes place, although modern humans and Gigantopithecus never coincided: however, he gives the animal a very similar appearance to a Bornean orangutan, contrary to evidence about Gigantopithecus. His character was given a slight alteration from the 1967 film and was partly inspired by Marlon Brando's character Colonel Kurtz in *Apocalypse Now*, as well as incorporating Walken's own physical mannerisms. In regards to Louie's changes, Favreau stated, "We created this looming figure that was trying to extract the secret of fire from Mowgli. And also this gave Mowgli the idea that if he had fire, he could have power over Shere Khan, whether it was good or bad. So there was *Lord of the Rings* aspect to that; the fire was almost like the ring in that was going to give someone ultimate power, but corrupt them as well as create destruction".
* Garry Shandling as Ikki, an Indian crested porcupine that collects things and is the first to notice the emergence of the Peace Rock. Ikki was not featured in the original film. This would prove to be Shandling's final role, as he died of a pulmonary embolism prior to the film's release.
* Brighton Rose as Grey Brother, an Indian wolf pup who is the youngest of Mowgli's adoptive siblings.
* Jon Favreau as Fred, a Pygmy hog who is one of Baloo's neighbors. A character not featured in the original film.
* Sam Raimi as an Indian giant squirrel who is one of Baloo's neighbors.
* Russell Peters as Rocky, an Indian rhinoceros. This character was originally meant to appear in the 1967 film where he would've been voiced by Frank Fontaine, but Walt Disney scrapped the character.
* Madeleine Favreau as Raquel, an Indian rhinoceros who is Rocky's daughter.
* Sara Arrington as a Nilgai.

Emjay Anthony, Max Favreau, Chloe Hechter, Asher Blinkoff, Knox Gagnon, Sasha Schrieber, and Kai Schrieber voice the young wolves.

Dee Bradley Baker, Artie Esposito, Sean Johnson, and Allan Trautman provide additional animal voices.

### Filming and visual effects

Principal photography took place entirely on sound stages at L.A. Center Studios in downtown Los Angeles. The animal characters were created entirely in computer animation, with the assistance of footage of real animal movement, the actors recording their lines, and performance capture for reference. The production team underwent a thorough process to realistically convey the animals' speaking, while still making them perceptually believable to the audience. Favreau researched earlier films featuring anthropomorphic animals, including Walt Disney's animated features, such as *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* and *Bambi*, as well as modern films such as *Babe* and adopted certain techniques from those films into *The Jungle Book*. Nearly 70 separate species of animals native to India are featured in the film, with several species being portrayed as "150% larger" than their actual counterparts.

Jim Henson's Creature Shop was brought in to provide animal puppet figures for Sethi to act against, although none appear in the finished film. The animal puppets were performed by Artie Esposito, Sean Johnson, Allan Trautman, and April Warren. Favreau utilized motion capture with certain actors, expressing a desire to avoid overusing the technology in order to prevent evoking an uncanny valley effect. For instance, Bill Murray's lifted eyebrow was incorporated into Baloo's facial gestures.

The Moving Picture Company (MPC) and Weta Digital created the film's visual effects. MPC developed new software for animating muscular structure in the animals. Around 1,000 remote jungle locations in India were photographed and used as a reference in post-production. Weta was responsible for animating the King Louie sequence, with visual effects supervisor Keith Miller adding that, "It was important for Jon to see Christopher Walken in the creature. So we took some of the distinctive Walken facial features—iconic lines, wrinkles and folds—and integrated them into the animated character". Favreau expressed desire in wanting the film's 3D shots to imbue the abilities of the multiplane camera system utilized in Disney's earlier animated films. At Favreau's behest, the idea was extended into the film's version of the Walt Disney Pictures opening production logo, which was recreated as "a hand-painted, cel-animated multi-plane logo" in homage to the animated films of that era, also incorporating the word "Presents" in the same font as the 1967 film's opening credits. The film's ending also features the original physical book that opened the 1967 film.

## Release

Jon Favreau at the premiere of *The Jungle Book* in Sydney, Australia

The film was originally scheduled for October 9, 2015, but the film's release date was later postponed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures to April 15, 2016. The film was released in the Dolby Vision format in Dolby Cinema in the United States, and is the first film to be released in Dolby Vision 3D (in a few select theaters in New York City and Chicago). *The Jungle Book* held its world premiere at the El Capitan Theatre on April 4, 2016.

### Home media and television

The film was released digitally on August 9, 2016, and on DVD and Blu-ray on August 16 (August 22 in the UK). A 3D Blu-ray was said to be coming by the end of the year. The film topped the NPD VideoScan overall disc sales chart for two consecutive weeks. In the United States, the DVD and Blu-ray releases sold 2,027,137 units by December 2016 and have grossed $46 million as of August 2018. It is available on Disney+ as of June 19, 2020. The film had its network television premiere on TBS on May 31, 2018.