The Jungle Book Review

The Jungle Book is directed by Jon Favreau and stars Neel Sethi with the voices of Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Christopher Walken, Lupita Nyong'o and Scarlett Johansson. After Cinderella and Maleficent, Disney's next live action remake is of their beloved, 1967 classic The Jungle Book. Closely following the story of the original, Mowgli (Sethi) is hunted in the jungle by the fierce tiger Shere Khan (Elba) whilst the panther Bagheera (Kingsley) and the bear Baloo (Murray) try and take him to safety. 

When it comes to films that have groundbreaking CGI and are made to be seen on the biggest screen available, three films spring to mind: Avatar, Life of Pi and Gravity. The Jungle Book is now the fourth film to that list. Entirely shot in a studio in LA, Neel Sethi is the only real thing in the film; the backdrops and setting are green screen whilst the animals didn't even exist at the time of filming, leaving the newcomer to have very little to interact with. Fortunately, Jon Favreau's solid direction manages to draw a compelling performance from the movie's lead and Sethi grounds the 111 minute runtime with some humanity. 

Yet whilst the pacing, voice work and direction are very good, it's the effects that are the best thing. Right from the opening shot the screen bursts into colour and the jungle is fully realised, animals and all. Amongst the terrific shots is a long shot of Mowgli and Bagheera walking in front of a cascading waterfall- the imagery is truly tantalising and photorealistic. 

When it comes to CGI characters, Gollum, Ceasar, the T-1000 and Smaug are immediate connotations of well done, visualised creatures. This film has three astonishing CGI characters- the sleek and wise Bagheera, the comic relief Baloo and Shere Khan. Baloo isn't like the bear from The Revenant in terms of species and personality, but Shere Khan can be compared to another deadly tiger: Richard Parker. Khan is easily the better of the two; his scarred face, impressive voice and is eerily poetic monologue about cuckoo birds make him the year's best onscreen villain (so far) whilst his backstory and ideals do make you relate to his objective, even if the protagonist is at stake. 

Christopher Walken is also superb as King Louie, the singing Gigantopithicus gangster monkey king who delivers one of the two revived songs in the film (Bare Necessities is a massive nostalgic trip) and the entire temple set piece is brilliantly handled, if slightly ridiculous (could a bear climb a near-vertical cliff face if he couldn't climb that honey soaked cliff earlier? I guess as a juxtaposition it works). The films fiery climax is somewhat epic, seeing a panther, a pack of wolves and a bear fight Shere Khan is refreshing as an action sequence and is this year's Indominus v T-Rex and Blue battle. 

There are some negatives but this is only nitpicking- the film could have reached a 120 minute runtime if more of Scarlett Johansson's underused Kaa was added and just a little more of Shere Khan because he is do damn watchable, speaking of which, Disney really need to come up with some more imaginative ways of killing the villian.

Sticking close to the original and honouring the source material, The Jungle Book is a visually jaw dropping experience outfitted with a fierce antagonist and delicate performances amongst the humour and thrills. And the Oscar for Best Visual Effects goes too...

Zootropolis Review

Zootropolis is directed by Rich Moore and Bryon Howard and features the voices of Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba, J.K Simmons, Tommy Chong and Octavia Spencer. The 55th Walt Disney animation, Zootropolis revolves around Judy Hopps, a rabbit (obviously) who joins the police force of the great city Zootropolis where all species of animal live in a sprawling, multi-regional utopia. Judy ends up teaming up with fox con artist Nick Wilde to solve a missing animal case which leads to something bigger. 

This beautifully animated movie is another tremendous addition to the Disney Classics collection; it is fresh and original and also brings a lot of topical themes with it. Goodwin and Bateman give terrific vocal performances, the former being contagiously excited and occasionally cocky whilst Bateman oozes charm and sleekness as the fox; a character who could probably talk you into doing just about anything. Idris Elba also gives a booming turn as Chief Bogo, the buffalo police chief. 

The narrative starts with Judy living her dream as she becomes a police officer, but only to be reduced as a ticket warden. However an encounter with Nick kick starts the plot as Judy is assigned to find a missing otter. Using Nick's knowledge of the city, the two uncover a plot to turn the predators of Zootropolis back into ferocious, savage beasts with killer instincts. This leads to a strong relationship between the two leads and their double act is the driving part of the film; they start by constantly trying to get under the other's skin and annoy them but end up having spectacular chemistry, overcoming the prejudice of foxes being the same. 

Prejudice is but one theme this film explores, others include stereotyping (here depicted by Judy and Nick as one goes against the stereotype whilst the other is largely stereotypical for the duration of the film), police bias and the fragility of peace which begins to fracture. Not many animated films can boast such timely metaphors as this and not many can say they combine these metaphors with a clever and witty script (the sloth scene is an absolute highlight) and endlessly watchable characters. 

Zootropolis is this year's Inside Out, an entertaining kids flick but with a deeper message for the adults to grasp and a trove of Easter eggs awaiting to be discovered during your next re watch. Forget Frozen, this is surely the best Disney feature since The Lion King. 

Huntsman: Winter's War Review

Huntsman Winter's War is directed by Cedric Nicolas-Troyan and is the sequel to 2012's Snow White and the Huntsman. It stars Chris Hemsworth, Jessica Chastain, Emily Blunt, Nick Frost, Rob Brydon, Sheridan Smith and Charlize Theron. The film is similar to 300 Rise of an Empire in which fairly large parts are set before and after the film's predecessor. Before the events of the first film, Eric (Hemsworth) and Sara (Chastain) are Huntsmen who fight for Ice Queen Freya (Blunt), the sister of Queen Ravenna (Theron), who seeks to obtain the  Magic Mirror. However, Eric and Sara are exiled and search for the Mirror to get to it before Freya.

Another way in which this film is similar to Rise of an Empire is that it is unnecessary and perhaps a year or two overdue. Whilst it certainly wasn't needed, there are some aspects in this that make it a little better than Snow White and the Huntsmen, namely the sharper comedy and crisper effects. Rob Brydon and Nick Frost are two side kick dwarves to Eric and serve as the film's main reserve of comic relief with Sheridan Smith's never-before-seen-in-film female dwarf adding some quick witted retorts to their numerous arguments as well. The comedy is also balanced out appropriately and the film is relatively well paced with a distinct visual style (the director worked as the visual effects supervisor on Snow White and the Huntsman) that is brought to life by some half decent 3D.

Yet the film comes off as more of a spoof than any sort of continuation. There are dozens of moments which feel like they've been taken from a variety of fantasy films; the Ice Queen with family troubles echoes Frozen; the large polar bear as a mount and frozen characters bring to mind The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; Sara is a cross between Katniss, Tauriel and Merida from Brave (but with a much more questionable Scottish accent); the influence of Lord of the Rings is also noticed (even if the film does massively change the appearance of what we think as goblins) and Chris Hemsworth just seems to be playing Thor more often than not, even if it is a charming performance. The story is predictable whilst the script seems relatively unpolished for the rather stunning cast to really get their teeth into, though Charlize Theron manages to make some of it seem more natural than forced.

Huntsman: Winter's War is an overdue, forgettable fantasy film that feels too reliant on previous franchises to really take off and become something more, but there are a few moments that entertain amongst all the ice.