A Movie Review: The Jungle Book - 3D Blu Ray

Directed by Jon Favreau, The Jungle Book, a live action remake of the Disney cartoon, sprints across the dark forest of Hollywood blockbusters to greet audiences both young and old. The general public heaped praises on this film. It was a huge success at the box office. This movie hit the cinemas earlier this year, but I missed it because I was not aware of its existence. Luckily, the production company released Jungle Book Blu Ray discs in Australia this past week, and I was able to snatch a copy and view this movie in all of its 3D glory!

It has been a long time since I wrote my last movie review. This is because I simply don't have the time for writing movie reviews anymore. Meanwhile, in 2016, I have yet to see a movie that really impressed me. This does not mean I no longer watch movies. No, watching a movie is still my favorite activity on a Friday night. It is just that these days, Hollywood blockbusters are arriving in waves after waves of superhero movies, and personally I am getting a bit tired of it.

In this regard, the live action version of The Jungle Book really breathed refreshment into the movie market. After watching this movie in 3D, I can say Jungle Book is going to be my favorite movie of this year, and the joys I derived from watching this film compelled me to write a review for it.

Synopsis:

Deep in the heart of the jungle lives a little boy called Mowgli, who dwells among a pack of wolves that raised him since babyhood. Mowgli knows he is not a wolf. He is a man cub. But Mowgli's heart belongs to the jungle because that is where his friends and family are at.

Mowgli leads a cheerful life with his animal friends and wolf family until a savage tiger, Shere Kahn, forced Mowgli to flee from home. In his exile, Mowgli made friend with a free spirited bear called Baloo. Together with his new bear friend, and the panther Bagheera, Mowgli began a journey of self discovery in order to find his place in the jungle.

My thoughts on this movie:

I love this movie!

Not every movie is worth buying on Blu Ray. But if you are only going to buy one Blu Ray movie this year, then I recommend you buy Jungle Book 3D Blu Ray. Yes, in 3D. The Jungle Book is an excellent movie and I think it warrants multiple viewings. Look, studios are releasing a lot of movies in 3D these days. Sometimes 3D conversions are completely unnecessary. However, like Gravity and Avatar, The Jungle Book should be seen in 3D. It deserves to be seen in 3D. I will talk about the 3D effect later. Firstly, let me discuss the plotting, characterizations, and the cinematography of this film.

Jon Favreau is a good director. He directed Iron Man and Chef, and both films are sitting on my list of favorite movies. In The Jungle Book, Favreau stayed faithful to the original book and the Disney cartoon. There are some alterations to the story, but I think these alterations added excitements and energy to Mowgli's adventure and they are good additions. The Jungle Book's storytelling is easy to follow, engaging, and tightly paced. Not a dull moment exists in this movie. From its opening scene until the credit rolls, Jungle Book remained a fast-paced and fun movie. When I was watching The Jungle Book, its 106 minutes feature length disappeared as if it was only 10 minutes. This is when you know a movie is good.

The child actor who played Mowgli did a superb job at portraying the role. He acted and looked exactly like the depiction of Mowgli from Kipling's books and the Disney cartoon. Furthermore, the CGI in this movie really impressed me. Most supporting characters in The Jungle Book, are animals. It would have been very difficult to breath personalities into these animals characters, because for all we know, animals can't speak. However, thanks to the modern technology, the film maker was able to portray Mowgli's animal friends and foes, in jaw dropping details. In this movie, it was almost impossible to tell that the animals characters are products of CGI. In short, the team behind the CGI in The Jungle Book deserves a round of applause, because the special effects are stunning. The CGI depicts the animals characters vividly. The portrayals felt real, authentic, and not forced. In summary, the top-notched voice acting, coupled with the stunning CGI, delivered these animal characters in an unforgettable performance.

The Jungle Book is a beautiful movie. Set in the jungle environment, the cinematography is brushed with a strong color of yellow and green. The scenes arrived on the screen like a train of beautiful paintings. The visuals are stunning and the colorful contrasts are striking. For an example, a most visually arresting scene made its way to the screen, when Mowgli and Bagheera were walking in front of a waterfall. I think the waterfall scene was the most visually striking scene in the movie.

A review on the Blu Ray's stats:

Visual:

Next I will talk about the stats for this Blu Ray disc. Firstly, this Blu Ray presents the movie in 1.85:1 aspect ratio. What does this mean? Ok, have you ever noticed that when you are watching a Blu Ray (or a DVD) on your TV, two black bars, one at the top and the other at the bottom, are running across your screen? This is 2.39:1 or 2.40:1 aspect ratio (A.K.A the letter box). A lot of Hollywood action movies are shot in letter box format, because it supposedly provides the audience with a “wider” view of the pictures. In this regard, 1.85:1 aspect ratio means those two black bars do no exist on the screen. In other words, a movie presenting its pictures in 1.85:1 aspect ratio will fill the whole TV screen. 1.85:1 ratio works brilliantly for The Jungle Book, the pictures are lush, detailed, and the color contrast is crisp and sharp. The Jungle Book Blu Ray is a demo worthy disc, it is the kind of disc you would show your friends and family in order to convince them to upgrade from DVD to Blu Ray.

Audio:

So the visuals for this Blu Ray are stunning, but what about the quality of its audio? The Jungle Book Blu Ray brings the sound of the wild forest into your living room with Dolby 7.1 surround audio. I do not have 7.1 surround sound system, I only have a Sony soundbar. But even on my soundbar, the dialogues are crisp and clear, and the sound effect is magnificent and impressive. When the movie's iconic scene finally arrived, with Mowgli and Baloo singing my favorite soundtrack, “The Bare Necessities”, I couldn't help but sing along, loudly and happily, in my living room as well! I wonder if my neighbor thought I was having a karaoke night instead of a movie night!

3D:

I am saving the best for the last – the discussion on the 3D effects of this Blu Ray. I mentioned earlier, it is worth getting this movie on a 3D Blu Ray disc. Hollywood have produced legions of post-converted 3D movies. Sadly, about 60% of the time, the 3D effects are lame and useless (Yes, I am staring at you, Civil War!). But The Jungle Book... seeing this movie in 3D is a whole new experience. This movie deserves to be seen in 3D and I am basing my recommendation after examining the 4 pillars of 3D cinematography. These are: 1) Before the screen, 2) Behind the screen, 3) Brightness, and 4) Ghosting.

Let me begin by talking about “Before the screen” effects of Jungle Book 3D. What is “Before the screen”? This is when objects appear to pop out/protrude from the TV screen. I don't know about you, but I love it when things pop out from the screen during a 3D movie. Some people say pop out shots are gimmicky, but I love the pop out effects. In my mind, things protruding from the screen is the hallmark for a 3D movie, isn't it? For whatever reason, directors don't seem to shoot a lot of pop out scenes in 3D cinematography, and Jungle Book is not an exception. This movie only has a handful of pop out scenes. Having said this, in this movie, when objects do appear to pop out from the screen, they look amazing!

Another defining aspect of a 3D movie is its “behind the screen” effect. This effect gives the pictures depth, giving the visuals another dimension as if you can look into the screen. The Jungle Book utilized, masterfully, the behind the screen effect into its 3D cinematography. It blended perfectly into the setting of this movie, which is in the jungle. When I was watching this movie, it felt as if I could stare into the bowels of the deep jungle, the ruined temple, and be thrilled by the labyrinth of tree branches. The Jungle Book 3D mastered its behind the scene effect, and it submerged me in a powerful atmosphere of adventure and mystery.

Putting on a pair of dorky looking goggles put a lot of people off 3D movies. One of the major complaints about 3D googles, is that it dims the pictures. But as I watched more and more 3D Blu Rays, I discovered that a lot of times, the brightness of the picture is determined by the movie's cinematography style. For an example, watching Godzilla 3D Blu Ray at home was like exploring in a dark place where the sun doesn't shine, in a bad way. Why? Because the cinematography of that movie is too dark. When you put on the 3D googles, it just dims the picture's brightness even further. With The Jungle Book 3D, however, you don't have this problem. Most of the movie is set in the day time and the pictures are very bright. Several scenes did take place at night or in a cave, but because the color contrasts are so vibrant, it brighten the pictures as well.

One problem that plagues 3D movies, is an (unwanted) effect called “ghosting”. This happens when the edges of a shape appear blurry, with double lines. For an example, my Godzilla 3D Blu Ray, again, suffers from severe ghosting problem. Ghosting usually appears when a scene features a dark area. At times, ghosting can be reduced by increasing the brightness on your TV screen, or switching the dominant eye on your 3D google from the right eye to the left, or vice versa. I am happy to report that I did not experience any ghosting on The Jungle Book 3D Blu Ray. None! The edges of shapes and characters were sharp and crisp from the beginning of the movie to the end, with crystal clear quality. This Blu Ray is certainly one of the best 3D discs out there on the market.

To buy, or not to buy?

These days, the movie world is flooded with exhaustive waves of super hero movies. It is getting a bit tiring and repetitive. Then The Jungle Book came along. This movie, features a cast of very talented actors and actresses. Then capitalizing on state of the art technology, this movie delivered a refreshing, unforgettable performance using a classic tale. This is a fine tale that explores the intricate relationship between us, homo sapiens, with other creatures who live alongside our species on this beautiful planet. I think this movie is worth watching, multiple times. For those with a 3D TV sitting at home, The Jungle Book 3D Blu Ray deserves a spot in your home cinema collection.