The very pretty 'Jungle Book' a little light on content

Neel Seethi as Mowgli and Ben Kingsley's Bagheera in "The Jungle Book." Image courtesy Disney.

The frustrating thing with “The Jungle Book” is how much it teases the audience into being an excellent film instead of the good but underwhelming flick it ends up being. It is more often than not a visually stunning, engaging romp featuring a rather good child actor and some excellent voice work from its cast. And yet the problems arrive with a bang, a result of some dreadful decisions coupled with plotting issues that bog down the final act.

Yet another adaptation of Kipling's eponymous story collection, “The Jungle Book” centers on the adventures of feral child Mowgli (Neel Seethi), a so-called man-cub who lives a simple life with his family of wolves – including den mother Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o) and pack leader Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) – and is watched over by wise panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley). At least, that is, until the day when vicious tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) proclaims his intent to murder the boy, forcing Mowgli to flee along with Bagheera to a human village. Their plans go awry due to tiger-related shenanigans, and poor Mowgli is left alone to fend for himself in unknown territory, surrounded by hypnotic python Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) and little creatures that steal his food. Fortunately he meets lazy bear Baloo (Bill Murray), who teaches the boy to embrace his human side and adopt a more carefree life. Baloo's teachings put Mowgli in a bit of a moral quandary, and it only gets more complicated once he runs into the sizable King Louie (Christopher Walken) and has to face down Shere Khan one last time.

“The Jungle Book” opens with a bang as young Mowgli scampers toward the viewer, escaping some momentarily unseen entity chasing him through the dangerous jungle. It's a terrific start to the film, hinting at Mowgli's ingenuity and cleverness while showing how he's both embraced and shunted a bit from his adopted family. The film at its best has a lot of these little details, including a running point in which Mowgli picks up a scar or two during every little adventure. It's a nice touch of verisimilitude for a movie that is fantastic by nature and by effect.

The film remains quite charming to a point, which comes out of the blue when Baloo starts singing “Bare Necessities” from the animated film. It’s a distracting moment that unleashes a floodgate of callbacks, lowlighted by a Walken performance of the very racist “I Wanna Be Like You.” That first moment with Baloo singing to himself unleashes a flood of flaws that dampen the viewing experience. The songs hinder the narrative flow, creating a rather rushed third act that also drains much of the film’s dramatic agency, a problem capped by a weak, puzzling and ultimately lazy finale. There’s also the insertion of a secondary revenge motivation involving Mowgli’s father, which highlights “The Jungle Book’s” major problem; writer Justin Marks’ disorganized script.

And yet the whole of “The Jungle Book” is just good enough to outweigh the weaker parts and is helped along greatly by Seethi, who performs more like a child then an actor, especially given that he acts alongside CGI creatures in a fake jungle. And the voice actors inhabiting those ersatz creatures are first rate. Elba is perfectly cruel and blasé as Khan, while Johansson plays a major part in providing what is the film’s best sequence; she has a knack for controlling her voice in a manner both alluring, sweet and subtly terrifying. Even Murray seems to be having a little fun as Baloo, who enters the film is a way Bill Murray enters people’s lives in real life.

Considering how much goes right with it, it’s still difficult not to consider the film at least something of a letdown though. Its flashes of brilliance – even the problematic third act has one really terrific visual moment – are enough to dream of what could have been for director Jon Favreau. Perhaps he and Marks were forced to shoehorn in the music numbers (although it wouldn’t explain why one song returns as an orchestral during a chase sequence) and add in the silly “Star Wars” inspired subplot, making for a more inspired film than what’s left. All that’s left to analyze though is what Favreau and company ultimately delivered; a very good but flawed film that comes very close to being exceptional.

Review: Four out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 105 minutes

Genre: Adventure

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Target audience: Families with kids old enough to handle a little intensity. Speaking of which...

Take the whole family?: There's way too much going on kinetically and a couple of scary scenes that will turn off kids younger than 5.

Theater or Netflix?: Theater should be OK, but don't pay for the 3D if you have more than a child or two with you.

How racist is this?: Not as bad as it could be given the involvement of Disney and Rudyard Kipling. The main issue is the resurrection of “I Wanna Be Like You,” which in is a song about racial inferiority and efforts to become more “civilized.” It's one of many reasons Disney would have been better served excising the songs from this version.

Watch this as well?: Disney's first crack at Rudyard Kipling's short story collection has its charms, along with a heavy undertone of racism that makes it a little difficult to watch these days. Also flash back to one of those old “Tarzan” films Johnny Weissmuller; considering the Tarzan character is based on Mowgli, it brings things full circle.

'Zootopia' is deceptively cute

Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) and Flash (Raymond Persi) reenact the typical DMV experience in "Zootopia." Image courtesy Disney.

“Zootopia” is one of those films that starts off on a very good note and just continues to build from there. In this case, it’s an opening sequence that provides useful exposition in a unique and credible manner and establishes the personality of its main character, a bunny named Judy Hopps.  Hopps, depicted in the opening as a child but voiced later by Ginnifer Goodwin, is shown as an inventive, optimistic, smart, melodramatic and resourceful rabbit willing to stand up for what she thinks is right no matter what the consequences may be. Viewers learn all of that within five minutes, and the important attributes of the little bunny (and female role model) that eventually can are built upon from there.

That little tidbit is isn’t the most important reason to enjoy this fun and clever little flick, but it does showcase the very good filmmaking behind “Zootopia” and puts faith in the audience that the filmmakers can handle the topic they are about to address. This film is about racism, a topic that is difficult to discuss or even write about because of its complexities, yet one the filmmakers handle with grace and a gentle hand. “Zootopia” tackles this issue head on and hammers the message home with the help of some good character buildings and oodles of humor that – to cop a phrase from another Disney film – helps the medicine go down.

Back to Goodwin's little Judy Hopps, who starts off as a rabbit living in a small town with her farming family (her parents are voiced by Bonnie Hunt and Don Lake) but dreams of becoming a police officer. Her goal is an ambitious one – no rabbit has ever served as a police officer because rabbits are small and seen as meek – but she finishes at the top of her class at the police academy and is assigned to work at a station in the heart of the titular city, Zootopia. Hopps imagines Zootopia as a place where animals from all backgrounds come together and thrive; the reality is a messy city where major conflict lies just under the surface. Even her dream job is a letdown, as her boss, Chief Bogo, (Idris Elba) assigns her to be a meter maid and dole out tickets as the rest of the department searches for more than a dozen citizens gone missing. She soon finds herself assigned to the case of a missing otter at the behest of assistant mayor Bellweather (Jenny Slate) and enlists the help of con artist fox Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) in the search. The investigation takes them all over the city's vast terrain and into a complicated conspiracy that puts the future of Zootopia in jeopardy.

At its heart, “Zootopia” is a film about racism. It’s a movie that outlines the dangers of racial stereotypes, explains how easy it is for people to succumb to and be manipulated by preconceived notions of other people (or animals in this case). That’s the funny thing about the world depicted within the city of Zootopia, a place Hopps initially imagines as a Utopia but a place that keeps it together out of necessity. So while a giraffe and a tiger might mingle on a bus, an elephant can and will deny service to a fox like Nick Wilde because of blatant racism, and a leopard can get demoted because of his perceived nature. Those are big notes to hit, the easy kind that when left in isolation create pablum like Academy Award winning picture “Crash,” yet “Zootopia goes for institutional racism – Hopps’ storyline is rooted in that issue – and even casual racism that pops up in quotidian situations. The fact that “Zootopia” takes a minute to discuss the use of certain words and outlines the problems of, say, touching people’s hair is rather impressive and much more nuanced than other films that tackle race like the one mentioned earlier.  

“Zootopia” presents all of this in a brightly colored and very hilarious package that limits the onslaught of animal-related cultural puns that cheapen the experience and opts instead to craft some subtly spectacular jokes. That sloth sequence shown in the trailer plays just as well in the theater – that slow-building smile is terrific – and “Zootopia” complements that with pratfalls, sight gags, clever word play, pop culture references and a few killer punchlines to form a rather fun time at the cinema. At least until the third act, which sees the film drag a little as its burdened by a complex yet easy to figure out plot. Then again, neither problem is a fatal flaw for a film targeted at children, and “Zootopia” does so much right (how many films successfully tackle race and feminism?) it earns a little forgiveness for those flaws. It’s easy enough to rail against kid-centered films like the loathsome “Norm of the North” that represent everything wrong with children’s entertainment; “Zootopia” on the other hand, is an example of what the genre can be at its best.

Review: Four and a half out of Five Stars

Click here to see the trailer.

Rating: PG

Run time: 108 minutes (One hour and 48 minutes)

Genre: Animation

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Target audience: Families and people interested in anthropomorphism.

Take the whole family?: Kids old enough to attend a movie screening without automatically bursting into histrionics will find this film very entertaining.

Theater or Netflix?: Take the kids to the theater for a fun day out; just avoid paying for the unnecessary 3D or IMAX options.

How many pop culture references are there?: Not quite as many as one would find in a “Shrek” film, but “Zootopia” does have its fair share. Some, like a “Godfather” reference or one about Adele, are a little easy, but they're balanced by a rather fun “Breaking Bad” shout out and a subtle reference to the great Christmas special “Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas.” Most importantly, the humor works without needing to know what is being referenced.

Watch this as well?: Anything within Disney's recent run – “Wreck-It Ralph” is my favorite – makes for a solid companion to this one. Add to that another little family film that deals with racism in spectacularly clever way while maintaining a strong sense of humor, “Paddington.”