Fantastic! Take your kids to see this one for sure. Absolutely gorgeous animation and a worthwhile reboot that brought something new to the experience while staying true to what made the original great. Very tough balance, but Favreau did it.
The only reason the Affirmative Action ratings have points is because after watching the movie, I watched the voice actors. A good chunk of the main characters are "people of color." But you would have never known it was the case since everyone has an animal avatar. There were no sassy black stereotypes or victim narratives, just charming British accents with baritone vocal chords. And of course, it makes perfect sense for the main character to be Indian due to the setting of the movie and its original character. Both SJWs and rightwingers can be pleased with the casting choices on this one.
The parts where the film deviated from the Disney cartoon, were perfect. My memories from the Disney classic are vague, but there are enough easter egg references to give you that nostalgic feel. Plus, we've never had the technology to allow for the anthropomorphic equilibrium on display here. All of the tiniest mannerisms mimicked the zoo on point; it was only the facial features that gave them the human touch necessary to get invested emotionally.
Bill Murray and Christopher Watkins' characters couldn't have been casted better, and made things a bit more multidimensional, so the adult viewers could stay engaged. Which was easy throughout, because there was definitely a darker feel to this film – apparently staying truer to the original 1894 book by Kipling than the Disney counterpart. No wonder this was an impressive film! Worth seeing even if you have no youngins.
The motifs are ambiguous enough to leave it up to the viewer's interpretation. No strong propaganda, aside from the usual "man is destroying nature" dynamic we see time and time again. Which is why I gave it a smidgen of "Anti-Patriotism" in the ratings. Just another cliché "noble savage" message. But this was done tastefully and could even be argued to have been in defense of man, rather than nature. Without giving any spoilers, the other strong themes emphasized were:
1.) respect tradition to keep social cohesion
2.) recognize your differences, accept the weaknesses and strengths alike
3.) with great power comes great responsibility
Again, this could be because it was following Kipling's plot moreso, but I didn't sense any subtle liberal undertones. This movie could even spark a great convo with your kids about nationalism and multiculturalism from a realistic perspective.
My take on the biggest moral of the story:
One other thing to take note of: the infamous Scarlett Johansson has a cameo in this film. It's brief, so even if you really hate her for all her stupid political activism, she's easily ignored. Not worth boycotting, IMHO. Check it out, and pay for it, if you'd like!
