THE JUNGLE BOOK 
Â
Dir: Jon Favreau (PG, 99 mins)Â
Disney continues to lazily plunder its back catalogue with another retread of an animated classic, this time with photo real animals and a star studded voice cast. It can never match the 60s original and whilst upping the spectacle, this tale of Mowgli, the man cub, the only human in a CGI landscape winningly played by Neel Sethi, lacks point. Mowgli has to survive in the jungle with the help of a Ben Kingsley voiced Bagheera and Bill Murray’s Baloo, escaping the dangerous likes of Shere Kahn’s tiger courtesy of Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson’s seductive snake Kaa and Christopher Walken’s Gigantopithecus King Louie. There’s no denying the spectacle, but like the other Disney live action re-imaginings Alice In Wonderland, Maleficent and Cinderella, there seems little point resuscitating Kipling’s story without a definite new take, and the songs of the original are even given a cursory nod. The CGI may be wondrous but this cannot match the Bare Necessities charm of the cartoon.
