The Jungle Book (2016) REVIEW

So here we are again with another Disney live action remake of one of their classic animations.
Directed by Jon Favreau, the movie was created using a huge amount of CGI, with one main actor - 13 year old Neil Sethi playing young 'man cub' Mogli. When Mogli was very young he was discovered by the majestic Bagera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) and he was taken in by a wolf pack as one of their own. This story revolves around trouble the family stumble into when ferocious tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba) decides Mogli must be removed as he is becoming a man which means he will soon be dangerous...Mogli deciding to prevent anymore fighting, decides to head back to the 'man village', but will it be as easy as that?
Along his way he meets Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray) who teaches him about the finer things in life and also King Louie (Christopher Walken) who wants Mogli to provide him with the key to making fire - he may not be as harmless as he was in original film.
Firstly, setting into this film it baffled me how almost everything was created via a computer. The special effects should be applauded, every inch of the jungle vibrancy and texture.
The voice actors as you'd expect, are excellent, they all bring their own strengths too them. Baloo is hilarious, and Shere Khan is pretty scary for a PG film! The young actor who plays Mogli was very up and down for me. He had moments where he portrayed emotions well. However at other points, it felt false - you could simply tell he was talking to a green screen. Favreau expected ALOT from this kid - and overall he did a decent enough good job.
The plot itself does feel slow at times, however when it ramps up. the action parts have a feel of real intensity. The pacing could have been better. Other key characters are under used like Akela and Kaa.
Either way, the film was very involving and despite the 'artificial' way this was created, it felt like a real, lived in jungle coming to life before your eyes. Kids and adults alike will enjoy this. Overall it was fun and a good homage to the previous film.