In a word... "Flat." Seeing this remake only left me wanting to see the old cartoon once again. I loved the old cartoon as a kid and can easily recall many details decades later. Conversely, I just saw the new one and it just blends in with a bunch of other fantasy-adventure /superhero / CGI remakes of late.
In general, this remake just felt like it had no soul.
In particular, they didn't develop the characters much. It was obvious the film-makers didn't care about the main characters much so why should we either? I guess the special effects or CGI were impressive, especially the talking animals, but that's been done so much its just not a big deal anymore. They can't base a whole movie on those effects anymore and just touch on a few songs. The singing and music in the old version was so much more developed, energetic and memorable.
The guest voice-overs were good but too recognizable. I kept thinking of Bill Murray talking into a mic instead of watching the fake bear talk. To be fair, Ben Kingsley pulled off the character very smoothly. But why did they make that orangutang so huge? Was he King Kong's lost brother? And voiced by Christopher Walken it really didn't make sense. Jungle animals are already awesome, you don't need to enlarge them or make up new ones.
A high point of the movie was when Mogli helped the elephant baby from the pit. More of this tenderness would have been welcome, which brings me to the next point...
This story was always potentially very violent; we're talking about jungle law here- brutal life and death is always near. But while the old cartoon version separated that violence enough from reality to make it safe and enjoyable for a younger audience, the new one crossed the line. It was too real, in my opinion, for most kids under about 11 or so. True, many kids play violent computer games from earlier ages now, so some would argue they can "handle it", but is that the kind of trend for them you want to support? I would argue the more we desensitize the youth now, the less sensitive they will be later on when they may be taking care of us when we're seniors. Do we want such thoroughly insensitive people running society in the future? So, while yes- it was exciting, I think this production really narrowed their audience down to the preteens (for whom it may be too violent) and the teenagers (for whom it may be too kiddie- you know with the talking animals and all). So sorry Disney, I've so often loved your movies, but not this time.
In general, this remake just felt like it had no soul.
In particular, they didn't develop the characters much. It was obvious the film-makers didn't care about the main characters much so why should we either? I guess the special effects or CGI were impressive, especially the talking animals, but that's been done so much its just not a big deal anymore. They can't base a whole movie on those effects anymore and just touch on a few songs. The singing and music in the old version was so much more developed, energetic and memorable.
The guest voice-overs were good but too recognizable. I kept thinking of Bill Murray talking into a mic instead of watching the fake bear talk. To be fair, Ben Kingsley pulled off the character very smoothly. But why did they make that orangutang so huge? Was he King Kong's lost brother? And voiced by Christopher Walken it really didn't make sense. Jungle animals are already awesome, you don't need to enlarge them or make up new ones.
A high point of the movie was when Mogli helped the elephant baby from the pit. More of this tenderness would have been welcome, which brings me to the next point...
This story was always potentially very violent; we're talking about jungle law here- brutal life and death is always near. But while the old cartoon version separated that violence enough from reality to make it safe and enjoyable for a younger audience, the new one crossed the line. It was too real, in my opinion, for most kids under about 11 or so. True, many kids play violent computer games from earlier ages now, so some would argue they can "handle it", but is that the kind of trend for them you want to support? I would argue the more we desensitize the youth now, the less sensitive they will be later on when they may be taking care of us when we're seniors. Do we want such thoroughly insensitive people running society in the future? So, while yes- it was exciting, I think this production really narrowed their audience down to the preteens (for whom it may be too violent) and the teenagers (for whom it may be too kiddie- you know with the talking animals and all). So sorry Disney, I've so often loved your movies, but not this time.