The Jungle Book Live-Action Trailer Is Visually Astounding, Unnecessarily Gritty

[JaredJones]

The Jungle Book Live-Action Trailer Is Visually Astounding, Unnecessarily Gritty


The first teaser trailer for the live-action Jungle Book will leave you gasping at its awe-inspiring visuals, then smirking at how darn serious it takes itself.

Directed by Jon Favreau (he of Iron Man, Swingers and...ehem...Cowboys and Aliens fame), The Jungle Book won't hit theaters until next year, which means that now is right about time for the teaser trailers to start dropping. And y'all, this might just be the mother of all teaser trailers. Tiger fights! Malick-ian visuals!! The Wall from Game of Thrones!! This live-action take on the Disney classic -- which, calling it "live-action" might be a bit of a stretch, as 99% of the movie appears to be CGI -- packs all of the action into a tight two minutes and then some.

Once the awe of the lush, beautifully-rendered environments wears off, though, you're basically left with the trailer for every superhero origin story film ever, right down to overly-serious narration (this time performed by the way-too-sensually-voiced-for-a-kids-movie Scarlett Johansson), Inception BRAHMMS, and dramatic cuts to black. "Why sssso sssseriousssss?", Johansson's Kaa might as well be saying.

I dunno, maybe I'm alone in thinking a movie about singing orangutans voiced by Louis Prima wasn't meant for the gritty reboot treatment. But it's got at least one thing going for it, and that is that it's not [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110213/] starring Jason Scott Lee. And not to beat a dead horse, but dem visuals doe. Just check out some of the screengrabs I got from this thing.

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Based on Rudyard Kipling's timeless stories and inspired by Disney's classic animated film, "The Jungle Book" is an all-new live-action epic adventure about Mowgli (newcomer Neel Sethi), a man-cub who's been raised by a family of wolves. But Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voice of Idris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat. Urged to abandon the only home he's ever known, Mowgli embarks on a captivating journey of self-discovery, guided by panther-turned-stern mentor Bagheera (voice of Ben Kingsley), and the free-spirited bear Baloo (voice of Bill Murray). Along the way, Mowgli encounters jungle creatures who don't exactly have his best interests at heart, including Kaa (voice of Scarlett Johansson), a python whose seductive voice and gaze hypnotizes the man-cub, and the smooth-talking King Louie (voice of Christopher Walken), who tries to coerce Mowgli into giving up the secret to the elusive and deadly red flower: fire.

The all-star cast also includes Lupita Nyong'o as the voice of the fiercely protective mother wolf Raksha, and Giancarlo Esposito as the voice of wolf pack's alpha male Akela. "The Jungle Book" seamlessly blends live-action with photorealistic CGI animals and environments, using up-to-the-minute technology and storytelling techniques to immerse audiences in an enchanting and lush world. The wild adventure swings into theaters in 3D on April 15, 2016.


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[Ylla]

OK... So Christopher Walken and Bill Murray play animals in a CGI heavy film from the studio that brought us Johnny Deep as Johnny Deep in Pirates of the Caribbean and the guy who made Ironman.
The silliness potential is too damn high, its a shame the trailer looks so bland.
I hope this is just like the first trailer of Antman and the movie turns out to be great.

 

[fix-the-spade]

There's already been a live action Jungle Book.

The Dread Pirate Roberts was the bad guy (he had a glorious mustache) and Kaa drowned and ate him.

It was great! This has big shoes to fill.

 

[Chester Rabbit]

Wait, what? There's another freaking live action Jungle Book movie coming out!?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3xtPQ5Mc88c/VTiUiYJspSI/AAAAAAAAS-c/rF-0oHwlb4A/s1600/but-why.gif

Man, remember how horribly the villains in that movie got murdered by the jungle? ...and that shit was for kids!

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I don't know about you but the trailer looked perfect to me. I did not expect it to look good at all.

 

[Ishigami]

Looks pretty good to me.

 

[cjspyres]

I think this looks potentially amazing! Also, as a person that has read the Jungle Book, that book is pretty damn dark and gritty. I mean, the elephants trampled a tribe of humans to death, because Mowgli got mad!

 

[The Real Sandman]

Not recently have I seen a movie trailer that movie trailered more than a movie trailer typically movie trailers these days. Why must they all cut to black multiple times? Why must all the dialog be ambiguous and dull? Why must all the music use the same deep percussion and choirs?

Might be okay though.

 

[Queen Michael]

This looks pretty damn great, if you ask me.

There's already been a live action Jungle Book.

The Dread Pirate Roberts was the bad guy (he had a glorious mustache) and Kaa drowned and ate him.

It was great! This has big shoes to fill.

Wait, what? There's another freaking live action Jungle Book movie coming out!?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3xtPQ5Mc88c/VTiUiYJspSI/AAAAAAAAS-c/rF-0oHwlb4A/s1600/but-why.gif

Man, remember how horribly the villains in that movie got murdered by the jungle? ...and that shit was for kids!

That movie had no more to do with the Jungle Book than The Lion King did with Hamlet.

Gotta tell you, peeps, this seems like it's going to be pretty damn cool. I just wish they didn't have to pretend that a kid raised in the wild would be so damn fastidious about wearing a loincloth. Not saying I want nekkid kids, just saying I like some realism.

 

[lord canti]

As long as we get Walken singing I want to be like you, I'll be hapy.

 

[Nazulu]

Looks generic as hell, especially when they always try to make it look like an epic with crappy voice acting and/or generic orchestral melody's played over it all. And as usual, the poor lighting sucks the life out of it. Whatever

 

[Michael Dunkerton]

I didn't think anyone else had heard of the 1994 one...But I liked that one! Nothing to do with Jungle Book, but better as a live action Tarzan-in-India that most of the Tarzan movies have been in general.

 

[Leg End]

So, what, we're just pretending this one doesn't exist?

 

[Dwarfman]

One of these days I'll have to pick up Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and give it a read. Loved the Disney adaptation when I was a kid and I've watched the absolutely stunning - and much more serious - 1942 live action version - In technicolor no less!- nominated for four academy awards!

This new version has some big shoes to fill, but I'm a fan of Jon Favreau and his work - Especially Iron Man and Chef! Also Having Bill Murray as Baloo, Ben Kinglsley as Bagheera and Idris Elba as Shere Khan makes me think this is going to be very good!

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Christopher Walken better be King Louis, since he's going to be in this. It's the best choice for him! Plus, they can't make King Louis actually sound like Louis Prima anyways, so they might as well make him sound like Christopher Walken.

One of these days I'll have to pick up Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book and give it a read. Loved the Disney adaptation when I was a kid and I've watched the absolutely stunning - and much more serious - 1942 live action version - In technicolor no less!- nominated for four academy awards!

Spoiler: SPOILER ALERT:

The Book is nearly nothing like the Movie. The Book (or books) are a lot darker and meaner. Mowgli is naked and goes around killing people and animals alike (Most of whom deserve it), Baloo is a wise sage type (not a lovable hippie), and Shere Khan is sort of an outcast (Not a bad ass). You may not enjoy it, but if you really want to, go read it.

 

[Buizel91]

To be honest this looks pretty fucking amazing.

The book was dark and gritty so they are clearly taking ques from the book and not the cartoon, which is cool. Should be interesting to see how this plays out!

Also, Scarlet Johannson sounds fucking terrifying!

 

[Adaephon]

My big question is are they going to do the reversal of bagheera/baloo from the books to the animated movie (in the animated movie Mowgli ran away from the strict bagheera to hang out fun loving baloo, whereas in the book he ran away from strict/boring baloo to hang out with cool bagheera until he came to his senses). Other than that, why are they trying to make a Walken-voiced orangutan look like a menace? Yes apes are strong and could easily kill a boy but still, it's just too goofy to be a threat.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

So, what, we're just pretending this one doesn't exist?

I remember being very scared of that movie as a kid. Lots of grisly deaths as I recall it.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

I'm probably going to see it because it's got that "nostalgia" feeling to it without making me cringe. Nothing in the trailer made me facepalm so that's a big plus in my book. Hopefully it ends up great, or at least enjoyable ... I don't want it to suck especially since the Director of Iron Man is directing this movie too.

Also did they make the Python turn into a female? The voice sounds feminine to be honest.

It's ScarJo.
Kaa was male both in the book and the Disney movie.
Looks like they're making Kaa into a villain again. Shame cause he's an ally in the book.

 

[zerragonoss]

Gotta tell you, peeps, this seems like it's going to be pretty damn cool. I just wish they didn't have to pretend that a kid raised in the wild would be so damn fastidious about wearing a loincloth. Not saying I want nekkid kids, just saying I like some realism.

I may be wrong about this as I have never run through a jungle naked but the idea sounds like a really good way to get random branches and bushes hitting you where you don?t want to be hit. So there could be a quite practical reason he keeps the loin cloth around.