Disney has had a new habit with creating sweeping and grand live-action adaptations of classic property cartoons. Although some of these attempts have been less than stellar, Disney as a whole seems to be ready to make these adaptations a fairly regular occurrence. The latest of these Disney live-action adaptations is the upcoming CGI romp The Jungle Book. Disney has just released a new TV spot advertising the new film. Check it out below.
Overall, The Jungle Book is shaping up to be a pretty epic adaptation of the classic Disney story. Let’s break down exactly what we’re being shown in this new TV spot.
The most exciting aspect of this new trailer is arguably the closing audio that is playing underneath the final shot. This audio was a lovely call back to the original 1967 Disney cartoon. If you listen closely to the melody being whistled, you’ll realize that it is the melody from one of the most famous songs from the original, "Bare Necessities". This jaunty tune was originally sung by Baloo, voiced by the late Phil Harris, who tries to teach Mowgli to be more carefree and take both the good and bad parts of life as they come.
Of course, the new Jungle Book seems tonally opposite to the 1967 version. In addition to the use of live-action and CGI effects to bring the animals to life, it overall feels like a very dark reboot. Of course, this isn’t the first time a reboot would go for a darker tone than the source material. Luckily for us, there is still a strong cast of comedians who will be voicing the various animals. Bill Murray will be playing Baloo, and Christopher Walken’s signature voice will be given to the character of King Louie.
If you watch any footage from the original Jungle Book you will see how starkly different each movie’s narrative seems to be. This new trailer also focuses much more on Mowgli’s backstory. We are shown a shot of a younger Mowgli, and the narration focuses on the perspective of Bagheera. Bagheera is traditionally Mowgli’s guardian, and it appears that this relationship will be fleshed out in the live-action adaptation. Additionally, the voice talent of Sir Ben Kingsley will surely give both an endearing performance, as well as the use of lovely diction.
Then again, it is a Disney movie so there is sure to be a fair amount of comedy mixed in as well. While the majority of the marketing material thus far has been both morose and visually stunning, I’m sure we’re going to be seeing more footage as The Jungle Book gets closer to release.
The Jungle Book will run, fly, and slither into theaters on April 15th, 2016.
