7.5 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
An orphan boy is raised in the Jungle with the help of a pack of wolves, a bear and a black panther.
Starring: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'oAdventure | 100% |
Family | 89% |
Fantasy | 79% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1
English SDH, French, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
Digital copy
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
When Disney was busily assembling The Jungle Book about fifty years ago, nobody involved -- not the storytellers, not the animators, not the voice actors, not anybody involved in the process -- could have imagined that the film could be made any other way. It couldn't be told any other way, either. The story, based on Author Rudyard Kipling's turn-of-the-century stories in The Jungle Book, is one of high adventure, fraught with danger, set deep in the jungle, and features a boy living with, and escaping from, a number of talking and singing animals. That can only be made in the animation department, assuming the world never sees a true-life Dr. Doolittle (a movie which, coincidentally, released only two months after The Jungle Book). Fast-forward to 2016. Anything is possible on the screen. Even talking and singing animals interacting with real humans and real environments. No, Dr. Doolittle hasn't been found and talked the animals into working on a movie set and taking direction. This is the computer age, the age of digital creation. Director Jon Favreau (Zathura) has made use of that technology and reinvented the beloved Disney animated film in a largely seamless retelling that almost passes for real in most of its moments, that features a flesh-and-bone human boy interacting with the world around him -- talking animals included -- in the latest Disney live-action update that's also a hallmark visual effects film.
Mowgli and Baloo.
The Jungle Book's 1080p transfer delivers in every area of concern. The digitally photographed image, which frequently displays the textural feel of film, presents the resplendent jungle areas with an impressive complexity of detail and realism. Rough terrain -- grassy, muddy, everything in between -- is matched only by the intimacy of the scars, blood, and caked-on dirt on Mowgli's skin. Digital animal fur is frequently and startlingly complex, reacting to the slightest touch, breeze, or movement. Image clarity is superb, as even finer blade grass, leaves, tree trunks, or, later in the movie, structural detailing in Louie's lair are intimately revealing even from afar. Colors are fantastic. The movie's predominance of natural green, which is varied and vibrant, is the highlight. Mowgli's red shorts and blood are well saturated. Some brighter blues on a peacock, fireball orange, and a few other splashes of color yield amazing pronouncement against many earthy backdrops. Nighttime black levels are handsomely deep. The image features no discernible noise or other source flaws. No obvious compression artifacts are present. This is a wonderful presentation from Disney.
The Jungle Book's DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 lossless soundtrack is expectedly brilliant and the perfect aggressive yet nuanced compliment to the film. Ambient effects fill film's beginning. The sounds of the jungle -- buzzing insects, rustling leaves, chirping birds -- merge to shape a beautifully balanced cacophony that engages every channel and saturates the listener in the environment. Score is expansive. Musical clarity is terrific as John Debney's wonderful score plays with immersive stage presence, a wide and natural front end, and a seamlessly integrated, detailed, obvious, but not overwhelming, surround compliment. Subwoofer accompaniment is strong, too, helping create a well defined support element to the score. Action scenes are the unequivocal highlight. Animal stampedes power directly through the stage with prodigious low end engagement and seamless directionality, impressive given the heft and volume. A mudslide around the 25-minute mark brings with it unflinching power, again engaging the bottom end to impressive depth and the effect pushing through the stage with enjoyably punishing movement. That's followed with equally weighty rushing water that all but spills through the speakers. Heavier ambient details impress, notably falling rain that engages every speaker for a full-on soak. It's a shame this moment, and all of the other sonic highlights in the film, were not supported -- made even better -- with a track featuring overhead channels, but even at a more traditional 7.1 layout, this track captures all the effects -- from light chirps to heavy growls -- with unflappable clarity. Perfectly dialed-in dialogue finishes out a perfect track. It's clear and well prioritized with a couple of interesting moments of natural reverberation, one when Mowgli meets Kaa and the other within King Louie's lair.
The Jungle Book contains a making-of, two featurettes, and an audio commentary. A DVD copy of the film and a Disney digital code are
included with
purchase.
Disney's foray into live-action moviemaking has produced its best yet with The Jungle Book, a wonderful retelling and modern updating of the classic and beloved animated film and Kipling story. It's a bit darker, but spiritually it's essentially the same movie. Lovingly crafted from top to bottom, the film is a validation of Disney's new direction with its old favorite classics. The Jungle Book's Blu-ray release comes with more than the bare necessities. Video and audio are at the top of the food chain. The supplemental selection is fine, too. Highly recommended.
2016
2016
Collector's Edition
2016
Gold holiday edition
2016
2016
2016
2015
2015
2018
2014
20th Anniversary
1995
2013
2010
2019
2016
40th Anniversary Edition
1982
Ultimate Collector's Edition
2019
2007
2019
2005
80th Anniversary Edition
1939
2008
2009
2016