The Jungle Book/Alice Through the Looking Glass

Rudyard Kipling’s classic story of a little boy raised in the jungle by so many animals is remade once again in theaters in a correctly wonderful way. Mowgli has a peaceful and happy life with a wolf herd led by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) until the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) comes in the movie, holding an old grudge and a greedy want for revenge.

If you go to the theaters to see a movie that will suck you into a fantasy world of imagination, Jon Favreau’s 2016 remake of “The Jungle Book,” which a lot of people remember from childhood, manages to create that magic. We all know how the story is told. With the panther Bagheera’s (Ben Kingsley) help, Mowgli (Neel Sethi) tries to stay away from Shere Khan. He also bumps into the tricky python Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a giant-sized orangutan with a soul-singer’s baritone named King Louie (Christopher Walken) wanting to get the ‘red flower’ (fire) and don’t forget, Baloo the bear (Bill Murray). These are the main characters, but you’ll also like to see a few new characters in the runtime as well. Everything builds on the likability of the 1967 film, which actually should be seen by all children.

Reagan Gavin Rasquinha said in his review, “While Sethi is of course, the only real person in here, all the animals have a fantastic degree of photorealism. And Sethi’s interaction with the animals throughout the duration of the movie, given that they are CGI, is completely convincing. He combines innocence and warmth with the survival skills and resourcefulness of someone far older.”

While Favreau if faithful to the original, (classic songs like Bare Necessities included, no doubt) he also brings in a few new slight additions as well in order to keep things going. Despite the King Louie scene is one of the many highlights; Kaa’s screen time could have been a little bit more, sadly. On the upside, the performance of the voice cast is amazing. Rasquinha ended his review by saying, “But more than anything, the intricate landscaping, masterful camerawork and environment (actually filmed in Downtown Los Angeles) create a delightfully immersive experience.” Heartwarming and enjoyable, and might be better than the animated movie.

Unfortunately I can’t say that about the 2016 sequel, “Alice Through the Looking Glass.” Lisa Johnson Mandell started her review by saying, “Alice Through the Looking Glass starts out with one of the best, most riveting pirate ship chases I’ve ever seen, promising Alice (Mia Wasikowska) as a amazing heroine on a first rate adventure. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t keep that promise.”

This story is not from any one of Lewis Carroll’s book, but “features characters” from his classic stories. The intelligence, humor and warmth of Carroll’s writing and Tim Burton’s interesting and original charm in Disney’s “Alice in Wonderland” from a few years before and not reflected in this sequel.

Of course, the same actors are back playing the same characters. Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, Anne Hathaway as the White Queen and Matt Lucas as odd but charming Tweedeldee and Tweedledum, and let’s not forget the magical Cheshire Cat, voiced by Stephen Fry. The costumes and makeup are amazing. Also at the very start of “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” we hear the voice of the late Alan Rickman who we dearly miss, which gives the film a certain affection.

The characters’ relationships and conversation are what we found so great, but in “Alice Through the Looking Glass,” the personal stuff quickly is shoved to the side to the action. Alice races, harshly races, through time, which is somewhat a difficult task to understand, because Sasha Baron Cohen actually plays Time. Actually, he’s more of a timekeeper, but his character is not perfectly explained and a sadly missed chance. What’s nice is he’s always up for a chase.

Mandell said, “To give the action some sort of purpose, it seems everyone in Underland is attempting to resolve deep-seated family issues, and most, especially “Hatter’s,” are not fun and whimsical.  In fact, I found Depp’s Mad Hatter to be creepy and puerile rather than compelling and sympathetic.” For this reason, the whole story is very childish, invalid of adults’ huge interest.

However to its favor, if you saw it in 3D, you might have gotten really amazing visuals and production design. Disney’s huge resources are all clearly seen on the screen, and they are breathtaking. Mandell ended her review by saying, “Still, I think Alice Through the Looking Glass just might be Disney’s first flop of the year. It had a meager 27 percent fresh Rotten Tomatoes rating last time I checked, and while it will likely clear $50 million opening Memorial Day weekend, I predict that like the quality of the film, the quality the box-office proceeds will not come close to the Tim Burton original.”

Stay tuned tomorrow for the same sort of pattern I looked at today in “Disney Live-Action Month.”