Reference -
1967 animation "The Jungle Book": 75/100, ★★★★.
Overall, it's a lot better than the 67 version. On the one hand, it is a great visual improvement after the transition from hand-drawn animation to almost full CG production, and on the other hand, the script is changed and perfected. The former has probably been hyped by various media; but for a good movie, it is the latter that is more important.
Like many of Disney's classic animations, the '67 version of "The Forest Prince" is actually very thin and loose. In other words, the 67 version of the story is just a series of popular songs and interesting and lively characters on the basis of sophisticated animation details. Such a script is not too problematic to use in an old animation decades ago, but it is obviously no longer appropriate today.
Of course, just because a script is perfect doesn't mean it's perfect. Its progress in the script is basically synchronized with the public's requirements for mainstream scripts: the theme of the story is clearer, the core contradiction is more prominent, and the character development is more obvious. Problems still exist, for example, some characters represented by Kaa the python are too functional; for example, the theme represented by "law of the jungle" is somewhat deliberate or didactic.
Plus, the climactic bushfire, if the writer/director so desires, could clearly develop a deeper ending—though that's hardly consistent with the overall tone of the film.
After all, the new version of The Jungle Book is still essentially a children's film.
However, although these problems exist, they do not constitute flaws. So a qualified story and a group of characters that are still vivid and interesting, combined with excellent production technology, have made this work a good enough quality.
In terms of specific changes to the content of the story, it is mainly to strengthen the penetration of the tiger Sheri Khan - rationalize its motives for hating Mowgli; increase the role of the wolves and the interaction between the wolves and Mowgli - this point The changes are particularly important, giving Mowgli an emotional basis for his actions; greatly reducing Kaa the python and the herd of elephants - functionalizing the former and deifying the latter. The changes involving Baloo the Brown Bear and Bagheera the Panther are relatively minor.
In addition to the story content, only two songs of the 67 version of the animation remain in the feature film, namely The Bare Necessities by Brown Bear Baru and I Wan'na Be Like You by King Louis the Gorilla. As far as the performance is concerned, it is not as "good" as the 67 version, but the advantage is that it is integrated into the plot in a quite natural way, and the sense of deliberateness has been reduced to a minimum.
In addition to the tribute to the large number of shots in the film, the end of the main film also pays homage to the beginning of the 67th version of the animation, and the end credits after that are also quite interesting.
And a spoiler that is not a spoiler: the ending did not retain the extremely interesting ending of the 67th version of the animation - Mowgli was attracted by the little girl and returned to the human village, but chose to let Mowgli and the brown bear Balu and the black panther Baru. Gila and the wolves continue to live in the jungle. Such a design is obviously leaving room for a sequel.
Off topic: About the sequel to Avatar.
The reason why "Avatar" comes to mind is on the one hand because both take place in a similar rainforest setting, and on the other hand because the sequel to "Avatar" may be released in 2018, but mainly because of the hair effect of the film.
Attentive viewers will notice that in 2009's "Avatar", the creatures on Pandora's planet are hairless. The reason for this setting is obvious: although "Avatar" was a technologically breakthrough work at the time, the huge CG production scale actually limited its pursuit of breakthroughs in hair performance, so it wisely avoided this with the setting .
But Hollywood's progress in hair special effects over the years is well known, and the recent "Zootopia" and "Fantasy Forest" are prominent representatives.
If the sequel to "Avatar" can be released as scheduled, will Cameron, as a filmmaker who has always been a pioneer in technology, will make a breakthrough in hair performance on the basis of integrating into the Pandora biosphere setting system, I personally am very interested.
Of course, the premise is that Kashen will not bounce the ticket again.
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