The Jungle Book

The Jungle Book is one of those stories that people of all ages have grown up with, whether it's the books, the original 1967 Disney animated movie or any of the other movie versions that have been released since. The latest version has come along at a time when making a live action version is possible without relying on unpredictable trained animals (like they did in the 90s.) And while there's a lot of good in this movie, there's also a lot of bad.

Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is a young boy who has grown up in the jungle. He was found by the black panther Bagheer (Sir Ben Kingsley) and raised by the wolf Raksha (Lupita Nyong'o). During a peacetime period brought on by drought, Mowgli comes under the attention of the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba), who threatens the entire jungle unless Mowgli is turned over to him. Mowgli realises that the best thing for him to do is find his true place in the world and go to the man-village where he was originally from. Along the way, he comes across the snake Kaa (Scarlett Johannson), befriends Baloo the bear (Bill Murray) and angers King Louie (Christopher Walken).

The original Disney animated movie was very much targeted toward kids, no doubt about it. This one, I'm not so sure. Yes, the plot is pretty basic and doesn't need too much attention to follow it, but it is a really intense movie. Every time Mowgli found himself in a dangerous situation, I couldn't help but get caught up in the moment, so I can't imagine how terrifying some of it must have been for kids under ten. The way the world is presented to us is pretty ingenious. Everything seems out of proportion and way bigger than it would be in real life. That's because we're seeing the world through the eyes of a ten year old. Of course elephants will seem like the biggest things in the world. While we're on the topic of the animals, I have to mention how fantastic the visual effects are. So much research must have gone into how each individual animal species moves, because when you see them, you almost forget that they aren't even there with Neel Sethi, yet he reacts amazingly to them.

While all this is great, there are still problems. I felt like some of the characters were only included in the film because the filmmakers felt obliged to put them in there rather than serving any plot points. For me Kaa was the big one. She only appears briefly (basically all her part is in the trailer) and all we want to see from that character is the crazy eyes. The other one is King Louie. I find his character particularly problematic. He doesn't appear in any of the original books, but rather was created for the Disney animated movie. In 1967, I'm sure it was okay to have a parody of a black jazz musician in your movie, but when you've got a very obvious Christopher Walken doing a very obvious impression of a black person (blackvoice?), it goes a bit far. I know Christopher Walken loves to sing, but does he need to? That leads into the next problem. This isn't a musical like the old one, so why shoehorn in two songs. "Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You" were the most popular songs from the original sure, but I found that breaking up the action with these songs just pointless.

Overall, the voice cast is pretty solid. Idris Elba and Ben Kingsley are amazing. Elba has a rather menacing voice as it is, but when it's coming from a tiger, well that's just terrifying. Kingsley is such a talented voice actor that you end up paying more attention to his character than the voice. And that's a problem that sticks out with the rest of the characters. The cast is so well known that they become removed from the parts they play. This is most noticeable with Bill Murray who seemed to be playing more of a version of himself than Baloo.

The Jungle Book is hanging in a weird limbo for me. I wouldn't say I particularly enjoyed it, but I wasn't bored. There was always something that was intriguing for me on screen and at times that distracted me from what was going on with the story. I also couldn't help noticing that this movie took some beats from The Lion King, which was a huge distraction.

Chef

Writer director Jon Favreau (Iron Man, Elf) has made a really fun movie about following your dreams. It is extremely uplifting and you'll finish watching it feeling good about your life. You'll also be extremely hungry. Painfully hungry, in fact. It also tackles soft issues like responsible uses of social media, family and, most importantly, how to seduce people with food.

The driving force in the story is that head chef Carl Casper (Favreau) has been introduced to Twitter by his 10-year-old son, Percy. After an unfavourable review by food blogger Ramsey Michel (Oliver Platt), Casper engages in an online feud which culminates in an unflattering confrontation that goes viral and ruins Casper's career.

Supported by his family, Casper goes to Miami with his ex-wife Inez (Sofia Vergara) to help take care of Percy. There, Inez puts Casper in touch with Marvin (Robert Downey Jr.), her other ex-husband. Marvin gives Casper an old taco truck that he can use as a food truck. Casper calls Martin (John Leguizamo), his old friend, to come help him. Once they fix it up, Casper, Percy and Martin drive back to Los Angeles, selling food along the way.

And that brings me to the food. There is so much food in this movie that it gets it's own montages (that's right, food montages). And there isn't just one style of food in this movie, there's lots. There's fine dining at restaurant food, food truck food, food cooked at home, food as a substitute for foreplay, all the food. And it's shot in such a way that it dominates the screen.

Verdict: A tortuous movie if you're hungry and an uplifting film if you're down. People with the munchies beware.

Iron Man 3

It's taken three movies but I think I finally see the appeal of Tony Stark. His abrasiveness and bluntness add to his charm. Over the course of the last two Iron Man movies (and that massive Avengers flick), I have to come to love the man in the Iron mask.

In this first post-Avengers movie, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering from PTSD caused by the events that happened in New York. He spends most of his days tinkering with his many Iron Man suits with the help of his robotic assistant Jarvis (Paul Bettany). Stark's girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is running Stark Industries. And Stark's best friend Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), AKA War Machine AKA Iron Patriot, is working for the US Government.

In recent weeks, attacks by a shadowy terrorist known as the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) have been ramping up in their intensity. Pepper Potts is in talks with Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a scientist who was once ignored by Tony, about some new biotechnology he has engineered.

The shit hits the fan when an attack by the Mandarin hits Tony's old bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Tony reacts to this attack by saying that he is going to take revenge on the Mandarin and even goes so far as to give him his home address (via the means of good old fashioned media). The Mandarin responds in turn by attacking Stark's cliffside mansion.

Tony's suit breaks down and decides to fly across the country. He wakes up in Tennessee and finds refuge with a young boy who helps repair his suit. Once this is done, he teams up with Rhodey to take the Mandarin out.

I think what I enjoyed so much about this film is the fact that it wasn't directed by Jon Favreau (not that he's a bad director). Shane Black brings some fresh ideas and they definitely show through his directorial style.

Ever since I saw 2002's Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, I have always had faith in RDJ. He brings lightness to roles that would otherwise be quite depressing (because let's face it, Tony Stark is Bruce Wayne or vice versa). As I said earlier, Tony Stark is quite blunt and has no qualms about driving off and leaving a kid in the cold snow.

I have found that putting Ben Kingsley in a movie is great marketing (that this film doesn't really need), but he has only ever played a handful of dramatic roles. This is one of those borderline roles and once you see the film, you will agree that he is a fantastic actor. I have always been a fan of Guy Pearce (one of the first films I ever saw being made had him in it). In this movie, his devious Aldrich does whatever he wants to get his way.

Of course the most important element of these Marvel films is the stunning visuals. The seen where Tony's mansion is falling into the see is fantastic to look at and the climax of the film is even better.

Verdict: A fantastically entertaining superhero romp that is better than the last two Iron Man films combined. Lots of hilarious dialogue between RDJ and Paul Bettany.

Identity Thief

It occurs to me that Jason can only play two characters; Jason Bateman and Michael Bluth. While it may seem that they are two different characters, they aren't that far removed. In this movie, he is definitely playing Jason Bateman.

The plot of this movie is simple enough. Sandy Patterson (Jason Bateman) has his identity stolen by an overweight Florida resident (Melissa McCarthy). Sandy has just become a senior VP at a new financial firm when he discovers the bad news. The police inform him that they can do nothing about it, as it is outside their jurisdiction. Sandy hatches a plan in which he will coerce the other Sandy to confess her crime to his boss Daniel (John Cho). So off he goes to Florida, only to discover that he must drive back to Denver with his detainee.

So what seems like a simple road trip movie is slightly complicated by the fact that the other Sandy (real name Diana) is being followed by both a bounty hunter and two drug dealers controlled by a mysterious prisoner (Jonathan Banks). I found that these characters added an extra layer to the film that was not really needed, but didn't detract from the main storyline too much.

It seems that Seth Gordon has just taken Bateman's character from his last film Horrible Bosses and just put him in a new situation. The jokes in the film aren't hysterically funny, but they aren't unfunny either.

Jason Bateman's character Sandy is a kind of hapless sort who falls into the situation that causes him all this grief very easily. His role here is very much as a straight man to McCarthy, with lots of jokes at his expense about his feminine name. I feel as though Melissa McCarthy is quite up to the standard that she has been in the past. I found the funniest jokes from her were the ones where she tries to sing.

There were a few good cameos from Jon Favreau, Eric Stonestreet and Jonathan Banks (of Breaking Bad fame, fans of that character will recognise him instantly), but all these characters stories never got resolved and it would have been good just to have a round up of them in the closing credits.

Verdict: It's a bit of gamble seeing this movie. You could find McCarthy's antics hilarious or grating. It works well as a road trip movie, but Todd Philips has done better.