Forget about your worries and your strife. If you haven’t seen ‘The Jungle Book’ by now, then cancel all of your plans and go see it tonight. 😉

Listen. I have to admit that I was a skeptic when I first heard there would be a live-action remake of ‘The Jungle Book’, but all of that doubt quickly dissipated as I watched the film. The film centers around Mowgli (Neel Sethi), an orphaned human boy (man cub) who is raised by wolves and guided by the black panther, Bagheera and the free-spirited bear, Baloo. Mowgli’s adventure of self-discovery gets complicated when the fearsome tiger, Shere Khan, starts to hunt him, and his animal guardians join together to keep him safe.

‘The Jungle Book’ is a visual masterpiece and is a nice hybrid of Rudyard Kipling’s 1894 children’s book and the Disney 1967 animated classic a lot of us know and love.

The Visuals

The visuals in this movie are breathtaking. The jungle is lush and vibrant, and the animals completely come to life and seem very real. You’d be hard pressed to convince me that those weren’t real animals talking and singing, but the rational part of my brain steps in and reminds me that these are just AMAZING special effects. The great thing about ‘The Jungle Book’ is that while a lot of movies rely too heavily on the special effects and neglect the actual characters/story, this movie excelled in both aspects at the same time.

The Voices

Voices play a critical role in any film, but in an animated film or a film with talking animals, the stakes are even higher. Every voice in the movie was on point from Sir Ben Kingsley and Bill Murray as Bagheera and Baloo, respectively, to Scarlett Johansson as Kaa the snake and Christopher Walken as King Louie. Lupita Nyong’o and Giancarlo Esposito voiced Mowgli’s wolf parents Raksha and Akela. These characters were missing from the original film, and the two of them almost made me weep at one point.

But Idris Elba as Shere Khan? Out-standing.

The Nostalgia

With this being a live-action film, I wasn’t expecting the same song-and-dance aspect like the previous animated movie. But I have to say my heart (along with the hearts of several others) melted a little when Baloo sang “Bare Necessities” and Louie gave a little rendition of “I Wanna Be Like You.”

The film has grossed over $147m in eight days, which is no surprise. It’s a movie that both children and adults can enjoy, and is something we can watch over and over again. This is how a remake should be done!

And if you need more proof…

Nostalgia is captured like you wouldn’t believe in #TheJungleBook pic.twitter.com/AeTznPTQVu

— Black Nerd Problems (@blknrdproblems) April 21, 2016

The Jungle Book was the best movie I’ve seen in a while!!!😍😍

— Jaydon Grant (@JaydonGrant) April 19, 2016

You guys NEED to see #TheJungleBook.

Wow.
I haven’t seen a movie that good in a WHILE.

— Cynthia F. (@cynfinite) April 20, 2016

But this pretty much sums it up

#TheJungleBook was the shiiiiiiiiiiit

— Daniel José Older (@djolder) April 18, 2016

What are your thoughts on the movie? Did it live up to your expectations?

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lupita nyong-o

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