What an amazing movie. This movie lacks a lot of media attention probably because of its subject. Chess doesn't get a lot of attention these days because a lot of people find it boring. Calling this movie boring would be the biggest lie of 2015 though.
It is one of the best performances, if not the best, from Tobey Maguire I have seen so far. And he has a phenomenal adversary in Liev Schreiber. The movie did not get very creative in its story, but chose a more literal setup from the actual events. This makes for a straight on drama movie without any melodramatic or emotional depth exaggerating the facts, but that is certainly for the best.
It's funny how the actor called Finn does not play the part of Finn in this film. :P
All kidding aside, this was a highly addictive film that surprised me a lot. When I jumped in I expected a bad plot based on outrages decision making and nonsense. And even though there are still points of critique in that matter left, overall this does not affect the film in a way it aggravates the viewer.
The plot setup is basic but not clichéd, and from there on it uses every scene carefully to set up a plot with some unexpected twists. You can see the creators jumped in this project and seemingly were dedicated to what they were creating. Since (almost) every scene has it's value and is worked out very detailed (IMDB only has 1 goof on the movie so far. Yes it is an indie movie, so it won't have as much engagement as others, but still.)
Any plot that has to do with time travel and the like is hard to set up without having paradoxes, and there are few films who manage to handle them correctly. This one isn't perfect, but it does a nice job in keeping them very limited.
The first thing that got me thrilled was the music used in the movie. I am already a big fan of electronic music, but it is hard to use in film since it is more often than not disruptive in its presence. Not here, it balances some hard-trance scenes with more subtle spheric suspension building sounds. It backs the claustrophobic experience of the small set, and magnifies the surrealism of science fiction in a sublime way.
As the film progresses you get sucked in more and more into the story, especially after the 2nd act where the character development of the main persona is getting really interesting. This 3rd part of the film is by far the best part, with the biggest twists and captivating ordeals the characters have to face. I won't say much about the ending to prevent spoilers, but it left me hungry for a sequel, which will most likely never come. I am still not sure if that feeling was a good or bad thing.
I will be rating it at a 7(+) for now, but I am going to watch it a second time, because it is definitely worth it.
The 3h sit was a long one. Even though it wasn't the movie I was expecting it did not feel like a waste of time at all.
Even with a 3h film, there are still questions left to be answered. The movies maintains a slow pace overall, but fast forwards a few times to not make the movie too boring. This results in some characters getting rushed out of the story, and some not having much impact. The ending is implied as well, but I am very happy with it and wouldn't suggest changing it. It is most of all a coming of age story with some slice-of-life elements, and it is way too easy to fall for the clichés hiding in those genres. And they hardly did.
They could've sacrificed some unnecessary (long) scenes, but I doubt it would be the same film without them. It gives the movie a unique pace in which you don't really want them to hury up with the story, and just 'live in the now' with Adele (not particularly refering to the sex scenes.)
Besides the long and graphic sex scenes, which this movie will probably and sadly be most rememberd for, there are a multitude of shots and transitions that really hit me. The acting is of a very high quality too. They even threw in a lot of philosophy but were smart to make the main character not care for it (or understand it.) This prevents a pretentiousness without losing such material.
After all a very intriguing movie.
This was an interesting and good movie, but it could have been a masterpiece.
The thing that kept it from becoming that was mainly the story line and build up.
The biggest plot twist (and imho the biggest climax of the movie) happens way too early, and it makes the endgame feel like an outro rather than the moment you have been waiting for the whole movie.
From the moment the big plot twist is revealed, the movie gets very predictable.
The acting, setting, visuals, potential, music are all pretty much top notch, but in the end it was the writing that will probably put this movie in 'Oblivion' itself.
Oh I am so gonna miss Bill Murray when he is gone. But for now we can still enjoy his amazing performances on screen!
I do wish Chris O'Dowd had some more screentime. I could possibly enjoy a whole movie about that teacher character.
Great work of sci-fi, lacks a bit of an original plottwist or story development. But maybe I am too harsh on it since it is already over 15 years old. It does show a very realistic image of a genetically enginered future, with discrimination in a new form. The hero needs to beat the odds.
I'm not a big fan of War movies, but this one was pretty interesting.
And don't forget to watch the other part, the American view: 'Flags of our Fathers'
'Raya and the Last Dragon' is a story that mirrors reality and some of the problems we face currently. It brings a positive story about coming together in a time of turmoil and polarization, in the face of a (not so subtle real world metaphor) imminent threat. With the best technical visuals an animated movie can probably bring us today, likeable characters and a good balance between serious and lighter tones, this is a perfect movie to watch with your kids or just alone on a big screen.
'Raya and the Last Dragon' is once again a new frontier in (3D) animated film. The absolutely stunning animation is rich in color and with a lot of attention to detail. The lightning, water, facial expressions and movements are of a level rarely seen before. Disney once again proves to be at the utmost forefront of technical capabilities in (3D) animated film.
One of the most noticeable issues in the movie is the editing. Pacing and tone are never actually bad, but events happen fairly quickly one after another, which makes the journey not feel like much of a challenge to overcome. There are also some tonal issues between moments when the dragon is on screen, and the main characters conflict. Considering the primary focus group for Disney is kids, this is not something I would call as too problematic.
The cutting is too fast for my taste though. A bit more time to be able appreciate the beautiful shots of landscapes or other scenes would have been nice. And where the editing mostly starts to fall apart is when fast paced scenes (like fighting scenes) happen. The cutting is too often and too fast, which can trigger a feeling of dizziness at times.
Again, as a movie primarily aimed at kids, I do not expect depths to the likes of 'Mulholland Drive', 'Se7en' or even 'Spirited Away', so the following is not a major complaint. The characters are decent, sometimes original, and well rounded, world building is done well (although I personally thought the exposition could have been a bit better integrated) and the dialogue does not feel forced and has a good flow.
At the end of the movie I do feel the characters and story are a bit lacking in depth. I think that even without making the characters or story more complicated, this could have been improved by giving a but more time for the characters (and viewer) to grasp the situation they are in. To let them contemplate the situation, and give them some time to breath.
Because of the clear message the movie is giving off, the story is fairly predictable. And even while the message of trust can be a bit in your face at times, this does not detract of the enjoyment I had while watching.
With beautiful animation, good world building, a nice sounding score and rather original characters and the general fast pace, this is a movie that is a feast to watch (especially with kids.) The decent but predictable story is good enough to carry it's message properly, without it getting annoying. Overall 'Raya and the Last Dragon' is a good new addition to the Disney animated movie collection.
Enjoyable movie that does not overstays it's welcome.
I recognized the story while watching (maybe I saw the National Geographic episode that was dedicated to this, or through some YouTube channel) and I felt like it was done well without getting too unfaithful to the original story (I have not done my research on this though, so don't take me word on it.)
The aim was clearly to go for a more realistic experience, and try not to overly sensationalize the plot or visuals. And at times the movies leans more toward a (visually more darker) 'The Great Escape' rather than a 'Shawshank Redemption'. Although 'Escape From Pretoria' does not reach the heights of either of those aforementioned prison classics, the movie is worth the watch and can stand on it's own well enough.
PS. I had no issue with the 'Harry Potter effect' that is mentioned in some of the other comments. I think the reason for that might be that it has been a while since I saw any of the HP films, while at the same time I saw several other movies of Radcliffe. To the others I would recommend to try watch him in some of his totally different roles, like the absurd 'Swiss Army Man' and the more recent 'Guns Akimbo'. The humour might be a bit odd, so I can't give any guarantee you like it. Or you can try 'Imperium'. I did not see that one, but it had decent reviews and is a lot more serious.
From Tropic Thunder:
Kirk Lazarus: Everybody knows you never go full retard.
Tugg Speedman: What do you mean?
Kirk Lazarus: Check it out. Dustin Hoffman, 'Rain Man,' look retarded, act retarded, not retarded. Counted toothpicks, cheated cards. Autistic, sho'. Not retarded. You know Tom Hanks, 'Forrest Gump.' Slow, yes. Retarded, maybe. Braces on his legs. But he charmed the pants off Nixon and won a ping-pong competition. That ain't retarded. Peter Sellers, "Being There." Infantile, yes. Retarded, no. You went full retard, man. Never go full retard. You don't buy that? Ask Sean Penn, 2001, "I Am Sam." Remember? Went full retard, went home empty handed...
This is a great movie though.
'Let's Be Cops' a.k.a. New Girl tribute episode to 'The Other Guys' with Nick and Coach.
A pretty fun movie, even though it is written with not enough room left over for the actors to work with for more improvisation (or so it seems.) There are also a lot of scenes that are just not necessary and kinda over the top (the dancing of coach being a perfect example of it) for a movie like this. It makes for a few good smiles, but it also feels a bit forced into the film.
However, Jake and Damon are having a good chemistry on screen since they have been working together for a while with New Girl now, and this makes the movie highly enjoyable. The physical humor especially is worked out great. Adding Rob Riggle (as the backing 2nd 'straight man') makes them stand out even better.
This movie is not it's best in making you laugh out loud with witty comments or crazy jokes, but it definitely makes you light-hearted and kind of happy throughout and after the movie from watching these two 'silly smart guys' save the day.
The worst is the soundtrack of the film though. In the opening scene it is still funny to hear the guilty pleasure song from Backstreet Boys, but soon you'll discover that the whole movie is drenched in bad trap meets hiphop (I expected 'Beez in the trap" during almost every scene xD) and this bothered me a lot. Couldn't they use some more neutral les disturbing tracks if they didn't want to get cliché songs?
Anyway, the movie will not disappoint most of its viewers and even though it won't go to the top of the comedic genre either. It is great for some nice entertainment for (almost) everyone.
This one surprised me positively. I suspected a meager story with some lousy science background, but it turned out to be a story with more depth than I ever suspected.
The characters are very well written, and even some of the smaller side characters (the best friend, uncle D or Rupert) are very interesting and worked out to a detail you don't often see with such characters. Oh, and they are very well translated to the screen by their respective actors too!
I think the performance of Harry Hadden-Paton as Rupert was award worthy, and I enjoyed Bill Nighy a lot too of course, since he is awesome! :P
There is probably not enough material for a series, but I'd wish for some more screentime and background on some of the roles. Especially the sister Kit Kat intrigued me bigtime.
It is a very sentimental movie, but I couldn't really call it a love story. The relation between Mary and Tim was not the main theme of this movie for me. It felt more like the main character was trying to obtain something, but discovered something more important along the way.
By this it holds a philosophic message, but it does not confind that message in a closed subjective or life lesson. It rather sets you up to think about certain aspects of life, and makes you aware of the possibilities and choices you can make. Only to leave the choice to you in the end.
A tense thriller with some great acting, especially up until the final act. It has some interesting and unique scenes but is ultimately undermined by a script that is cutting corners just a bit too much. Still a decent watch.
The 2nd 'Silenzio Bruno!' of 2021 out of a Disney studio. Someone high up at the Disney company must hate someone called Bruno a lot
:laughing:
But great animated film. Music is decent and fun (although nothing legendary because it feels a bit overproduced at times) and animation is fantastic. Original story, and interesting characters. It is a bit rushed over here and there but that's ok.
'The circle' aims high, manages to perform well until about halfway, then it crashes in a rather lackluster and unresolved ending.
I did not know much about this movie before going in, except for it having a stellar cast with Tom Hanks, Emma Watson, Karen Gillan (someone I always like seeing), Bill Paxton and Patton Oswalt. After watching the movie I was very surprised by discovering the utter trash reviews it got from both critics and fans. I can see its flaws, but I do not agree this amount of low-balling is something the movie deserves in my humble opinion.
Warning: Light spoilers ahead. (Heavy spoilers are hidden.)
Let's start at the beginning; Mae (played by Emma Watson) is a 20-something girl living somewhere in the near future in the San Fransisco area. She has a dead-end job at a customer service company, and she isn't happy. Her life goes nowhere, and she feels bad for not being able to help her dad, who suffers from MS. The story kick starts when her friend sets her up for an interview with a high-profile tech company. From this point onwards things start to snowball, and Mae gets pulled deeper and deeper into her work until she becomes like a social media, pop star-like, mascot for the company.
'The circle' follows a conventional third person storytelling with 3 tightly structured acts. It is based on the book with the same name written by Dave Eggers. The story revolves around a fictional company called 'The circle' which is an obvious possible future mirror of Apple, but can also represent Google, Facebook, Samsung, Amazon or other tech giants we know today. The main dilemma is about the discussion of privacy vs. transparency, a question notably relevant in today's world concerning tech companies and public surveillance. It also touches upon the value of friendship, family, self confidence and a late coming-of-age story of a 20-something year old.
The initial set up is done well, but nothing special. We get introduced to the main character her life; her family, most important friends, her first days at 'the circle' and its community. The first signs of trouble arrive when Mae is confronted by not having set up her social media profile at the company after a week of being there. After this the stakes slowly get higher and higher, something that is subtly (but a bit too obviously) paced. The most intriguing thing that the movie does is taking that initial dilemma, and move the line that needs to be crossed slightly further every time. It reminded me a bit of the 1981 film 'The Wave' which was based on a real life experiment by a teacher in Germany. A teacher showed the dangers of populism and fascism by slowly setting a more extreme boundary, so he avoided a 'shock effect' and the people (students) kept following him. The difference is that the jumps are sometimes a bit too big in 'The Circle'. It looks like the movie wants to make you think about the questions it asks its characters more than giving an in-world experience. My guess is that this is why the movie bombed with both critics and audience.
This also goes for the ending; when Mae turns the tables on the bosses of the company (played by Tom Hanks and Patton Oswalt) it is unclear if she wants to continue the direction the company is heading in and even widen it, or is actually out on stopping it but knows it is already too late and the end result will be inevitable at this point. Again I think the movie rather wants to hold up a mirror to our current society and not make a finished product with all the answers. Even though I sympathise with this, it is not executed well enough and the ending might be either too ambiguous or not ambiguous enough with Mae sitting in her kajak surrounded by drones. Could this be a result from her choice? Or was it an inevitable thing?
The actors portraying the main characters are performing ok overall. Nobody really gave a bad performance, but there were no little moments where they actually shine either. The chemistry between characters was lacking sometimes because of clunky dialogue, most notably the chemistry between Mae (Emma Watson) and Annie (Karen Gillan) was rather lacking, and it made the toilet scene rather dull. Also the public fight between Mae and Mercer (Ellar Coltrane) was a bit cringy and lacked common sense. The best scenes were in the beginning of the movie, with Mae seeing her dad (played by Bill Paxton) having problems and Mae being thankful for Annie helping her and her parents. The characters and performances shined best on itself, with Karen Gillan being the highlight in the non-verbal acting.
The movie has a comforting use of lightning, and there are some beautiful set pieces and location shots and/or photography. It sets a consistent colour palet and tone for its settings, which is usually agreeing with a positive Silicon valley kind of mentality. This contrasts the dark undertone the movie has, and to me that was something I really enjoyed. It mimics reality where the positivity of technology often outshines (or simply ignores) the risks. Also the implementation of the technology was rather seamless. It was obviously there, but it was never too surreal or too much. Music was rather minimalistic and fitting, but except for a handful of scenes never more than just some complimentary background music.
Even though this movie has many flaws, I enjoyed watching it thoroughly. It hinges between a documentary of social decay and a satire comedy drama. Even though it fails to be any of those perfectly, it does well as a society commentary and only drops the ball in being a bit too obvious and never delivering on it's hinted solution.
I was very intrigued by one of the comments Mae received, which stated "No one at the circle has kids." This insinuated that the circle has no future, and even though the questions this movie asks are relevant, I doubt this movie will stay relevant for very long considering its bad reception.
Bad script, great special effects!
Considering this movie had a tiny budget of only 1.4 million dollars it is way more value for it's money than you'd normally expect. Even the acting is not something to complain over, if only it had a more interesting script and it probably would've been in my top list of 2016.
With a very weak first and second act and many errors this cannot be called an excellent movie. However, the third act makes more than up for the blandness. The ending makes the movie, in combination with a good atmosphere and nice visuals, into a movie worth watching.
Sheridan Smith (and Nick Frost in a lesser degree) take care of the (few) good laughs while Theron and especially Blunt are the most intriguing characters. I wish Emily's character had a bit more kick in her powers, especially in the final act, but then again It would've made Chris Hemsworth and Jessica Chastain's characters completely irrelevant if that was the case.
It is actually surprising that with such a great cast this movie isn't better than it is. The writing just isn't good enough to get it to that next level. A pity really.
#Mild spoilers ahead#
I was looking forward to this movie for a while now, but I actually had to go out of my way to watch this in cinema since many places stopped showing it eerily fast after its release (which usually isn't a good sign.) As a movie that bombed in the box office I was a bit afraid of how it had turned out. Not having a 3D version while being released while big movies like Mad Max and Jurassic World are also in cinema is not easy either. It turned out to be not too bad in the end.
Of course the language and images gets toned down a bit because it is a Disney movie aimed at a younger public, but it definitely did not neglect to entertain the older audience as well. It has some great humour without being dumb or childish, and some of the lines are a bit corny, but that's to be expected with the target group in mind.
Great work from Raffey Cassidy who steals the show while George Clooney and Hugh Laurie deliver an enjoyable and professional performance. Britt Robertson (the main reason how I got interested in this flick) grows during the movie and shows the promise of an upcoming talent.
It looks like most of the budget went to the actors and visuals, the visual are rather nice as a result. Many great shots and world building is done to make the Tomorrowland feel real, as well as the CGI. The electricity (?) was especially cool to see. Even though the main plot is a bit basic, it still is a true Disney movie that can make every story level up a notch by adding some mystery and wonder. They successfully added a lot of interesting information to mix it up and avoid becoming a run of the mill family movie without substance. Also this means Hugh Laurie got some great material to work with to make him feel less of a bad guy, and you even feel a bit sorry for him in the end.
Even though the movie contains a clear message with a warning, it does maintain a positive approach, and doesn't preach its audience.
It is hard to say why this movie actually bombed, since it turned out to be so great. It will never be the best movie ever made, but it deserves much more than grossing less than half its total budget (so far.)
Brasil jalalalalalalalaaaaaa
Very fun to see such an old Disney movie that's both a documentary, cartoon and making of in one.
If acting alone would make a movie a 10, this one would get it. Unfortunately, it is slightly above average at best for all the other aspects in the movie.
Real good cast and visually very cool to watch. And it even has some decent dialog thrown in here and there.
It is very predictable, but I guess that's something everyone already expected from this film.
I enjoyed this one more than the 1st part. But on general: 3 movies is just too much for this story (or at least if they do it like this) and this reflects badly on scenes that are simply too long. Since the first movie simply covered less story, it tended to get very slow paced and kinda boring. The 2nd movie (luckily) covers a bigger part of the story, so this does not happen anymore. Or at least in a less obvious way. Soome action scenes are still too long, for example the barrel ride chase and the fight with Smaug.
Now here comes my critical disapproval (or the rant.)
I did not understand why, with so much time, they had to cut a lot of stories short or removed completly in favour of those long scenes. Beorn's story is cut so short that you barely get to know him (he was one of the characters I looked forward to the most.) The same goes for the conversations betweet Bilbo and Smaug. It now ended up being a massive chain of action events after the initial (good!) conversation, in stead of Biblo earning the respect of the dwarfs after stealing something from Smaug first. The dragon never met with Thorin as far as I know, and goes to laketown after Bilbo betrays his trust by stealing from him. Also, the dwarfs already learn about the ring after Bilbo saves them from the spiders in Mirkwood. Another crucial part in them getting to trust and respect him more. Thorin turning on Biblo had no emotional effect at all with the setting they chose to follow in the movie.
The one part where I thought Jackson did a good thing with expanding an unrelated story was with expelling the dark force (Sauron) from his hideout. This is barely mentioned in the book and imho merely an excuse for Gandalf to leave the party (since LOTR wasn't written yet.) In hindsight of the big LOTR trilogy Tolkien published later, and of course the movies, this is a nice extension in the story.
I did miss Saruman though, I thought all the wizards helped fight Sauron/The Necromancer and barely defeated him (but I can be wrong about that.) My point being, if P. Jackson wanted some awesome action, he just had to put an all out wizard fight in it, in stead of the 'itunes visuals' battle between Gandalf's light and Sauron's darkness.
Concluding; with 2,5 hours and 3 movies there is plenty of time to get these vital plot points in the movie. If they had placed more of the story in part 1 and leave out the completely irrelevant Elven women Tauriel for example. First use the crucial information, if you have screentime left after doing that, than expand scenes or throw in extra characters.
I have no idea how long those battle scenes are going to be in Part 3, since we only have the battle of Laketown and the battle of the 11 armies left, but I am afraid it is going to be a very different ending, or just a very stretched out (read: boring) one.
The main point Peter Jackson missed in this story, or so it seems, is that this is Bilbo's story, and not the story of a group of dwarves that coincidentally have a Hobbit in their midst.
Well, that's as much as the story goes, obviously that's my main point :P
Now on the the positive things:
Smaug was very well done, loved his voice and how he behaved. Great job. Really satisfactory how he turned out to be on screen. Loved every second of him. He is intelligent, cunning, strong, vengeful, selfish and greedy. Pretty much how I imagined him.
Martin Freeman was doing a fantastic job too, such a respite after 3 movies of Elijah Wood moaning. No flashbacks to Sherlock Holmes, where he does an amazing job as well.
And also the visuals and sound are top notch once again.
A modern James Bond movie. Very cool to watch, even though the 'Bourne Trilogy' is the exception on the rule that sequels are always worse.
The first movie follows a relatively basic story development, and never realy has a memorable impact on the viewer. It does manage to wrap it up in exceptional action and chase scenes, especially for it's time.
One of the better Dance industry related movies.
Good classic, but lacks a proper ending.
A highly entertaining and well executed film with an unusual short runtime.
The low budget production and down to earth (almost vlog style) environment and script match each other well. The acting is a bit over the top at times, but it adds to the movie's lighthearted atmosphere.
It must have been way more complicated to write the screenplay than how it looks like on screen. It is so easy to understand, a great compliment to the screenplay!
The only nitpick I have is why a regular pc monitor has such an insanely long power cable xD
I expected a run of the mill low budget poor attempt at an action scifi movie, so I was pleasantly surprised about this.
About the low budget and scifi I was correct, for the rest I was not.
The opening feels kinda gimmicky with the whole visual representation and introduction. The parts where this 'theme' of the opening the television screen template is used again, are most likely the poorest part of the film. After this we get dumped immediately into the actual opening. It could use some more easing into, because I felt kind of shocked into it. Mostly because of the instant fast paced talking and heavy dialect. It does effectively sets the tone and expectations for the film immediately, and makes clear that this is a dialogue driven film. More action than some mild running you should not expect!
Dialogue is this films strongest point. Not only the way people talk, but rather what they say are very character-centered. This causes very recognizable identifiers between characters from the second they are introduced, as well as an idea of the time period. Even some of the minor side characters feel like actual characters, opposed to the blank slates we often see in many movies.
Through dialogue and with the benefit of some, surprisingly I might add, good acting the main characters are set up. Nobody will win an Oscar for their performance in this film anytime soon, but the (at least to me) unknown actors held their own very well. Especially considering several slow zoom long shots that were used. Because the film heavily leans on its dialogue, it is commendable that these actors can carry this as well as they do. Many have failed or done (much) worse under similar circumstances (including A-list stars.)
It is a shame though, that this character setup does not really lead anywhere. The 2 protagonists lack some kind of progress or journey or anything at all xD Everything was there, but the characters went nowhere and we were left with just the promise of an arc. Of course stuff happens (especially in the conclusion) and there is story development, but the people we met at the beginning were the exactly the same at the end, and nobody ever had to change or work through any personal obstacle. The story itself is also pretty straightforward. Not worthy of the name mystery, but straightforward enough and with enough substance to not totally crumble. Unfortunately, this leaves with a rather lackluster, maybe even unsatisfying end.
Visually it can be a bit (too) dark, and some shots are a bit awkward or 'too much', but besides the aforementioned opening 'theme' it luckily doesn't fully go off the rails. Of course, again, do note expect any large scale blockbuster CGI or anything even close to that. But it would be silly if you would expect that in a film that costs about the same as just 1 car in the Fast & Furious franchise.
All in all, a decent low budget scifi slow burn that fizzles out in the end. I would only recommend this if you are okay with watching something you won't see from the likes of Michael Bay, Christopher Nolan or Marvel studios.
Beautiful and brilliant animation with an overly simple story even for a kids movie.
Fast paced action movie with decent visual effects and a setting that reminds of 'Limitless' (2011) but with a wider range of powers. Its major drawbacks are a lack of character depth and the absence of a decent antagonist.
As someone who didn't read the books but did watch the original animated Disney movie a lot, this movie left me a bit divided.
On the one side it is a beautiful, well designed and neatly worked out movie, with astonishing CGI, visuals, (voice) acting and a modernised more appropriately paced story. On the other hand some of the characters contradicted themselves or felt unnatural to me, and some of them became obsolete to a point.
Since it is easier to whine, I will mostly do that during this review :P
To start off with Mowgli, first he offers to leave (something that felt very unnatural to me for a boy that age) and moments later he doesn't want to anymore. This could have been handled much more smoothly. Baloo is a lazy, blackmailing assh*le at first, and never really recovers from that character damage. I also did not particular liked the God-like image of the elephants, nor the grumpy Louie that didn't seem to have any sense of humour in him. And then we have Kaa, who makes 1 appearance in the movie and does not add anything at all to the progression of the story.
It also mirrored a lot of scenes from other (famous) movies. The most prominent ones: In the end Shere Khan tries to get Mowgli to turn to the dark side like a real emperor of Star Wars, but before this happens the 'Disney factor' swings in, and suddenly every single animal jumps in (sigh) to help Mowgli. There is no Baloo near-tragedy (one of the strongest parts of the animation) and it makes you wonder why those pricks (the jungle animals) let Khan kill Akela in the first place... And with the death of Shere Khan we go full on Lion King when Scar kills Mufasa. Maybe it was a failed attempt to make an 'homage' to the reuse of stock images in the original animated jungle book by Disney, but it was horrible to watch.
Last but not least they added 2 deaths to the movie, something I didn't really think is necessary in a movie like this, which has more than enough emotional and moral themes to build on.
Even though the animated Disney movie (apparently) did change a lot about the original story, I thought the animated story was very straightforward and without errors, even though a bit comedic and slow at places. The live action version successfully transports the story into a new century, but it does trade in some of its strengths because of that.
It became and IS a great movie to watch in the end, but I will much rather recommend the almost 50 year old earlier version.
