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‘Jungle Book’ remake takes a darker tone than the original

Young Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is threatened by stampeding water buffalo, mudslides and raging rivers. The python Kaa and ape King Louie are massive and intimidating. And the brilliantly lifelike tiger Shere Khan — voiced with all the menace Idris Elba can muster, which is, not surprisingly, a Costco-sized barrel full of menace — doesn’t just want Mowgli to leave the jungle, he wants him dead.

If I’d seen Disney’s new take on “The Jungle Book” at the same tender age I saw the 1967 animated classic, I would have wet myself.

I’m not entirely sure I didn’t anyway.

Directed by Jon Favreau (“Iron Man”) from a script by Justin Marks (the planned “Top Gun” sequel), “The Jungle Book” takes on some of the darker tones of the Rudyard Kipling stories on which both movies are based. The remarkably realistic computer-generated animals lend the movie more gravitas, and the 3-D scenes in which Shere Khan leaps toward the audience even had parents recoiling.

Yet this new tale of the “man cub” Mowgli, who’s abandoned in the jungle and raised by panther Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) and a wolf couple (Lupita Nyong’o, Giancarlo Esposito), is also remarkably faithful to the 1967 version — sometimes curiously so.

When you have Bill Murray voicing the lovable slacker Baloo, you almost have to include the scene in which Mowgli rides on the bear’s belly as they float down a river singing “The Bare Necessities.” Heck, anyone who’s seen the original surely would demand a refund if Favreau hadn’t.

But when King Louie (Christopher Walken) is reimagined as a lumbering giant truly ready to do Mowgli harm, having him sing “I Wan’na Be Like You” seems out of place. It doesn’t groove like the original, performed by Las Vegas lounge legend Louis Prima. It comes across as an implied threat. And these monkeys certainly don’t swing dance.

Its inclusion is even more striking considering none of the original’s other songs made the cut. Kaa (Scarlett Johansson) still gets to reference one, though, with a recycled “Trussst me.” And Johansson’s sultry voice makes her hypnotic offer to Mowgli — “You can be with me if you want. I’ll keep you close” — sound even more enticing.

There’s still plenty in “The Jungle Book” for very young viewers, though. Mowgli’s “brother and sister” wolf pups feel like they were borrowed from one of Disney’s “Buddies” movies — so much so that parents could start to worry that they’re going to be in for a very long afternoon. But then along comes a porcupine, apologizing for accidentally poking some of the other animals with his quills. The realization that he’s being voiced by the gone-too-soon Garry Shandling should be just enough to keep grown-ups interested.

Numerous other adorable tiny critters flesh out the movie. Honestly, Disney could release a story-free, G-rated DVD of nothing but the animal footage, and it would amaze and captivate the studio’s youngest fans. The technical detail that went into creating those beasts, as well as their surroundings, is simply stunning.

All the high-tech wizardry in the world, though, doesn’t matter if viewers aren’t drawn into the story. Thankfully here, as in life, Bill Murray makes everything better. He’s so verbally expressive — and so Murray-esque — as that schemer Baloo, the movie truly feels like a living, breathing thing whenever he’s onscreen.

Much like 2014’s “Sleeping Beauty” prequel, “Maleficent,” there’s no good reason for this version of “The Jungle Book” to exist other than to pad Disney’s coffers. Also, like Angelina Jolie did in that example, Murray’s involvement very nearly makes the whole thing worthwhile.

Despite some attempts to flesh out Mowgli’s origins, and Shere Khan’s hatred of him, “The Jungle Book’s” storytelling remains pretty simplistic. And parents really should look at all of the available trailers to judge whether they think their kids can handle the sometimes intense action.

But with the cinematic gold rush that has Disney raiding its vaults for live-action remakes of everything from “Dumbo” and “Mary Poppins” to “Mulan” and “Beauty and the Beast,” the studio could have done much, much worse than “The Jungle Book.”

It certainly offers more than just the bare necessities.

Contact Christopher Lawrence at clawrence@reviewjournal.com. On Twitter: @life_onthecouch

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