The Jungle Book
Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures | Release Date: April 15, 2016 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
77
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 49 Critic Reviews
Positive:
42
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternApr 14, 2016
The new production, computer-animated except for a living, breathing boy at the center of the action, isn’t pretty or sweet but utterly stunning, as well as very funny; all those vaudeville antecedents haven’t been forgotten. Read full review
100
Arizona RepublicRandy CordovaApr 14, 2016
Thanks to the nicely layered characters and a near-perfect mix of action and merriment, the movie feels wonderfully vivid and alive. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChroniclePeter HartlaubApr 13, 2016
This may be Favreau’s best achievement — taking a beloved film guided by Walt Disney himself and crafting something distinct and memorable. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzApr 12, 2016
In every way, this quietly majestic film should be considered a triumph. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyApr 12, 2016
The Jungle Book is a tender and rollicking fable that manages to touch on some grown-up themes about man’s destructive power and the loss of youthful innocence without losing sight that it’s first and foremost a gee-whiz kids adventure. Read full review
91
HitfixDrew McWeenyApr 12, 2016
It’s mind-boggling that this entire thing was shot on soundstages using greenscreens. Favreau’s jungle feels like a real place, but it’s heightened and stylized and it feels like a perfect fit for the talking animals who make up the majority of the cast. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranApr 14, 2016
By turns sweetly amusing and surprisingly unnerving, crammed with story, song and computer-generated visual splendors, it's such a model of modern crowd-pleasing entertainment that it brings to mind a celebrated quote by F. Scott Fitzgerald about filmmakers who were "able to keep the whole equation of pictures in their heads." Read full review
90
Village VoiceBilge EbiriApr 12, 2016
If only all blockbusters could be this exciting, engrossing, and beautiful. Read full review
90
Screen DailySarah WardApr 3, 2016
Conjuring up a serving of visual magic is one thing, of course; bringing Kipling’s characters and narrative to life is another. Read full review
88
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 19, 2016
This “Jungle Book” could give remakes a good name. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Kate TaylorApr 14, 2016
Director Jon Favreau (Iron Man) is highly adept at having his cake and eating it, too, throughout the film, wowing audiences with effects and amusing them with talking animals, all the while insisting The Jungle Book is a difficult story about a human whose presence threatens to disrupt the jungle’s peace. Read full review
88
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanApr 14, 2016
The well-composed movie directed by Jon Favreau and written by Justin Marks takes us beyond the 1967 cartoon and, in some ways, beyond Kipling. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversApr 14, 2016
A visual marvel that cuts a direct path to the heart. Read full review
88
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 14, 2016
Filmed with dynamism and propulsive, energetic flair, The Jungle Book allows viewers the vicarious pleasure of sidling up to magnificent (sometimes mangy) beasts as if they were household pets. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperApr 12, 2016
Thanks to director Jon Favreau’s visionary guidance and some of the most impressive blends of live-action and CGI we’ve yet seen, The Jungle Book is a beautifully rendered, visually arresting take on Rudyard Kipling’s oft-filmed tales. Read full review
83
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerApr 15, 2016
Thankfully, the usual Disney cutesy factor is relatively low, and the script by Justin Marks is more literate than usual for this sort of thing. There are even some end credits that, for a change, are actually funny. Read full review
83
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallApr 13, 2016
The Jungle Book could use better lighting and less of John Debney's musical score insisting each moment be melodically underlined twice. Still, it's a movie to thrill and perhaps inspire kids to play Mowgli games again. Not outside, of course. Now there's an app for that. Read full review
83
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerApr 13, 2016
It’s a marvel of filmmaking created from nothing (and one of the more meaningful uses of 3D in recent memory as well), and Favreau stages one scenic tableau after the next with uncommon skill. Read full review
80
TimeStephanie ZacharekApr 18, 2016
Somehow this Jungle Book works, because Favreau has both a sense of humor and a sense of spectacle. Read full review
80
NPRBob MondelloApr 16, 2016
All of which is to say that most of the real world challenges that Leo DiCaprio faced in "The Revenant," 10-year-old Neel Sethi faces plenty persuasively in The Jungle Book's digitized world. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinApr 15, 2016
The film is a triumph of technology and safe “family” storytelling. It’s dazzling — almost no one will dislike it. Read full review
80
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottApr 14, 2016
Favreau's family-friendly fable, a blend of old-school storytelling charm and new-school animation techniques. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawApr 12, 2016
A terrifically enjoyable piece of old-fashioned storytelling and a beautiful-looking film: spectacular, exciting, funny and fun. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonCath ClarkeApr 11, 2016
This Jungle Book has the bare necessities, and then some. Read full review
80
CineVueJoe WalshApr 7, 2016
While there is the odd bum note, The Jungle Book is an immersive, visually breathtaking family adventure and a welcome addition to their new spate of live-action reimaginings. Read full review
80
The TelegraphRobbie CollinApr 3, 2016
Favreau’s film is a sincere and full-hearted adaptation that returns to Kipling for fresh inspiration, but also knows which elements of the animation are basically now gospel, and comes up with a respectful reconciliation of the two. Read full review
80
VarietyAndrew BarkerApr 3, 2016
Maintaining the buoyant heartbeat beneath all the digital flash, Favreau never loses sight of the fact that he’s making an adventure story for children. Read full review
80
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeApr 3, 2016
It’s a testament to the total-immersion powers of The Jungle Book, from its visual splendors to its sound design, that the seams never show; even more impressive is the film’s use of its craft not merely to dazzle us but also to further its dramatic agenda. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleSteve DavisApr 13, 2016
The studio’s 1967 version of Kipling’s classic tales (the current film qualifies as a remake of sorts) softened the source’s edges a bit, but it offered a New Orleans jazz-infused score unlike anything in the company’s previous animated features. The new Jungle Book retains the two best songs, although their inclusion may strike the unfamiliar as clunky and unexpected. Read full review
75
The Seattle TimesMoira MacdonaldApr 21, 2016
For the most part, the movie finds a family-friendly balance between stunning scenery, hold-your-breath action and animals having goofy conversations with each other. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 16, 2016
Well-made and deserves recognition as one of the year’s best family offerings (thus far). Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerMolly EichelApr 15, 2016
It's the living jungle of Kipling's stories that we could once see only in our minds. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 14, 2016
Director Jon Favreau's voice cast for the animals is tiptop. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle SmithApr 14, 2016
Probably no studio mulls its “brands” as obsessively as Disney does, and The Jungle Book is very much a careful, calculated brand extension, not a reinvention. But that’s just fine: What better lesson to teach kids than respect for what came before you? Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy BurrApr 14, 2016
The chief attraction of the film is the ersatz India created by the pixel pushers at special effects houses WETA Digital and the Moving Picture Company. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonApr 14, 2016
The vocal performances are spot-on, with Murray a standout as the slyly manipulative but ultimately courageous Baloo. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyApr 3, 2016
Even as the drama and its treatment become increasingly conventional and familiar as the film moves toward its patly (and arguably overly) audience-pleasing wrap-up, the exceptional visual quality and lifelike animal renditions remain stunning throughout. Read full review
69
The VergeTasha RobinsonApr 26, 2016
Favreau and Marks’ version is surprisingly daring in its use of violence, and its physical and emotional darkness. It’s also creative, occasionally in bizarre and colorful ways. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskyApr 13, 2016
Special effects take pride of place in Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book, an adaptation of Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli stories that is as technically accomplished as it is thinly conceived. Read full review
67
IndieWireEric KohnApr 13, 2016
It’s a delightfully-executed technological wonder, which is exactly the expectation of the moment. Read full review
67
The Film StageBrian RoanApr 12, 2016
For pure spectacle alone this film is well worth the ticket price. Its visuals are so undeniably convincing and intricate that the sheer wonder of how they achieved any of this will be enough to distract — from the story’s missteps and even the film itself. Read full review
67
The PlaylistRuss FischerApr 3, 2016
The strikingly realistic scenery is dappled with color, light and shadow to create dramatic stages for masterful character animations— if only the story played out on this impeccably-realized fantasy had the same persuasive command. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsStephen Whitty Apr 13, 2016
Has the bare necessities, but not much more. Read full review
60
ScreenCrushMatt SingerApr 12, 2016
Favreau’s Jungle Book is at its best in moments of visual splendor; when his camera pulls back to admire the sweep of the CGI foliage or yet another dazzling computer creation wanders into frame. Those images have a clarity that the rest of the movie often lacks. Read full review
60
EmpireChris Hewitt (1)Apr 11, 2016
Wonderful to look at, this is a more adult, more complex affair than its animated, and more entertaining, forebear. Still, it’s Disney’s best live-action adaptation yet. Read full review
50
The New YorkerAnthony LaneApr 18, 2016
Of the two attempts, I still prefer the one from my childhood. Read full review
50
The New York TimesManohla DargisApr 14, 2016
While this The Jungle Book is lightly diverting, it is also disappointing, partly because it feels like a pumped-up version of Disney’s 1967 animated film, with more action and less sweetness. It also feels strangely removed from our moment. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 13, 2016
The Jungle Book has its moments — the panther Bagheera voiced by Ben Kingsley, the python Kaa voiced by Scarlett Johansson and a funny porcupine voiced by the late Garry Shandling are all memorable creations — but the overall film feels cold and mechanical, befitting a movie that was made primarily because technology made it possible. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineSam C. MacApr 13, 2016
Jon Favreau draws heavily on his film's animated predecessor for plot, characterizations, and more, but doesn't know how to fit these familiar elements into his own coherent vision. Read full review
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