Well well, while this should not be a surprise really given the amount of remakes our current Hollywood system is producing, it certainly came as a bit of a surprise to me to learn that beloved Disney movie, The Jungle Book, originally released as an animated film in 1967 and then remade as a live action film in 1994, is on that list– set to be remade once again as part live action, part CGI film. While my normal reaction is to gasp at the idea of remakes– Private Benjamin, Overboard, Dirty Dancing, WHY!– my instinctive passion against this remake was initially quelled after I learned of what this movie is all about or, more specifically, who will star in this said movie.
According to Deadline, Bill Murray, beloved man about town, is set to voice the CGI character of Baloo. WHAT! Game changer. I mean, anything that Bill Murray is in, I am bound to see eventually (yes even The Garfield Movie and The Monuments Men), but also, if Murray stars as my favorite character in my most favorite Disney film from childhood, sign me up!
And that’s not all folks. Deadline continues to list an all-star cast: Ben Kingsley as Bagheera, Christopher Walken as King Louie, Scarlett Johansson as Kaa, and Luipta Nyong’o as Raksha. Throw in novice actor Neel Sethi as live-action Mowgli and you got yourself one happy writer of this article.
And so, even though initially I was scared at the thought of this remake, now all I have to say is, “The Jungle Book, I’m ready for you!”
