THE JUNGLE BOOK is Going to Make You Feel Like a Kid Again

Today at D23's Main Stage Jon Favreau came out to much applause and introduced us to the cast of his reimagining of Disney's The Jungle Book. Sir Ben Kingsley (Bagheera) and Lupita Nyong’o (Raksha) raved about young newcomer Neel Sethi playing the beloved Mowgli. Favreau and his cast went into detail on the process of combining live-action acting and bleeding edge CG tech to bring their story to life, calling back to Walt Disney's love of art combined with evolving technology. Favreau informed the audience that Sethi had to record his part in the film twice, once as performance capture and again as live action, which spoke very highly of the young actor. They then revealed the first poster for the film which we all got to walk out with a copy of.

Then, after showing off the poster we got a breathtaking look at the first ever footage from the film. It was so fresh off the presses that not even the people who had lent their talents to breathe life into the characters had seen it yet. So Kingsley, Nyong'o, and Sethi stepped down off stage with Faverau and together we all watched our childhood explode into color on screen. I felt a knot ball up in my throat and a tear come to my eye as I saw Mowgli come face-to-face with friends I hadn't seen in ages. We got to see Sir Ben Kingsley give courage and wisdom to young Mowgli. And, best of all, we got to see a beautifully realistic animated Baloo sing to us about the Bare Necessities in life through the voice of Bill Murray. I legitimately felt a manly tear roll down my cheek when the song hit its peak. The unofficial trailer ended with a quick glimpse of Christopher Walken as the great orangutan King Louie. I've seen the previous Disney classic live-action movies, but this is the first one I am INSANELY stoked for. After the video played, Faverau pulled the cast back on stage and asked the young Neel Sethi what he thought. Beaming from ear to ear he said, "That was me?!" It was great seeing the wonder in his eyes as he saw his character really come to life.