Disney continues to adapt it’s animated classic films into live-action films, this time it’s The Jungle Book. Once again being led by main characters Mowgli the human, and animal guides Baloo & Bagheera, as the latter attempts to teach and protect him from the evil tiger Shere Khan. A classic story is reborn into new life in this new retelling.

The Jungle Book is an 2016 live-action remake of the 1967 animated film of the same name, it is produced and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It releases on DVD and Blu-Ray on August 30, 2016.

The leads of The Jungle Book: Bagheera, Mowgli, and Baloo.

Editor’s Note: This is an advanced review of the Blu-Ray combo pack, which releases Tuesday August 30, 2016.

Though the initial reaction to Disney’s efforts to remake their classic animation catalog into live-action films has been lukewarm, there has been solid successes thanks to the release of The Jungle Book. Grossing nearly $1 Billion at the box office and gaining critical acclaim, if done right Disney’s odd, yet unique attempt to reintroduce their classics may end up working fairly well for them.

The Jungle Book is a CGI animated masterpiece.

THE GOOD: Usually when the subject of a live-action adaptation of an animated property is brought up, it’s met with some heavy disdain (at least in America), however, Disney’s latest effort in a live-action reboot for one of their animated classics has been an absolute success. With fantastic performances by the cast, an excellent score, and a beautifully animated CGI world, The Jungle Book has turned this initial disdain into a genuinely entertaining adventure.

King Louie’s musical number is one of the film’s enjoyable moments.

Idris Elba as villainous tiger Shere Khan, provided perhaps the greatest performance in the film next to lead protagonist Mowgli; played by rookie actor Neel Sethi. Everything in the film falls into place nicely, no CGI that seemed off or the like. The pacing is well executed throughout the film’s 105 minute run time. I honestly think if the Live-action remake had acted as it’s own original story piece, it’d still succeed.

Fun loving Baloo as he appears in the remake.

THE BAD: Fans of the animated version will take some getting used to of the new direction for the remake, but will likely end up enjoying themselves by the end of their viewing.

Mowgli and his family face Shere Khan.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: The Jungle Book continues the “in the middle” success of Disney’s live-action film adaptions. Hopefully The Jungle Book will help Disney continue to learn from and grow it’s forthcoming live-action remakes of their acclaimed animated catalogs, which admittedly haven’t been flat out terrible thus far, but there are definitely some films that have been better than others from this path of direction. Performances from the cast and the CGI are excellent to see, and it’s not hard to see why this film has grossed close to $1 Billion in the box office . Otaku Dome gives The Jungle Book an 96 out of 100.