Back to the jungle
It's hard not to think of "The Jungle Book" remake (⋆⋆⋆½, rated PG) as a feast. It is a banquet of storytelling delicacy, exciting light drama, athletic action and computer-generated imagery that is more hyper-real than real. This is moviemaking that is both gigantic and subtle, exciting and simple. It joins spectacle and humor with touching moments of unabashed sentiment. Christopher Walken, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray and Idris Elba are among the voices, but Neel Sethi as the sole human performer is a talent to treasure. Dynamic when he's on the run (which is often), naturalistic in his close connection to the animals and credible when his human instincts make him construct clever gadgets, he is every bit the equal of the photorealist beasts. COLIN COVERT
