Disney finally gives us a first look of the live-action film "The Jungle Book" and it's awesome. Scarlett Johansson's voice as Kaa is haunting and mesmerizing as she slithers toward the Mowgli played by Neel Sethi.
Variety revealed that Director Jon Favreau shared at the D23 Convention that the movie was first animated and then it was shot in live action before merging the two. Favreau's reimagining of Rudyard Kipling's classic veers away from the traditional techniques that Disney usually employs. "The Jungle Book" live-action is darker and mysterious.
According to Entertainment Weekly, the film is packed with big names such as Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong'o, and Ben Kingsley. They may not be seen acting but their impressive voice talents make the animals of "The Jungle Book" come alive.
Sethi is the only live-action element in the movie but that doesn't diminish the value of the powerhouse cast giving life to the animals in the film.
The 10-year-old actor said that he and Mowgli are alike in many ways.
"Me and Mowgli are kind of the same: Stubborn, energetic, and are full of confidence," Sethi told IGN.
Favreau and Sethi held a Q&A session on Twitter on Tuesday and fans were able to ask using the hashtag #AskJungleBook.
One of the questions was how they managed to make the animals realistic while making them talk like characters. Favreau said, "We used behavior & mouth movements of real animals, not humans. Anim reference was drawn from performances and mocap of actors."
"The Jungle Book" is adapted from Rudyard Kipling's anthology of classic stories. The film hits theaters on April 15, 2016.
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