"The least impressive thing about Scarlett Johansson is her voice"

Bull. Shit.

You would never in a million years say this if you'd seen the movie "Her".

Sure we'll know why Disney remade The Jungle Book, or why any gratuitous remake happens, almost certainly some significant money will be made. Combine nostalgia and curiosity with a property which has proven profitable in the past and you have profit. It really doesn't require any more of a degree in the guilty aspects of Sociology than that.

I'm sure they're hoping for the sort of cross-generational success Pixar films have, but for something I figured was marketed toward children, the AAA budget has me scratching my head a little.

Ironically, as much as we shit on Kipling now (though he does have some charm and originality for sure) for his day he was somewhat controversially progressive on racial matters.

So he wasn't really any more of an asshole than most people of his day and quite a bit less than some of his day. Remember everybody: your great grandpa was an asshole racist, too.

Again with the racism card,how exactly is a monkey king parody of Louis Prima's stage persona racist? Maybe if he had a large mustache and an apron and was throwing pizzas
you might have an argument. Maybe 2 or 3 minutes of research would help your pieces.

Besides the obvious monetary reasons, Disney also wanted to get this remake out ahead of the Warner Bros version that features motion capture versions of Andy Serkis (who is also making his directorial debut), Benedict Cumberbatch, Christian Bale and Cate Blanchett.

@1: Agreed, that was my first thought too. Could be she phoned it in for this one though, or was given very weird direction.

What I can't tell is if Ms Oluo is pleased or displeased with the other performances, especially Idris Elba:

"While the cast of the new Jungle Book is impressive—Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, and more—the fact that they are voicing animals and not actually displaying their award-winning acting chops on-screen really dampens that effect...
The only characters that truly benefit from the star power are those voiced by actors known for their voice work. Idris Elba is truly menacing as Shere Khan..."

I doubt most folks know Idris Elba for his part in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, or his role in Zootopia, the only two roles listed on his IMDb page for voice work.

@1: Agreed, that was my first thought too. Could be that she phoned it in for this one though, or was given very weird direction.

What I can't tell is if Ms Oluo is pleased or displeased with the other performances, especially Idris Elba:

"While the cast of the new Jungle Book is impressive—Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Bill Murray, Christopher Walken, and more—the fact that they are voicing animals and not actually displaying their award-winning acting chops on-screen really dampens that effect...
The only characters that truly benefit from the star power are those voiced by actors known for their voice work. Idris Elba is truly menacing as Shere Khan..."

I doubt most folks know Idris Elba for his part in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, or his role in Zootopia, the only two roles listed on his IMDb page for voice work.

Okay, fuck @5 for using the term "racism card"/"race card"/what the fuck ever....

But do we really have to reiterate (just like on the Stranger's previous Jungle Book article) that King Louie was voiced by Louis Prima? Who was Italian? Yeah, I gotta agree, do your research.

for Ms. Oluo, everything is racist until she says it isn't.

@10 I'm way older, and it has always been obvious to me....from the moment I got old enough for obvious racial caricatures in society to make me uncomfortable. Was it a great character? Sure. Is Chris Tucker hilarious in Rush Hour? hell, yeah.

All these people pining over their lost "free speech right" to say the N word...

God, it gets tiring.

How can you have a trumpeter brother and not know who Louis Prima is? Hack.

Sorry for the double-post earlier. My internet at home seems to get squirrelly since I upgraded to Win10, and Chrome suffers more than anything else.

' the original jungle book'.. has no one heard of sabu ?

yes, i have, riz. i have that movie, too. they dressed up a dog to look like a tiger in the long shots, kaa the python was made of rubber, and the whole thing was filmed on a hollywood sound stage by the Korda brothers. and i think Ms. Oluo means the original DISNEY jungle book.

The trailers look fabulous. The original JB is cool, but it is a disney cartoon. this looks like a direct adaption of the story. totally ifferent, and why not? Looks great. It isn't like they just tried to do a remake of the original cartoon.

And yes, I agree that King Louie is a charicature of an Italian american new orleans musician, how shocking. they tried to get Ignacious Riley to do it but he was busy.