The Jungle Book (2016) (3D) (Collector’s Edition) [Blu-Ray]

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Neel Sethi, Bill Murray, Ben Kingsley

Release Date: November 15, 2016

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

Directed by Jon Favreau (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,” “Chef”) and produced by Favreau and Brigham Taylor (executive producer of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales,” “Tomorrowland”), from a screenplay by Justin Marks, “The Jungle Book” is a live-action epic adventure based on Rudyard Kipling’s timeless stories, inspired by Disney’s classic 1967 animated film and centered on Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a man-cub who’s been raised by a family of wolves. But Mowgli finds he is no longer welcome in the jungle when fearsome tiger Shere Khan (voice of Idris Elba), who bears the scars of Man, promises to eliminate what he sees as a threat.

Please Note: This review will concentrate primarily on the 3D Collector’s Edition release in general. For my thoughts on the film itself please refer to my review of the initial Blu-ray release for Disney’s live action ‘The Jungle Book’ by clicking here!

Returning home only a mere few months after its initial debut on Blu-ray, Jon Favreau’s breathtaking live action reimagining of Disney’s ‘The Jungle Book’ arrives in a new 3-disc Collector’s Edition release. Now families everywhere can join the infamous man-cub Mowgli once again as he faces a dangerous and emotional journey following a threat to the wolf pack he considers his family forces his hand; facing a number of obstacles as well as meeting some new friends along the way as he attempts to find his rightful place within the world. This new Collector’s Edition release includes the feature film available in the US for the first time on Blu-ray 3D, along with the film on standard Blu-ray and DVD, plus some brand new extras and artwork to top it all off.

As a huge fan of the 3D format and someone who makes a point of trying to catch the majority of film’s that offer 3D as an option in that format, I can easily say that ‘The Jungle Book’ is one of the most impressive 3D film experiences I’ve had the pleasure of this year. After catching the film in IMAX 3D during its theatrical run, it’s a true pleasure to finally have the opportunity to revisit it in all of its 3 dimensional splendor at home, and the 3D Blu-ray certainly does not disappoint. As opposed to simply shoving a plethora of blatantly obvious 3D gimmicks in your face, the film opts for embracing the more natural approach in simply allowing the magnificent and intricate jungle to seemingly expand outward, as well as allowing remarkable depth within and this Blu-ray 3D release offers no restrictions on its wonder, providing a truly stunning and beautiful 3D presentation that you have to see to believe. In addition to the greatly anticipated Blu-ray 3D edition of the film included within, this new Collector’s Edition release also features a few brand new extras in the way of some additional behind the scenes Featurettes that explore different aspects of bringing the film to life; unfortunately all of the new Featurettes are fairly short and as enjoyable as they may be, likely aren’t worth picking up the release for alone.

Overall, most of the fellow 3D enthusiasts with 3D capability at home that enjoyed this outstanding live action reimagining of ‘The Jungle Book’ will likely want to pick up a copy of this new Collector’s Edition release in order to finally have the ability to enjoy this truly phenomenal film in all of its 3D glory any time you may desire. Those without 3D capability that haven’t already picked up a copy of the initial Blu-ray release may also want to consider merely purchasing this superior edition instead. Those who already own the previous Blu-ray release and aren’t 3D capable on the other hand may want to consider letting this one go as the combined total of approximately 15 minutes in new extras probably won’t justify the double dip for most folks.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray 3D edition of ‘The Jungle Book’ features a full 1080p High Definition MVC encoded 3D presentation utilizing a 1.78:1 Aspect Ratio (as opposed to the standard Blu-ray’s 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio). The 3D video presentation looks truly magnificent as a whole and provides an absolutely breathtaking presentation that should have no trouble fully immersing the viewer within Mowgli’s world. Delivering an absolutely gorgeous, sharp, and flawless presentation that consistently appears to expand well beyond the confines of the screen and providing some amazing depth throughout, and never suffering from any noticeable faults of any kind. Overall, this is a phenomenal 3D high definition video presentation that should easily thrill the fellow 3D fans.

The standard Blu-ray edition of ‘The Jungle Book’ is also included in the new ‘Collector’s Edition’ release and delivers an equally breathtaking presentation in 2D (although utilizing a 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio as opposed to the Blu-ray 3D’s 1.78:1 presentation) that should easily please. You can additionally read my thoughts regarding the original Blu-ray video presentation on the previous Blu-ray release of the film here which appears to be identical.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a lossless 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack on both versions of the film (2D & 3D). The provided lossless multichannel soundtracks included on both the Blu-ray 3D and standard Blu-ray discs appear to be identical to the DTS-HD MA soundtrack featured on the film’s initial Blu-ray release. Once again, please refer to my review of that release here for more detailed information regarding the audio presentation, although to summarize: it’s a clean, often wildly aggressive and wonderfully immersive audio presentation that shouldn’t disappoint in any way.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The 3D Collector’s Edition Blu-ray release of Disney’s live action ‘The Jungle Book’ includes a few brand new extras exclusive to this release, in addition to all of the bonus content included on the previous Blu-ray release, all of which can be found on the 2D Blu-ray disc. The new extras consist of a few behind the scenes Featurettes that explore different aspects of bringing the film to life and include interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. The new Featurettes include: ‘The Bare Necessities: From the Jungle to the Bayou’ (running approximately 4 minutes in length), ‘The Return of a Legend’ (running approximately 4 minutes), ‘The Jungle Effect’ (approximately 3 minutes), ‘The Jungle Book Around the World’ (2 minutes), and ‘Developing Kaa’ (3 minutes).

The entirety of supplemental material included on Disney’s previous Blu-ray release of ‘The Jungle Book’ is also included on this new Collector’s Edition set.  For information regarding those original extras also included on this edition please once again refer to my review of that release here.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They additionally will suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. It should additionally be noted that for the purpose of convenience, the images present for this specific release represent the 2D version of the film, even though the review itself covers the 3D version. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

Disc Rating: 8.5/10

‘The Jungle Book’; Own the 3D Collector’s Edition Blu-ray of the Live Action Adventure on November 15, 2016 From Walt Disney Home Entertainment.

Purchase (or pre-order) your copy today by clicking on the Amazon Cart Icon immediately below!