New Film Brings The Jungle Book Up To Date

The 12-year-old star of The Jungle Book says it is not right to compare the latest version of the story to the classic Disney cartoon.

Neel Sethi, who plays Mowgli, says the two films are completely different but his has advantages over the original cartoon.

The 1967 animated movie features songs that have become favourites of children over the years including Bare Necessities and I Wanna Be Like You

Sethi speaking on Sky News said "It's different, you can't compare it.

"This one is with a real person and that one wasn't and this is, like, 50 years later.

"In ours, the animals look really real. And there's a real Mowgli – me!"

The story is as gripping as ever and this reimagined version is more true to Rudyard Kipling's 1894 book, which was later adapted by Walt Disney studios.

The new film, which also features music, has sensational special effects which bring the jungle to life.

It also features famous voices including Bill Murray, Sir Ben Kingsley, Idris Elba and Lupita Nyong'o.

Much of the action Sethi is involved in was filmed on blue screens with puppets as his co-stars - something he said wasn't as hard as someone might imagine because he had nothing to compare it to.

The first-time actor said: "It was actually pretty easy because I didn't know what to do, so I didn't know what was normal.

"So now, when I do a normal movie, just acting, then I'll feel like that was weird."

Director Jon Favreau said he wanted to capture the magic of the story he experienced as a child, as well as bringing the movie up to date.

"It's Disney's Jungle Book, so you'd better have some laughs and some music. But it's also based on Kipling.

"The path that I was concerned about, in doing the musical portion, especially Bare Necessities, was making all the technology disappear and getting the exuberance, and the release, and the fun of that moment that I felt, when I watched it when I was a child."

Kipling lived at the 17th century mansion house Bateman's in Burwash, East Sussex, for many years but was born in India.

It was his childhood experiences in the country which inspired the novel that still resonates so strongly today.

Gary Enstone, manager of Bateman's, says Kipling's genius is in combining the everyday with the exotic.

"He creates a story which is morally, really quite strong and is really quite strong about the boy next door, but is also an adventure and is magical, and is really quite fantastical in its storytelling."

The Jungle Book, with its all-star cast, is set to rule the box office this weekend when it opens.

And, with another version coming out next year, it means Kipling is firmly back in fashion.