7. The Jungle Book (1994)
There’s an earlier remake of The Jungle Book that draws from Rudyard Kipling’s novel as much as the Disney animated film. Unlike the current wave of Disney remakes, director and co-writer Stephen Sommers does not have to follow the same story beats, choosing to explore an adult Mowgli, played by the expressive Jason Scott Lee. This version of The Jungle Book is more of an Indiana Jones-style adventure, where Mowgli helps a British captain search for treasure while falling for the spirited Kitty, who knew him as a child. Unlike Jon Favreau’s film, there are real animals rather than photorealistic ones, and they do not talk or sing. This version of The Jungle Book is certainly not the closest to the Disney original, but it has an old-fashioned, B-movie charm.
