I give this film 5 stars because I feel quite ambivalent about it. On the upside, there are the stunning photography (the wildlife!), parts of the set and some of the acting (Sabu, DeCamp, O'Rourke). On the other hand, Calleia is pretty dreadful. His overacting is hard to bear. What is truly shocking, considering that the British had been in India for more than 200 years when this film was made, is the staggering level of ignorance about that country. Of course Kipling's tale is in any case a colonialist fantasy, but it is a nice fantasy and Kipling made at least an effort, for instance using Hindi names. No comparable effort was made when this film was produced. For example, no one seems to have realised that Buddhism was not the dominant religion of rural India. The sets showing the ruined city in the jungle are hideous, with the statues caricatures of Indian sculpture. And the producers did not even manage to recruit a few Indians as extras - there must have been some available, war or no war. On balance, I can't say I much enjoyed watching this film.
Review of Jungle Book
