The Jungle Book (2016 film) success, grossing over $966 million, making it the fifth-highest-grossing film of 2016 and the 40th-highest-grossing film of all time, and was praised for its visual effects, musical score, direction, faithfulness to the original animated film, and vocal performances, particularly those of Murray, Kingsley, and Elba. At the 89th Academy Awards, the film won the award for Best Visual Effects. Mowgli is a "man cub" raised by the wolf Raksha and her pack, led by Akela, in an Indian jungle ever since he was brought to them as a baby by the black panther Bagheera. Bagheera trains Mowgli to learn the
The Jungle Book in the triumph of protagonists including Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and The White Seal over their enemies, as well as Mowgli's. Another important theme is of law and freedom; the stories are not about animal behaviour, still less about the Darwinian struggle for survival, but about human archetypes in animal form. They teach respect for authority, obedience, and knowing one's place in society with "the law of the jungle", but the stories also illustrate the freedom to move between different worlds, such as when Mowgli moves between the jungle and the village. Critics have also noted the essential wildness and lawless energies in