So you’ve seen Disney’s “live-action” remake of The Jungle Book and you’re wondering if the soundtrack is worth buying. We’re here to help you decide!

The movie’s score was composed by John Debney (The Emperor’s New Groove), a long time collaborator of director Jon Favreu, and he does a fine job. The instrumental part of the soundtrack has plenty of tracks worth listening to, and it’s particularly strong when it’s incorporating the “Bare Necessities” melody, which is used as a kind of Mowgli theme throughout the score.

There are plenty of other good themes, like the hypnotic Kaa theme present in the creatively named track “Kaa.” Everything that has to do with Shere Khan is perfect, especially with plenty of drums that, during the movie, elevate Idris Elba’s performance and make it even more imposing.

Sadly, the track used in one of the trailers, which is a kind of an orchestral, epic version of “Bare Necessities” is not fully included in the soundtrack and only a short version (“Mowgli wins the race”) can be found.

And now that you’ve seen the movie you know that it includes a couple of songs from the old Disney movie. The Bill Murray version of the movie’s most iconic song works a lot better in the movie than it does on its own, but you’ll still be humming the tune hours after giving it a listen. There’s another version in the soundtrack, performed by Dr. John…

… and I’m not a fan of that one but then again, I’ve always been rather peckish about the classic Disney songs performed by artists that are just something to play over the credits and sell. What did you think of this version?

Then you have Scarlett Johnansson’s absolutely hypnotic interpretation of Kaa’s “Trust In Me.” You can almost see the snake’s mesmerizing eyes while listening to it, and I like it so much that I’m sad it wasn’t included in the movie. They needed her to reveal Shere Khan’s backstory so it makes sense, but it’s such a good performance that it’s a shame it didn’t make the final cut.

And finally, we get Christopher Walken’s oddball “I Wan’na Be Like You” which I really enjoy. This is the tune I’ve been humming since I first saw the movie, and it’s my favorite song from the remake. Overall, the soundtrack is very enjoyable, and if you’re the kind of person that listens to instrumental scores, I’d say this one’s worth it. If not, you can just get the songs!

You can get the entire soundtrack or the individual tracks on Amazon and support The Rotoscopers!