Throwing in my two cents! *spoliers*

Well this is certainly... interesting. From director Andy Serkis comes an ambitious film where he bit off more than he could chew, and even then, the movie is alright... for the most part. Before I go in to the issues with this film, i do want to stress the positives because this movie has a lot of good in it.

Pros:

Animation- Good lord, the animation in this movie was stunning to look at! I had a very difficult time figuring out when it was CGI, and when it was a real location. Huge props to the VFX department who made these all look stunning.

Acting- Across the board, I felt the acting was very strong. Christian Bale as Bagheera was a joy to watch, Andy Serkis gave a decent version of Baloo that hadn't been seen before, Benedict Cumberbatch added to the list of great actors who've played the role, and Matthew
Rhys as Lockwood was also a joy. Mowgli himself was decent enough, and I won't put too much harp on a kid, because at the end of the day, he is just a kid, and for what he had to do, he did well. Special mention to Cate Blanchett.

Cinematography- From the man who did the cinematography of the Planet of the apes series, comes some amazing shots that are stunning to look at, and where is this man's awards for his work already?!?!?

The Man Village/ most of the 3rd act- Surprisingly, what I thought would be the most boring part of the movie became my favorite part. The life of these people is great to watch, and most of it is told through just movements alone. I'll get into it in a minute, but i wish we had more of the man village and Lockwood's relationship with Mowgli to feel more hits at the end. *side note: the reveal of what happened to the albino wolf did choke me up...*

Cons:
Animation- As amazing as the animation is, every time we're in the jungle, the screen feels overstuffed, and our attention gets pulled away from what the main focus is.

Editing- If you didn't like Bohemian Rhapsody's editing, then get ready for the most clunky editing I've seen in a film. The movie has so many unnecessary cuts, especially in the first half, and the gorgeous animation, and cinematography don't get their time to shine. That leads into:

Pacing- uuuuuuuuuUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHhhhhhh!!!! The pacing in the first hour of this movie is really hard to sit through. One minute, the story is going way too fast to keep up, and then the next minute, the story comes to a complete halt. It makes no sense!

Lack of Antagonist(s)- I really wanted Shere Khan to be more threatening in this movie. At least Disney's versions of the Jungle Book always had Khan be the center of fear in this movie by showing what it was he could do. Remember when he killed Akeela, and took over the pack to hunt down Mowgli in 2016? In this movie, all he does is kill cattle... really? You know, for a darker jungle book, you don't give Khan the level of fear he was given in the book... I also *really* didn't like the lack of Lockwood. It seems Serkis was trying to give a father/son dynamic to Lockwood and Mowgli, but it's never fully explored enough for us to care at the end, or make the reveal of what Lockwood has done to the animals more heartbreaking.

Intrusive Score- I have never disliked the use of a score so much in a movie!!!! On it's own, the music is fine, but the music is so overly intrusive, it takes away from what is happening in the scene rather than add anything to it. Theirs honestly too much music in this movie, and I personally believe less could have been more.

How would I have done this:
Have the movie start with Mowgli in the cage, and have him explore his life in the man village, while having flashbacks to the jungle, and why he was thrown out. Spend time with Mowgli and his relationship to Lockwood, while getting hints of Shere Kahn's carnage. Let the movie explore how he tried being a wolf, and compare him to trying to be a man. Don't try to rush everything, let everything come at a decent pace. Treat the audience with intelligence rather than spelling out everything to the audience.

In all honesty, if Serkis wanted to direct this, he needed to try his hand in directing other films before jumping into a project this ambitious. If he really wanted this movie to be out now, then he should've just produced, and played Baloo, and let someone like Alfonso Cuaron, or Guillmero Del Toro to direct it. This movie is alright, but It could have been so much better...