Once we’ve reached a certain age, we’ve all had it happen: a friend has a kid. And for a while, it seems like our old friend — male or female, new mom or dad, it doesn’t much matter — has disappeared, replaced by a strange simulacrum that looks much the same (maybe a little more tired around the eyes) but shares little of the interests that first brought their orbit into our own. People that spoke of cars talk of strollers; of music, white noise machines; of fine dining, spit up.

But I’m here to tell you it works the other way, too. My wife and I brought our third child into the world last week, and suddenly I’m seeing every bit of film news through newborn lenses. A film about food waste makes me think of kids not getting enough to eat in undernourished areas of the world. A remake of an old Disney classic reminds me to gather up copies of all my old favorites to share with my kids someday. And even a tale of alcoholism, dysfunction, and the vagaries of fame somehow manages to pull at my heartstrings just because of its title: A Star is Born. Awww.

Hopefully this reviewer will bounce back more quickly than the usual onesie collector. In the meantime, here are this week’s child-inspired picks.

For what it’s worth, that remade Disney classic mentioned above does break some new ground: it is Jon Favreau’s (the Iron Man series) live-action take on The Jungle Book, showing on several area screens this week. While it draws inspiration from Disney’s 1967 film (as well as, of course, Kipling’s 19th-century collection of stories) this version aims to awe a new generation not by transforming our world into a more kid-friendly cartoon version, but by subtly tweaking our own jungles and streams to create something that is at once more familiar and, perhaps, more sinister.

Newcomer Neel Sethi is the young actor who landed the role of Mowgli, the man-cub who has been raised by a pack of wolves. Long at home in the jungle, Mowgli is forced to consider leaving when the tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) — who has reason to despise humankind — vows to rid the jungle of the boy. As he sets out on his coming-of-age journey, Mowgli is aided by the panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and the dippy bear Baloo (Bill Murray, in what must be the most inspired bit of voice casting this year; I had to double-check the ’67 version to make sure the actor wasn’t in that one too). Scheming against him are the python Kaa (Scarlett Johannsson) and the orangutan King Louie (Christopher Walken), who wants to learn the secret of man’s “red flower,” the fire that sets them apart from the animal kingdom.

Will it prove as lasting as the Disney original? Perhaps not. CGI has a way of aging that traditional animation techniques largely avoid. But for right now, Favreau is leading the herd.

Also this week: Amherst Cinema highlights Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story in a Tuesday evening screening. Director Grant Baldwin’s film questions how a country that seems to love food as much as we do — we Instagram every meal and scarf down every cooking show cable tv can toss at us — can still throw away almost half of everything on our plates. And that’s only counting what makes it to the plate — in one scene, Baldwin discovers an entire Dumpster filled with unexpired packages of hummus.

Following the trail from farm to fridge, filmmakers Jen and Grant end up so shocked by the amount of good food going to waste that they pledge to forgo the grocery store and survive for six months only on what the rest of us call trash. The screening is followed by a discussion led by Congressman Jim McGovern, Food Bank of Western Massachusetts Executive Director Andrew Morehouse, and Gideon Porth of Atlas Farms in South Deerfield.

And finally, if you’re really desperate for that tale of booze, fame, and death, Cinemark theaters in Hadley and West Springfield are showing the 1954 Judy Garland/James Mason version of A Star is Born this Sunday and Wednesday. I love Judy Garland, but when I think of this film I can’t help but think that she had enough heartache in her own life without having to go through it on screen too. But if you need a bit of the darkness, it’s a classic.

Jack Brown can be reached at cinemadope@gmail.com.