Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is not to be confused with The Jungle Book (2016). Even though they’re both adaptations of Rudyard Kipling’s story with talking CGI animals, a respectable celebrity voice cast, majestic elephants, speechless monkeys, a disfigured Shere Khan, and a female Kaa. There’s no way Warner Bros. wasn’t trying to compete with Disney. Mowgli was nearly released in 2016, but it was pushed back to 2017 and then 2018. Either to avoid competition or improve its visual effects. Although it wasn’t common at the time, Mowgli was ultimately dumped on Netflix instead of released theatrically. It’s far from the worst Jungle Book movie, but there are a lot of decisions that don’t work. Mowgli was directed by motion capture expert Andy Serkis. Although this version is PG-13 with a much darker tone, the CGI animals look more like cartoons than the lighter Disney version. I have no idea why they thought stylized animals in a very real environment made any sense.
Indian actor Rohan Chand is an older Mowgli who feels like a genuine man-cub trying to survive. Christian Bale is a lot closer to Mowgli as Bagheera who sees him as a little brother. He has a tragic backstory as a former pet panther. When Bagheera gives Mowgli to the wolves, he’s adopted by Nisha and Vihaan instead of Raksha and Akela. Naomi Harris and Eddie Marsan voice the adopted parents, but Akela is still the leader voiced by a stern Peter Mullan. Jack Reynor is Mowgli’s Grey Brother that he’s more close to than the rest of the wolves. Serkis himself provides the motion capture for Baloo. Baloo taught the law of the jungle in the original book, but he’s too much of a hardass drill instructor. He trains Mowgli to run like a wolf even though he’ll never be fast enough. Benedict Cumberbatch uses his Smaug voice to portray Shere Khan. Despite having a bum leg, the tiger violently hunts cattle for sport and seeks to kill the man-cub. Tom Hollander is his cowardly hyena follower Tabaqui. The monkeys take Mowgli, but there’s no King Louie since he’s a Disney creation. Instead Kaa arrives to save him instead of eating him.
Cate Blanchett is a sage giant python who narrates and sees the future. Mowgli is forced to flee to the man-village when he uses the “red flower” against them. The biggest difference is time spent in the man-village. Mowgli is feral at first, but he does gain their trust. Freida Pinto is Messua who takes him in and cleans him up. Matthew Rhys is a colonial hunter named John Lockwood who turns Mowgli into a man. He seems decent at first, but he’s just as villainous as Buldeo. One thing I didn’t like about the dark tone is how needlessly cruel it can feel. Louis Ashbourne Serkis voices a young albino wolf named Bhoot that all the wolves pick on for being different. Despite being his only friend, even Mowgli shuns him when he’s upset. SPOILER ALERT! There’s no resolution because Bhoot is savagely killed by the hunter. Mowgli takes revenge on the hunter and Shere Khan by uniting the elephants with the rest of the jungle. Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle may adhere to the tone of the book, but you have to have balance.
Mowgli and Baloo
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I’m not familiar with this adaptation at all, though late 2017 through Fall 2018 was a rough period for me as that’s when we moved from Philly PA to New Jersey when our neighborhood changed for the worst so my memory skipped on a few things. I’ll give the filmmakers credit for wanting to try to tell the story in a way that was mature but not too dark, but somehow they managed to screw it up. They have a good cast in Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, and Benedict Cumberbatch at least.
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Most Netflix exclusive movies tend to be forgotten. Though it’s an interesting case since it was meant to be theatrical. I never forgot because its dark tone was hard to forget.
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