Recently I sat down with my cup of Coffee and decided I’d ponder over what to watch on Netflix, I usually spend more time looking for something to watch than I do actually watching something. As I was looking through my recommendations I saw “Mowgli - Legend of the Jungle” which I thought I’d watched before but I noticed it didn’t have the Disney logo that usually shined above it, I turned it on and began to watch still thinking I was watching something I’d already seen - I don’t like re-watching things usually - as I sat through the film I began noticing that this was a completely different story to the one I was used to.
‘This story follows the upbringing of the human child Mowgli raised by a pack of wolves in the jungles of India. As he learns the often harsh rules of the jungle, under the tutelage of a bear named Baloo and a black panther named Bagheera, Mowgli becomes accepted by the animals of the jungle as one of their own, except for one; the fearsome tiger Shere Khan. But there may be greater dangers lurking in the jungle, as Mowgli comes face to face with his human origins.’
Andy Serkis did a brilliant job directing this piece in a way that is mesmerising and mystery yet utterly beautiful. The Jungle Book is something I’ve always viewed as a jovial tale about a boy growing up with the beasts of the jungle and Disney showed that correctly in their 2016 film by Jon Favreau was turned into a dark tale of a young starving child living with the dangerous beasts that lived in the jungle. To me it felt so much more real despite the animals having human-like faces. Mowgli was a malnourished looking boy ( which makes a lot of sense if he’s been raised by wolves ) with long brown hair that was uneven in places, he was dirty, covered in mud and other things that might collect onto a person if they were to be living within this environment, this in comparison to The Jungle Book (2016)’s Mowgli who was completeley clean with almost well brushed hair and teeth was ironically refreshing.
I understand Disney have to keep their films as family friendly as possible so making their character look a certain way would’ve changed the demographic, which is centered around the family but it seemed as though the proper meaning of the story was lost but that’s not me saying it didn’t have a good story, in no way am I dissing the beauty that is Disney’s The Jungle Book, I’m just stating that a darker tone was possibly the better way of telling the story.
Baloo ( played by Andy Serkis ) seemed a lot scarier than the ‘Bare Necessities’ Baloo we’re all used to, he almost seemed like a drill sergeant, not ever shown to be clumsy or comedic and this all worked so well as there wasn’t necessarily a friendship with Mowgli, more of a mutual agreement.
Bagheera ( played by Christian Bale ) in this film was also a lot less friendly, instead of a wise guardian he was like a protective father to Mowgli who at various points throughout the film lets emotions take control - in one scene he even stops Mowgli from winning a race that will potentially allow him to join the wolf pack, he stops him because he knows this isn’t the life that Mowgli deserves. This version of Bagheera had so much more emotion, there were reasons for him to interfere.
Aswell as impressive character development throughout the film it also shows some beautiful cinematography, the CGI ( like most modern film CGI ) was utterly realistic and Serkis made each scene feel as if it was in a Jungle and not a warehouse studio. The choice of making the Animals less realistic and accurate was a smart decision as it meant the actors emotions could really come through and you understood their objectives in the film. Sheer Khan ( played by Benedict Cumberbatch ) was delightfully terrifying in this film, he was scarred and scary but unlike most movie villians he seemed to have been weakened, his right paw was dragged along and every time it hit the floor it almost seemed as if Khan was in pain and that for me as a viewer was beautiful as this antagonist wasn’t the perfect strong villian we’re used to, it was a large creature that had been in many brawls with Humans and other animals and came out victorious, he wanted to kill the ‘man-cub’ because of what the humans had done to him over the years, he was a villain with a motive. A motive for revenge.
This was for me a far better telling of Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Book. I think we can all agree, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, is something the world has never seen before.
And I absolutely love it!
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