Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

Andy Serkis had a fantastic dark take on the legend of Moglwi. Finally Netflix produced a good movie that strongly differs from Disney's version of Jungle Book.

In performance-capture maestro Andy Serkis' hands, Legends of the Jungle is a darker, more surprising version of The Jungle Book. Get ready to leave behind the jungle of your childhood imagination. You know, the one where you slumber peacefully in a tree bough, waterfalls ain't nothing but slides and you can float downstream resting on the upturned belly of an amiable bear.

It's impossible not to keep comparing Serkis' version of this classic story to Disney's 2016 live-action remake of its own 1967 animated family favorite. In Disney's remake, the animals are remarkably photo-realistic. But Serkis is purposefully trying to achieve something entirely different. The motion capture is used to make the animal characters deeper, richer and almost more recognizably human.

This no doubt presents more of a challenge for the actors than straightforward voice work, and as a result the animals are expressive and affecting. They're more well-rounded and relatable than their Disney counterparts, even if they're not as instantly charming. Christian Bale's nuanced performance as Bagheera the panther and Benedict Cumberbatch's ferocity as tiger Shere Khan are standouts that translate particularly powerfully through the performance capture.

But as you'll have guessed from the film's title, it's not all about the animals. In Disney's version, Mowgli felt more like a narrative device drawing the animals of the jungle together so we could hear their stories. In Serkis' hands, Mowgli is less of an ensemble player. His character development is central to the plot, especially in the second half. The movie feels like a coming-of-age tale as the man-cub seeks to establish his identity as not quite human, not quite wolf -- simultaneously both and neither.

It did come as a surprise when, bang in the middle of the film, the plot veered wildly off course from the familiar narrative the Disney films established atop Kipling's work. Some may hate this startling divergence, but I enjoyed the sudden realization that I didn't know exactly what was going to happen next, especially after being lulled into a false sense of security by familiar opening scenes.

Serkis has made a visually arresting film that Netflix is lucky to have gotten its hands on. It has more than the bear necessities required to put it on your watch list, even if it is lacking the music.

It seems to have most of the elements that could make it a good movie but falls just a little short. One of the things that's odd is the CGI. It's not bad quality as the textures and color look good, but the shapes seem off. Shere Kahn's head seemed oddly wide, the wolves looked cat-like, Baloo looked like a post apocalyptic bear or something. The story and acting were decent.

Greetings from the darkness. If your idea of "The Jungle Book" is Phil Harris' Baloo singing a bouncy and memorable rendition of "The Bare Necessities" in 1967, or Christopher Walken voicing a giant orangutan in 2016, then be forewarned about this latest version of Rudyard Kipling's classic stories ... it's dark and, at times, terrifying. It's rated PG-13 to keep young kids away, so please keep your young kids away! One additional warning: this version is spectacular to look at and listen to.

Of course the story is quite familiar to most, but two things really stand out here: the amazing voice acting of the world class cast, and the look of the lush jungle with its vivid colors and textures. Director Andy Serkis is renowned for his stunning motion-capture work in such franchises as PLANET OF THE APES, LORD OF THE RINGS, and Peter Jackson's KING KONG (2005) ... along with many others ... and for this project, he combines his motion-capture Baloo with top notch CGI, and the live performance of young Rohan Chand (THE HUNDRED FOOT JOURNEY) as Mowgli, the man cub.

The voice acting is worth raving about. We first hear Cate Blanchett as Kaa, the ancient python, and within the first two minutes of the opening, we are captivated. Other standouts include an unnerving and intimidating Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, the always-threatening Tiger, Christian Bale (periodically lapsing into Batman voice) as the growling black panther Bagheera, Naomie Harris as Nisha the mother wolf, and a terrific Peter Mullan as lead wolf Akela. The deep cast also includes the voices of Jack Reynor, Eddie Marsan and Tom Hollander, while Matthew Rhys ("The Americans") appears as the hired tiger hunter, and Freida Pinto (SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE) appears as Mowgli's caretaker in the man village.

Many scenes are particularly captivating - some are exciting, while others quite scary. The "no rules" monkeys are comedic relief ... right up until they kick off one of the darkest segments of the film. And there is an ongoing theme of the fine line between being 'special', 'different', or a 'freak', and the lessons learned here would be valuable for kids ... if this were a kids' movie ... which it's NOT! Although it's difficult to discern the intended audience for this film, it's quite a visual spectacle and entertaining from beginning to end.

As usual the critics have no taste, and their opinions don't match up with the general populace (aside from a few weird individuals who gave this movie a "1"...Yes, very much worth taking seriously...lol). This movie is better than the Disney version, not the other way around. Credit where credit is due, the Disney version has more realistic CGI (though the characters look more menacing in this version than in the Disney one, so that's a plus), possibly as a result of a better budget, though maybe not. Everything else though, is better in this version. It's much more faithful to the books. It is much darker and more mature than Disney's version, which to some I suppose might be a minus, while for the rest of us it's a huge plus. Depends on what you're looking for in the movie. Most importantly, the voice acting in this version is waaaayyyy better than in Disney's version (I'm really shocked and in disbelief to see that one reviewer thinks the voice acting in Disney's version was better, like, what?). Benedict Cumberbatch is absolutely perfect as Shere Khan, and blows Idris Elba's performance, which was already very good, out of the water. Cate Blanchett as Kaa (who thankfully has much more screentime and relevance to the story in this version) is soooo much better than Scarlett Johansson that it's not even funny. She has a much more powerful presence.

Don't get me wrong, I like Disney's live action remake of their movie. It was good, and I enjoyed it. But this one is definitely the superior of the two. If you want to watch a darker and more mature version of the story without all the jolly Disney songs, give this one a watch. Personally I absolutely loved it.