Mowgli:Legend Of The Jungle

  Mowgli legend of the jungle is an adaptation of the book "The Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling which inspired the creation of the Disney classic of the same name.  That said Disney classic got the live action treatment sometimes last year and it got praised for it faithfully stating true to the Disney classic and for its incredibly photorealistic CGI.

 Mowgli tells the story of the jungle book again but this time, it isn't based on the Disney film but rather the original source material by Rudyard Kipling.  Disney's the jungle book wasn't a straight up faithful adaptation but it managed to stick to major plot points of the book and this film tries to flesh out those plot points by giving all the characters a realistic backstory that doesn't make characters beside the Man Cub feel like they're only there for plot convenience.  I haven't read book by Rudyard Kipling but I know this film is a more faithful adaptation than the Disney film.

  Directed by Andy Serkis, a man known for his captivating motion caption performances as Characters like Caesar, King Kong, Gollum and many more.  It's safe to say that, he understands how to bring out a performance from Motion Capture.  Jungle Book has a lot of Animal Characters so it was an obvious thing that they'd be lots of CGI and the CGI in this film is great.  I really really wished this film was allowed to come out in theatres as intended and not just on Netflix because with each scene in this film, you can really see how much care was put into it.

  Now, let's talk about those things I loved about this film:

1. The Jungle:

  I love how authentic the jungle feels authentic, I haven't lived in a jungle before but from the look and feel of the environment and hallmarks, I think its more believable that so many diverse animals would settle here to live. It doesn't feel like its all peaceful and orderly, yes there is really strong rule of order in this jungle too but this jungle feels more natural or should I say unpredictable?

2. The Characters

  As I stated earlier, this film gives every character a realistic backstory.  I mean I for one always felt like Bagheera saving baby Mowgli from the original cartoon didn't make much sense because he's a carnivorous animal who should want to eat animals.  Here, they give him a reason as to why he saved Mowgli and it made sense, I don't know If this was straightly gotten from the novel but it makes sense.

Baghera aside, all the animals in the jungle Mowgli interacts with have a great level of individuality to their character.  All the animals have personalities and it sets them aside, it doesn't feel like "oh Baloo is just here to protect mowgli" am not saying that characters like Baloo don't protect Mowgli, am just saying they had a lot doing before encountering him and they don't just try to make everything about him even though he is their special friend.  Another neat thing I liked was how most animals would call each other brother, i think it was a very good added detail that made them feel more close.

Speaking of characters, there's one who stands out very well called Bhoot, he's an albino wolf who gets Stigma for being different from the other wolfs just like Mowgli does.  He is basically the living embodiment of my point that characters feel real here because he goes through his own storyarc which is not only sad but extremely relevant as his story really shines light on being different.

3. The Visuals

   This film has crazy good visuals, I mean I expected nothing less.  Immediately I heard Andy Serkis directorial debut would be a Jungle Book film I knew it would be a visual spectacle.  I still don't understand why at the last minute,Warner Bros Gave the rights to Netflix because this film looks bloody great.

  The jungle looks photorealistically stunning, the animals look dirty and life like but they still emote perfectly. I love how the animals look because there's a portion of this film with humans and so making each animal look menacing and threatening makes it easy for you to not just go ahead and side with the animals like the other film but rather you'll be conflicted with choosing any sides.

There's awesome texture under things like fur, and you really get see and feel the performances of The Star Studded cast.  You can see Benedict Cumberbatch's expressiveness on Sheer Khan, Christian Bale's little face gestures like his smirk on Bagheera, Kaa looks like Cate Blanchet, what am essentially trying to say is that the Mocap work in this is just really stunning and the overall visuals are too.

   If you love the Disney film, you'd definitely enjoy this too even with its more serious tone and realism, it manages to still bring out that inner child in you.  With a great cast, excellent visuals, interesting music and a good story, Mowgli : Legend Of The Jungle will keep you entertained from start to finish.

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