lordmongrove
Justified & Ancient
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- May 30, 2009
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Richard's Reviews
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Warner Brothers 2018 Director Andy Serkis
Something that has always angered me, is that in the mind of the general public 'The Jungle Book' will, forever, be thought of as a silly cartoon with singing animals. Rudyard Kipling's two books, The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) are just about as far from Walt Disney's saccharine tripe as they could be. Dark, haunting and deeply beautiful, the two jungle books rank among the finest writing in British literature. Yet to the man in the street the titles merely summon up garish animation and infantile fripperies thanks to Disney's 1967 animated film.
The film's most egregious crimes included turning Kaa the python into a villain (apparently due to the American public not excepting a snake in a heroic roll due to infantile religious bigotry).. In Kipling's work he was the oldest and wisest creature in the jungle and a teacher to Mowgli. He rescues the man-cub from the Bandar Log or monkey tribe when they kidnap him and take him to the Dark Lairs. Baloo the bear is too, poorly served by Disney. In the books he, like Kaa is a wise mentor rather than the lazy oaf that his is portrayed as in the film.
Disney has returned to spit on the grave of Kipling several more times with poor live action films and an animated sequel in 2003. More recently a big budget live action film hit cinema screens in 2016. Despite breath taking CGI the film itself is nothing more than a re-run of the 67 cartoon complete with poorly realized characters and silly songs.
But now we have an antidote. Directed by Andy Serkis Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a far more nuanced take on the story and far more faithful to the source material. The show is stolen by Rohan Chand as Mowgli himself. For the first time we see the man-cub as a truly feral beast with wild eyes and wild hair. His performance is clearly inspired by the stories of wolf children from India and other places. This Mowgli is not cute or cartoonish but is a genuine wild animal.
Benedict Cumberbatch gives us blood lusting Shere Khan, lame, as in the books and and relentless in the pursuit of the man-cub. Serkis himself takes on the roll of Baloo, playing him like a working class drill Sargent trying to instil the laws of the jungle into Mowgli and his wolf brothers. Christian Bale voices the panther Bagheera who turns from loving protector to savage hunter to test Mowgli when her runs with his wolf brothers. In the books the mighty Kaa is male but in this version the character is voiced by Cate Blanchett. Kaa is perhaps the most interesting of the animals. Visually portrayed as something between an African rock python and a giant anaconda (rather than an Indian python or a reticulate python) Kaa is a snake of cryptozoological proportions. Kaa's coils seem never-ending and it is said that Kaa can see both the past and the future like some mythical beast. Kaa is also show as heroic with a roll much the same as Kipling interned, so formidable that even Shere Khan flees in fear.
There are two main themes running through the film. One is man's incursions on the jungle. As time passes these go greater. Shere Khan, being lame hunts both humans and their cattle bringing men into the jungle with guns, pit traps and the red flower, fire. This causes chaos and in vengeance the tiger kills more humans breaking the law of the jungle “But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill man!” The vicious circle is made worse by the arrival of a white big game hunter in the man-village who promises to kill the rogue tiger but kills all kinds of animals for sport Interestingly the white hunter is named John Lockwood. Kipling's father was called John Lockwood Kipling, an art teacher and museum curator who illustrated his son's books.
The second is of otherness. Mowgli, found as a baby by Bagheera and brought to the Seeonee wolf pack for adoption, is clearly not a wolf. Some of his siblings and other pack members except him, others do not. His closest friend in the back is an albino cub, also ostracised for his strangeness. Under Shere Khan's influence some of the pact turn against the the leader Akela. When Mowgli steal fire from the man village to drive the tiger away he is banished to the man village. The humans see him as a feral beast and he ends up in a cage. As the weeks pass he becomes tamer and is excepted into the human society However when he learns of the Lockwood's murder of his albino wolf brother Mowgli flees to the forest again to return with Hathi the elephant and his herd. In a scene that resembles the chapter Letting in The Jungle from The Second Jungle Book. The final battle with Lockwood and Shere Khan is spectacular,leaving any Disney efforts in the shade.
There are a few errors. Mowgli's name is, as in every other version, pronounced wrongly. Kipling himself pronounced it with the first syllable to rhyme with 'cow' rather than rhyming with 'hoe'. Also the character Tabaqui, Shere Khan's spy, who is a golden jackal in the books is for some reason turned into a striped hyena in the film. These are minor niggles however.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is the finest adaptation of Kipling's classics since Zoltan Korda's 1942 film Jungle Book staring Sabu Dastagir and it goes some way to counter the dreadful damage the Disney Corporation has inflicted on the books.
https://www.netflix.com/search?q=mowgli&jbv=80993105&jbp=0&jbr=0
9/10
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Warner Brothers 2018 Director Andy Serkis
Something that has always angered me, is that in the mind of the general public 'The Jungle Book' will, forever, be thought of as a silly cartoon with singing animals. Rudyard Kipling's two books, The Jungle Book (1894) and The Second Jungle Book (1895) are just about as far from Walt Disney's saccharine tripe as they could be. Dark, haunting and deeply beautiful, the two jungle books rank among the finest writing in British literature. Yet to the man in the street the titles merely summon up garish animation and infantile fripperies thanks to Disney's 1967 animated film.
The film's most egregious crimes included turning Kaa the python into a villain (apparently due to the American public not excepting a snake in a heroic roll due to infantile religious bigotry).. In Kipling's work he was the oldest and wisest creature in the jungle and a teacher to Mowgli. He rescues the man-cub from the Bandar Log or monkey tribe when they kidnap him and take him to the Dark Lairs. Baloo the bear is too, poorly served by Disney. In the books he, like Kaa is a wise mentor rather than the lazy oaf that his is portrayed as in the film.
Disney has returned to spit on the grave of Kipling several more times with poor live action films and an animated sequel in 2003. More recently a big budget live action film hit cinema screens in 2016. Despite breath taking CGI the film itself is nothing more than a re-run of the 67 cartoon complete with poorly realized characters and silly songs.
But now we have an antidote. Directed by Andy Serkis Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a far more nuanced take on the story and far more faithful to the source material. The show is stolen by Rohan Chand as Mowgli himself. For the first time we see the man-cub as a truly feral beast with wild eyes and wild hair. His performance is clearly inspired by the stories of wolf children from India and other places. This Mowgli is not cute or cartoonish but is a genuine wild animal.
Benedict Cumberbatch gives us blood lusting Shere Khan, lame, as in the books and and relentless in the pursuit of the man-cub. Serkis himself takes on the roll of Baloo, playing him like a working class drill Sargent trying to instil the laws of the jungle into Mowgli and his wolf brothers. Christian Bale voices the panther Bagheera who turns from loving protector to savage hunter to test Mowgli when her runs with his wolf brothers. In the books the mighty Kaa is male but in this version the character is voiced by Cate Blanchett. Kaa is perhaps the most interesting of the animals. Visually portrayed as something between an African rock python and a giant anaconda (rather than an Indian python or a reticulate python) Kaa is a snake of cryptozoological proportions. Kaa's coils seem never-ending and it is said that Kaa can see both the past and the future like some mythical beast. Kaa is also show as heroic with a roll much the same as Kipling interned, so formidable that even Shere Khan flees in fear.
There are two main themes running through the film. One is man's incursions on the jungle. As time passes these go greater. Shere Khan, being lame hunts both humans and their cattle bringing men into the jungle with guns, pit traps and the red flower, fire. This causes chaos and in vengeance the tiger kills more humans breaking the law of the jungle “But kill not for pleasure of killing, and seven times never kill man!” The vicious circle is made worse by the arrival of a white big game hunter in the man-village who promises to kill the rogue tiger but kills all kinds of animals for sport Interestingly the white hunter is named John Lockwood. Kipling's father was called John Lockwood Kipling, an art teacher and museum curator who illustrated his son's books.
The second is of otherness. Mowgli, found as a baby by Bagheera and brought to the Seeonee wolf pack for adoption, is clearly not a wolf. Some of his siblings and other pack members except him, others do not. His closest friend in the back is an albino cub, also ostracised for his strangeness. Under Shere Khan's influence some of the pact turn against the the leader Akela. When Mowgli steal fire from the man village to drive the tiger away he is banished to the man village. The humans see him as a feral beast and he ends up in a cage. As the weeks pass he becomes tamer and is excepted into the human society However when he learns of the Lockwood's murder of his albino wolf brother Mowgli flees to the forest again to return with Hathi the elephant and his herd. In a scene that resembles the chapter Letting in The Jungle from The Second Jungle Book. The final battle with Lockwood and Shere Khan is spectacular,leaving any Disney efforts in the shade.
There are a few errors. Mowgli's name is, as in every other version, pronounced wrongly. Kipling himself pronounced it with the first syllable to rhyme with 'cow' rather than rhyming with 'hoe'. Also the character Tabaqui, Shere Khan's spy, who is a golden jackal in the books is for some reason turned into a striped hyena in the film. These are minor niggles however.
Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is the finest adaptation of Kipling's classics since Zoltan Korda's 1942 film Jungle Book staring Sabu Dastagir and it goes some way to counter the dreadful damage the Disney Corporation has inflicted on the books.
https://www.netflix.com/search?q=mowgli&jbv=80993105&jbp=0&jbr=0
9/10