Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Director: Andy Serkis
Year Released: 2018
Rating: 1.5
You know the deal by now, since it's been done so often: tiny Mowgli (Rohan Chand) gets raised by forest beasts Akela (voiced by Peter Mullan), sloth bear Baloo (Andy Serkis) and panther Bagheera (Christian Bale) and wants to be a wolf, but he's still a boy ... and Bengal tiger Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) is after him because of a (justified?) hatred of people. Serkis, such a whiz at live-action characters (Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes), does double duty as director and as bear Baloo, but his decision to make a 'dark,' 'realistic' version of the story (by Rudyard Kipling) doesn't add much to it: instead of a visually cute movie for kids (with a nice moral attached) you get blood and decapitation (beheading the lonely Bhoot is a cheap move) and ugly creatures with wrinkled, scarred and twisted faces. With the charm wantonly hacked away there's a muddy, bloody mess in its place, and the project lacks 'personality.' Did Serkis have to make Baloo sound like a British cabbie? What's next, The Lady and the Tramp but the Tramp has rabies?
