Hollywood Film Review
Johnson Thomas
Contradicts the very essence of a clean kid-friendly Adventure
Film: Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Cast: Rohan Chand, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, Andy Serkis, Peter Mullan, Jack Reynor, Eddie Marsan, Tom Hollander, Matthew Rhys, Freida Pinto
Director: Andy Serkis
Screenwriter: Callie Kloves
Rating: * *
Runtime: 104 mins
Andy Serkis’ attempt to distinctively humanise the animal characters in ‘Mowgli,’ though path-breaking, spells doom for the overall enjoyment of this supposedly kiddie adventure that gets off on intolerable violence.
Mowgli(Rohan Chand), the little orphaned boy raised by wolves with help from a panther and a bear has an animal kingdom that looks and acts like the actors voicing them. It’s photo-realistic motion capture technology that is totally unsuitable for this kind of a story where animals are expected to look like animals and not humans.
It’s weird that Baloo the bear (Serkis), Bagheera the black panther (Christian Bale), his mortal enemy Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) who killed and ate his family way back when; and Kaa the python (Cate Blanchett), who narrates the story, don’t seem realistically drawn. They also speak English with distinctive accents. Don’t know why that trick was employed here but the result is a curiously un-affecting movie that leaves you more troubled rather than enthused.
By showcasing the brutality of the animals Serkis’ probably wanted to remind us that animals (especially those in the wild) behave unpredictably and shouldn’t be seen as tamed but ‘The Jungle Book’ story implies otherwise. We see compassion and love in the story that talks about two wild animals adopting a little human boy and raising him as their own. Serkis’ rendition is unsure of what he wants to convey. The unrelenting, dark brutality, bordering on the sadistic is certainly unsuitable for children. The dark lighting adds to the ominous quality of this assay.
Callis Koves’ screenplay doesn’t do justice to Rudyard Kipling’s grand vision and the treatment is so intervallic and disaffecting that you will feel alienated from it all. Some of the visuals look great but then there are others that are likely to give any impressionable young kid, nightmares. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch can do little to save this ‘horror’ story.
Johnsont307@gmail.com
Film: Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle
Cast: Rohan Chand, Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, Andy Serkis, Peter Mullan, Jack Reynor, Eddie Marsan, Tom Hollander, Matthew Rhys, Freida Pinto
Director: Andy Serkis
Screenwriter: Callie Kloves
Rating: * *
Runtime: 104 mins
Andy Serkis’ attempt to distinctively humanise the animal characters in ‘Mowgli,’ though path-breaking, spells doom for the overall enjoyment of this supposedly kiddie adventure that gets off on intolerable violence.
Mowgli(Rohan Chand), the little orphaned boy raised by wolves with help from a panther and a bear has an animal kingdom that looks and acts like the actors voicing them. It’s photo-realistic motion capture technology that is totally unsuitable for this kind of a story where animals are expected to look like animals and not humans.
It’s weird that Baloo the bear (Serkis), Bagheera the black panther (Christian Bale), his mortal enemy Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) who killed and ate his family way back when; and Kaa the python (Cate Blanchett), who narrates the story, don’t seem realistically drawn. They also speak English with distinctive accents. Don’t know why that trick was employed here but the result is a curiously un-affecting movie that leaves you more troubled rather than enthused.
By showcasing the brutality of the animals Serkis’ probably wanted to remind us that animals (especially those in the wild) behave unpredictably and shouldn’t be seen as tamed but ‘The Jungle Book’ story implies otherwise. We see compassion and love in the story that talks about two wild animals adopting a little human boy and raising him as their own. Serkis’ rendition is unsure of what he wants to convey. The unrelenting, dark brutality, bordering on the sadistic is certainly unsuitable for children. The dark lighting adds to the ominous quality of this assay.
Callis Koves’ screenplay doesn’t do justice to Rudyard Kipling’s grand vision and the treatment is so intervallic and disaffecting that you will feel alienated from it all. Some of the visuals look great but then there are others that are likely to give any impressionable young kid, nightmares. Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett and Benedict Cumberbatch can do little to save this ‘horror’ story.
Johnsont307@gmail.com
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