Image credits: reddit

Judging the movie based on the poster is not a good habit. I looked upon Netflix’ Mowgli poster and I thought it was a story similar to Tarzan’s and I was almost correct except that Mowgli didn’t grow as a grown-up man and he had no love interest as well, however, it was similar in a way that they both grow in the jungle. Then upon reading more on the information online, I figured out that this is an adaptation of the original story of Jungle Book which was released in 2016.

Video credits: Netflix via YouTube

This movie talks about how Mowgli, an orphan who was raised among a pack of wolves thinking that he is also a wolf but ended up considering himself not and also not human. Let's see how that goes because I truly was entertained by this film. I will try my very best to share how I felt and what were my most and least favorite scenes.

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

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Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a 2018 fantasy adventure film directed by Andy Serkis with a screenplay by Callie Kloves, based on stories collected in All the Mowgli Stories by Rudyard Kipling. The film stars Rohan Chand, Matthew Rhys, and Freida Pinto, along with voice and motion capture performances from Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Benedict Cumberbatch, Naomie Harris, and Serkis.

Information from wikipedia.org

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle Story Plot

Image credits: mensxp

The jungle grows, lives and survives with the balance between the animals and everything that breathes in the land. But as humans began to conquer more and more land areas, it is also beginning to get near the borders of the jungle, it won’t take long until the human race will be taking over which will certainly become a horrific event to the animals who live in the jungle.

The animals in the jungle somewhere in the lands of India have their own law one of which includes never to eat any cattle owned by humans most especially not to kill humans as it brings bad luck and danger to the life within them however, a tiger named Shere Khan broke this law, killing a family, leaving a man-cub orphaned.

Image credits: mobilesyrup

Image credits: decider

Bagheera, a black panther came to rescue the man-cub and brought to a pack of wolves who agreed to keep and take care of him. There was a little argument about it but with the leader's approval and Bagheera buying his life with a kill, he was kept in.

Some years had passed by and Mowgli grew into a young boy, thinking he is a wolf but also doubts how he is very unlike them. Meanwhile, Bagheera and Baloo, a bear trained him to pass the running trial so he can be accepted by the pack. But before the trial, Mowgli encountered Shere Khan but was rescued by an elephant with a broken tusk.

Image credits: cnet

Bagheera then broke it to Mowgli that he is a human and asked him to go to the man-village if he fails the trial. Mowgli tried his best to be on top of the young wolves but Bagheera caught him and eventually, Mowgli was sad about it and eventually ran away but was kidnapped by a group of monkeys. Bagheera and Baloo eventually came to the rescue, finding Shere Khan about to eat Mowgli. The two rescuers were overtaken by the numerous monkeys but Kaa, the mysterious and powerful snake came to the rescue.

A confrontation between Shere Khan and Akela made Mowgli come down the man village and took a fire to keep Shere Khan away but this brought shame to Akela and forced Mowgli to leave the pack and go to the village. He was taken captive by the villagers and was locked up in a cage under the house of John Lockwood because he was also violent. Bagheera came to advise Mowgli to gain the trust of the villagers and which he did.

Image credits: theverge

Being free, Mowgli finally learned to adjust, even enjoyed the life with the villagers until one day, he found that Lockwood is a hunter who even killed his friend Bhoot. Everything changed and he returned back to the pack, aimed to kill Shere Khan. As the pack refused to break the law of the jungle, he went to ask help from the elephants most especially that one whom the broken tusk was found at the hunter's house. This went on successfully, the hunter was killed while Shere Khan was also killed by Mowgli to the expense of Akela. Mowgli became the leader of the pack and the voice of the jungle.

Movie Review

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Being someone who had not seen the Jungle Book, I had nothing to compare this movie with. I believe the story was compelling, it had fun and adventure as Mowgli being part of the virgin jungle, a young man who learned the language of the animals. I appreciate the visual effects were pretty awesome, looking like the animal characters were almost real!

The Indian set up was pretty cool too, I love the rawness of the village life, it truly speaks the colors of India during the Holi Festival of Colors. I am not sure though if the film was really filmed somewhere in India but I notice that they didn't show much except for the god statue.

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I notice that this movie is a little dark for kid audiences, I didn't mind the harsh experiences that Mowgli undergone throughout the movie but I believe if kids are watching this, they might ask a lot of questions as to why he has to endure those given that he was just a kid. But the director, Andy Serkis revealed already even before that this was darker than the previous film. I guess I will have to watch the other movie too in the next few days to really differentiate the two.

Image credits: businessinsider

Anyway, I had fun, I felt that this was a good movie except for those times when there was too much prolonged facial expressions from the main character, I felt like it was too much. There were good moral lessons too most especially that confrontation between Bhoot and Mowgli about them being special creatures which didn't end up nicely. It is something to be learned from and can be applicable even to us humans.

Video credits: FilmSelect Trailer via YouTube

Thank you for reading! What kind of movies do you like?

 

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About the author:
Jean Beltran-Figues is a photography enthusiast. 
A traveler who wants to promote her beloved country, the Philippines.