MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE (O-RVZ MOVIE REVIEW)

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a fantasy adventure film newly released by Netflix which story is based on a collection of short stories of "All the Mowgli Stories". The film is directed by Andy Serkis who is famously known for his motion-capture performances playing as Gollum from the Lord of the Rings franchise, King-Kong, and Caesar from the new Planet of the Apes franchise. It features an ensemble casts with the likes of Christian Bale (Bagheera), Cate Blanchett (Kaa), Benedict Cumberbatch (Shere Khan), Andy Serkis (Baloo) and, Naomie Harris (Nisha). This is a darker version of the Disney's Jungle Book which they also released a CGI adaptation last 2016.

Both of these films did an amazing job to their visual effects. If I have to choose between the two, I would say I will prefer this version than the Disney's Jungle Book. When you look at these animals that they have incorporated in the film, they were so photo-realistic and it just amazed me of how technology can create these things. Combined with some amazing cinematography, I think this film really nailed that part. However, if I have to choose which story would I prefer, I would have also taken this film just because I liked stories having a darker tone and I also idolized Andy Serkis. Sadly though after watching this film, that is no longer the case. For me, the film felt so slow at the beginning. The story didn't quite hit me until the latter part of the film. The movie is long and you would really have to wait like an hour for something to get spicy. The first half of the film is about this Mowgli's training for him to be part of the pack of wolf and that kinda felt dragging to me. I didn't feel any sense of adventure to it. Given by its story and setting, you would expect something for them to explore more interesting parts of the jungle which the Disney's Jungle Book adaptation managed to do. Casting wise, I would definitely go for these casts than the other one. These are super talented actors and I liked all of their performances voicing those animals. The film did have some shocking and sad revelations at the end. That was some really dark stuff and that caught me off guard.

OVERALL

MOWGLI: LEGEND OF THE JUNGLE is a film that is promising yet suffers due to its pacing issues. The pacing and the direction really suffer from it and the story didn't quite manage to hit me that much. Fortunately, you won't have to pay for an extra cash just to see this as this is released already on Netflix. I was expecting a bit more of it just because of the great talents behind it and Andy Serkis helming this film. Would I recommend it? If you have Netflix subscription, for sure go watch it.