The phrase that best describes "Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle" is "uncanny valley," that uneasy feeling people have when they encounter simulations of people that are real but not quite real enough. Granted, most of the characters in this movie from actor-director Andy Serkis, who helped perfect motion capture performance techniques in the "Lord of the Rings" và "Planet of the Apes" movies, are animals. But they have a lot of the same unsettling qualities. You look at their faces và see the faces of the actors who supplied their voices. Vividly. As if they were sitting across from you, having lunch.
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And the story, as written by Callie Kloves & directed by Serkis, is in a different kind of valley, somewhere between a film that"s for kids và yet, in its persistent cruelty và bleakness, definitely not for kids. The whole movie feels oddly stranded và dramatically inert, despite the obvious passion that went into making it. You can see why its studio, Warner Bros., moved it from its scheduled release date in năm 2016 to avoid having it compete with another version of the same story: Jon Favreau"s Disney version of "The Jungle Book," which was brilliantly assembled và performed, & went on khổng lồ gross a billion dollars worldwide. (Two years later, the film will appear on Netflix after a brief theatrical run.)
Mowgli, the little orphaned boy raised by wolves with help from a panther & a bear, is played by a human, Rohand Chan. So are all the major animal characters, including his allies, Baloo the bear (Serkis), Bagheera the đen 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 và claims to lớn be able to lớn see the past and future equally. The animals all are modeled on the human actors who played them. You can see the resemblance in their bone structure, their expressions, and (especially) their eyes. They all have intricate, human-type lips, even the snake. In close-up shots, they could just as well be bipedal creatures from a "Star Wars" or Marvel movie that have the superficial characteristics of reptiles or mammals, but wear clothes & shoes và speak English with a distinctive regional accent (Serkis" bear is Cockney).
It"s the photorealistic rendering of the animals that throws the entire thing slightly out of whack. The technique seems meant lớn match them lớn their surroundings, which appear lớn have been shot on location or generated from footage or photographs of real jungles. But this isn"t a case lượt thích Favreau"s "The Jungle Book," where you can sense the spirit of Christopher Walken in King Louie the orangutan, or Bill Murray in Baloo, yet you still accept them as an ape and a bear. Serkis’ creatures feel like human-animal hybrids, right down lớn the way they use their hands/paws. Shere Khan even has what looks lượt thích a deformity in his right paw: it seems shrunken và twisted.
The uncanny valley of intent is an issue here, too. Who is this movie intended for? It"s often difficult khổng lồ say. There"s no way it would have gotten made if Warner Bros. Hadn"t banked on children wanting to lớn see it, and parents and guardians wanting lớn see it with them. But it"s unrelentingly brutal, at times verging on turning into a sadistic Mel Gibson action thriller with talking animals. At one point, Shere Khan scratches the flesh of Mowgli"s left arm, bloodying him. Mowgli is repeatedly beaten và tormented, even locked in a cage at one point. He cries in closeup quite a bit. The lighting is as dark as the story.
None of this is meant to lớn suggest that Serkis shouldn"t have made a dark version of this tale. Serkis is clearly a master of this filmmaking technology, as evidenced by the many scenes that integrate actual humans & CG animals in kích hoạt that"s presented in a single, long take, with no cuts (the best of these is a scene involving Kaa that takes an otherworldly turn). But the unrelenting grimness sits oddly with the slapstick comedy (particularly the early bits involving the monkeys) and some goofy supporting character voices (particularly Tom Hollander as the jackal Tabaqui, who latches onto Shere Khan as Salacious Crumb did khổng lồ Jabba the Hutt). "Mowgli" seems to lớn be going for an ""Oliver Twist," but in the jungle" vibe but not nailing it.
Serkis recovered from the disappointment of having this film shelved & went on khổng lồ direct "Breathe," another ambitious yet not entirely successful movie with some marvelous ideas và sequences. I"m sure we"ll see a lot more work from him as a director. But this movie gets lost in the woods early & never emerges.
Netflix
Drama
Adventure
Matt Zoller Seitz
Matt Zoller Seitz is the Editor at Largeof Roger
Ebert.com, TV critic for new york Magazine and Vulture.com, và a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism.
Parents Say: age 13+ 22 nhận xét
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Promotes teamwork, friendship, and the idea that family is where you find/make it. The wolf pack adopts Mowgli -- a sweet message for adoptive/nontraditional families. Other positive messages include idea that people can mistake individuality for weakness, but it's actually strength."> Positive Messages
Promotes teamwork, friendship, & the idea that f
Mowgli is curious, kind, intelligent. He's courageous enough lớn try khổng lồ protect his family và friends. Bagheera, Baloo, & the wolf parents all raise and train Mowgli from toddlerhood on, helping him be part of the community. Shere Khan is driven by rage & bloodlust, wanting to lớn kill Mowgli at all costs."> Positive Role Models
Mowgli is curious, kind, intelligent. He"s courage
Movie features many life-or-death scenes of violence, some bloody và frightening. Shere Khan kills Mowgli's parents (off-camera, but blood is visible on jungle floor, on Mowgli), then brags about it, leaves Mowgli bloody, muddy, crying. Shere Khan makes scary comments: "The man cub's blood will run down my chin." Several scenes where it seems Mowgli will die; he's nearly unconscious in one. Injuries leave him realistically scarred, bloody. Beloved supporting character is killed; his head is shown mounted in a hunter's gallery. Predator animals hunt. Animals fight one another, occasionally to lớn death. Mowgli uses a knife, kills someone. A hunter discusses only missing a kill once -- but still taking the elephant's tusk."> Violence và Scariness
Movie features many life-or-death scenes of violen
"Freak," "freaks," "weirdo," "we're not special, we came out wrong.""> Language
"Freak," "freaks," "weirdo," "we"re not special, w
A hunter drinks out of a flask và walks around like he's drunk."> Drinking, Drugs và Smoking
A hunter drinks out of a flask và walks around li
Parents Need lớn Know
Parents need lớn know that Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a dark, gritty, violent adaptation of Rudyard Kipling"s famous Jungle Book stories. Unlike Disney"s 1967 and năm 2016 versions of the source material, this live-action/CGI adventure is decidedly not for younger kids. From the first scene…
Promotes teamwork, friendship, và the idea that family is where you find/make it. The wolf pack adopts Mowgli -- a sweet message for adoptive/nontraditional families. Other positive messages include idea that people can mistake individuality for weakness, but it"s actually strength.
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Positive Role Models
Mowgli is curious, kind, intelligent. He"s courageous enough to try to lớn protect his family & friends. Bagheera, Baloo, & the wolf parents all raise & train Mowgli from toddlerhood on, helping him be part of the community. Shere Khan is driven by rage and bloodlust, wanting khổng lồ kill Mowgli at all costs.