Mowgli, Legend of the Jungle
Dec. 14th, 2018 01:54 pmLast night a friend and I curled up on the sofa to watch a film. I'd had the songs from The Little Mermaid stuck in my head in the shower that morning, so that was my first suggestion, but when we opened Netflix I was reminded that there was this new live action/CGI film out in a similar Disneyish vein. I heard of it via ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mr_magicfingers, who works in the film industry and was on the SFXVFX team for Mowgli. I try to watch stuff he's been involved in, if only for the pleasure of seeing his name in the credits :)
So, Mowgli: a straight-to-Netflix original with a big CGI budget. It's enjoyable fluff and beautiful eye candy. I could happily watch those sweeping shots through the jungle for hours, and the background of the closing credit sequence would make a stunning psychedelic video projection (or even desktop screensaver). The score was stunning. Rohan Chand as Mowgli was watchable and convincingly energetic (the enthusiastic running around, and the scene where he's learning to leap and catch a branch and stubbornly hurls himself across the gap time after time, not caring that he keeps landing on his face, reminded me of a certain 13 year old boy I know). And the voice performances were amazing, from a stellar cast including Andy Serkis as a gruffly cockney Baloo (Serkis was also the director), Cate Blanchett as a scary and mystical Kaa, Christian Bale as a wonderfully sympathetic Bagheera, and Benedict Cumberbatch growly and resonant as Shere Khan. I could listen to his voice all day, although if I had to close my eyes I'm not sure I could have told the difference between Shere Khan and Smaug.
It was also very heckleable, with enough silly moments and narrative inconsistencies to result in a fair amount of shouting at the screen.
( Spoilers )
In summary: perfect film for talking over with a friend because you pretty much know the story already, nicely tense without being too scary (although the bloody bits were convincingly brutal), visually gorgeous fairytale. Don't expect it to make perfect sense, and you won't be disappointed.
mr_magicfingers, who works in the film industry and was on the So, Mowgli: a straight-to-Netflix original with a big CGI budget. It's enjoyable fluff and beautiful eye candy. I could happily watch those sweeping shots through the jungle for hours, and the background of the closing credit sequence would make a stunning psychedelic video projection (or even desktop screensaver). The score was stunning. Rohan Chand as Mowgli was watchable and convincingly energetic (the enthusiastic running around, and the scene where he's learning to leap and catch a branch and stubbornly hurls himself across the gap time after time, not caring that he keeps landing on his face, reminded me of a certain 13 year old boy I know). And the voice performances were amazing, from a stellar cast including Andy Serkis as a gruffly cockney Baloo (Serkis was also the director), Cate Blanchett as a scary and mystical Kaa, Christian Bale as a wonderfully sympathetic Bagheera, and Benedict Cumberbatch growly and resonant as Shere Khan. I could listen to his voice all day, although if I had to close my eyes I'm not sure I could have told the difference between Shere Khan and Smaug.
It was also very heckleable, with enough silly moments and narrative inconsistencies to result in a fair amount of shouting at the screen.
( Spoilers )
In summary: perfect film for talking over with a friend because you pretty much know the story already, nicely tense without being too scary (although the bloody bits were convincingly brutal), visually gorgeous fairytale. Don't expect it to make perfect sense, and you won't be disappointed.