Susan Granger’s review of “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” (Netflix)
Although it’s too scary for tiny tots, Andy Serkis’ hybrid live-action/digitized version of Rudyard Kipling’s classic is an exciting adventure for older children and tweens – released in theaters and on-line.
Narrated by the mystical python Kaa (voiced by Cate Blanchett), it begins with an insatiable tiger, Shere Khan (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch), killing the parents of a baby boy. Abandoned in the verdant Indian jungle, he’s saved by the panther Bagheera (voiced by Christian Bale).
Bagheera delivers the orphaned ‘man-cub’ to a family of wolves, who adopt him as one of their own, promising protection from menacing Shere Khan, despite objections from their neighbors. As years pass, Mowgli learns jungle ethics, including looking his prey in the eye so it will not die alone.
Growing up as part of the pack, wide-eyed, energetic Mowgli (Rohan Chand) befriends Bhoot (voiced by Louis Ashbourne Serkis), a bullied albino wolf-cub, as they train with the bear Baloo (voiced by Andy Serkis), for a pivotal race that will determine Mowgli’s future.
In the meantime, Shere Khan is savagely slaughtering sacred cows that belong to the nearby villagers although a hunter, John Lockwood (Matthew Rhys), has vowed to shoot him. That coincides with Mowgli’s seizure by the rapacious monkey colony and his subsequent expulsion from the jungle.
When Mowgli is captured and caged by Lockwood, pragmatic Bagheera instructs him to try to earn the hunter’s trust, but inevitable betrayal lies ahead.
Episodically adapted by Callie Kloves, it’s directed by Andy Serkis, best known for his motion-capture work as Gollum in “Lord of the Rings” and Caesar in “Planet of the Apes.”
Tt’s totally unrelated to Disney’s 2016 “The Jungle Book.” According to Serkis: “Ours was never going to be a bring-the-whole-family film. We wanted to make it more visceral and have you be able to smell the jungle.”
FYI: ‘John Lockwood’ is the name of Rudyard Kipling’s father.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle” is a gritty, edgy 6, rated PG-13 because of intense violence.
