Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle Review

Justin Charles, Staff Writer

Netflix’s new film, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, brings a new take to Rudyard Kipling’s classic The Jungle Book.

Directed by Andy Serkis, this film brought an all-star cast to the table, including Christian Bale as Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Andy Serkis as Baloo, and Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Kahn.

Despite being surrounded by some of the biggest names in Hollywood, young actor Rohan Chand, who played Mowgli, easily gave the strongest performance. I was constantly impressed by his portrayal of a boy torn between the world he grew up in and the world he belongs to.

This film’s PG-13 rating also allowed for it to be a much darker story than both Disney’s cartoon and live-action remake. It was a refreshing twist, as one thing that worried me was that it would be telling the exact same story as the two films that came before.

In some places, the CGI seemed unfinished, and trying to put human faces onto animals didn’t seem to translate very well, but at other times I was wowed by how lifelike Shere Kahn and other animals looked. This film is easily my favorite adaptation of The Jungle Book.

So if you don’t have a Netflix subscription, get one because you need to see this film.