After an extended period of waiting, the other live action Jungle Book has been released. And while it does show a lot of ambition the execution is not quite up to the task.
Andy Serkis steps up as a director for the first time and his debut sets out to be more true to the text and grittier than either Disney version. Characters are much more in line with the original book in terms of personality (Baloo is considerably grumpier, Kaa is a neutral Old Master, etc.) though new characters like a Great White Hunter are added in to expand on the two worlds Mowgli is torn between. Overall the intent is admirable though it does sometimes feel like some of the darkness is for the sake of darkness, not the plot.my
Sadly the movie fumbles the actual execution somewhat. The voice acting is good, but the limitations of mo cap technology is exposed... While it is brilliant on human-like characters like apes or Gollum, trying to apply it to wolves or bears or a snake just looks... Wrong. Emotive human eyes on a realistically animal face means it convinces as neither.
I admire the film and the director for his vision. I just don't especially enjoy it as a film.
I admire the ambition... (Spoilers)
After an extended period of waiting, the other live action Jungle Book has been released. And while it does show a lot of ambition the execution is not quite up to the task.
Andy Serkis steps up as a director for the first time and his debut sets out to be more true to the text and grittier than either Disney version. Characters are much more in line with the original book in terms of personality (Baloo is considerably grumpier, Kaa is a neutral Old Master, etc.) though new characters like a Great White Hunter are added in to expand on the two worlds Mowgli is torn between. Overall the intent is admirable though it does sometimes feel like some of the darkness is for the sake of darkness, not the plot.my
Sadly the movie fumbles the actual execution somewhat. The voice acting is good, but the limitations of mo cap technology is exposed... While it is brilliant on human-like characters like apes or Gollum, trying to apply it to wolves or bears or a snake just looks... Wrong. Emotive human eyes on a realistically animal face means it convinces as neither.
I admire the film and the director for his vision. I just don't especially enjoy it as a film.