Stills from the movie "Maukley the Son of the Forest"
The latest film, based on Radiyard Kipling's Jungle Tales, cannot be called the "perfect reboot" of the 1894 film version of the storybook.
There's more evil, gore, and death in Children of the Forest Than any Kipling-themed movie I've ever seen. This makes sense, as many of these films are Disney products. The film wasn't, it was made by Warner Bros. and acquired by Netflix.
In addition, the film was directed by Andy Serkis, who is known for his actors who work primarily in the field of motion capture (such as Gollum in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings films). Children of the Forest Mowgli begins with a flesh-and-blood baby abandoned in the jungle, held by Bashira the Panther made through CG technology and VFX special effects, and voiced and performed by Christian Bale for motion capture. Bashira gave the "human cub" to an emotional wolf pack family that adopted him despite the objections of other animals.
But without the protection of wolves, Mowgli, the man known as the animal as a little boy, would surely fall prey to the old but still deadly horror tiger Shelly Ke (played by Benedict Cumberbatch, who is more comfortable than he was in "The Christmas Monster"). Also hunting the boy is the mysterious, sarcastic python Kao (Kate Blanchett), for reasons that no one can figure out.
In the first half of the film, Mowgli (Rohan Chand) trains with the cute and grumpy Bear Baru (Andy Serkis) to compete in a contest to decide if he can join the wolf pack's hunting operation. It's a compelling and more exciting fantasy game than you could have imagined, and the action performance abilities of a teenager, Chand (who was just 11 years old at the time of filming), are incredible.
Chloe Cloffs' play, which takes place in India in the early 20th century, is very different from Kipling's story and sometimes disturbing. In the second half of the film, after Mowgli was forced to join human society, the film makes some bold moves to explore the so-called Duality of Mowgli. He's not exactly a jungle creature, and some of the humanity he exhibits makes him happy. However, the human hunter (Matthew Reese), who takes care of him in his new world, breaks Mowgli's heart, which in turn stirs up his anger.
The filmmakers clearly wanted to bring an unusual maturity to this fantasy film, and in many ways they were successful. While not everything will succeed, the impression left in the end is deep and long-lasting.