Post by sgev1977 on Nov 29, 2018 0:13:53 GMT
First reviews are mixed.
www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/mowgli-legend-junglereview-andy-serkiss-earnest-take-kipling/
datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/andy-serkis-solid-new-mowgli-takes-the-bleaker-path-through-the-jungle
screenrant.com/mowgli-legend-jungle-movie-reviews/
Not that the animal effects are unconvincing: they just feel dated on arrival, and not a patch on Imaginarium’s recent ape-work. The use of performance capture also means the characters take after their human counterparts to an uncanny degree.
Peter Mullan’s Akela is basically a Peter Mullan-shaped wolf, while Benedict Cumberbatch’s Shere Khan also looks like something from a listicle – 500 Wild Animals Who Resemble British Actors (You Won’t Believe Number 376!). His vocal performance, meanwhile, may elicit deja-vu of another kind, since it is highly reminiscent of Jeremy Irons’ Scar in The Lion King. Perhaps with this source material, however far you try to scramble from Disney, there can ultimately be no escape.
Peter Mullan’s Akela is basically a Peter Mullan-shaped wolf, while Benedict Cumberbatch’s Shere Khan also looks like something from a listicle – 500 Wild Animals Who Resemble British Actors (You Won’t Believe Number 376!). His vocal performance, meanwhile, may elicit deja-vu of another kind, since it is highly reminiscent of Jeremy Irons’ Scar in The Lion King. Perhaps with this source material, however far you try to scramble from Disney, there can ultimately be no escape.
www.telegraph.co.uk/on-demand/0/mowgli-legend-junglereview-andy-serkiss-earnest-take-kipling/
But Serkis does make a strong case for self-sufficiency and the importance of a good teacher. He collects some of the best living A-list voice actors, including Christian Bale as Bagheera the panther, and his “Lord of the Rings” buddy Cate Blanchett as Kaa the python.
Cumberbatch is particularly good, making up for his nasal voice-acting misfire in the “Grinch” movie still in theaters. As he growls lines like “The man-cub’s blood will run down my chin,” the other evil Khan that Cumberbatch played, from “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” looks like a social worker by comparison.
Cumberbatch is particularly good, making up for his nasal voice-acting misfire in the “Grinch” movie still in theaters. As he growls lines like “The man-cub’s blood will run down my chin,” the other evil Khan that Cumberbatch played, from “Star Trek: Into Darkness,” looks like a social worker by comparison.
datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/andy-serkis-solid-new-mowgli-takes-the-bleaker-path-through-the-jungle
Further helping to bring the animals of the jungle to life are the actors behind Bagheera, Baloo, Kaa and Shere Khan. Mowgli enlisted an all-star cast to lend their talents to these characters, and they undoubtedly help these creatures nearly jump off the screen with their realness. But, perhaps what's especially compelling about the voice acting in Mowgli may not even be the performances of Bale, Serkis, Blanchett and Cumberbatch. Mowgli manages to animalize the voices of these performers - giving Cumberbatch a menacing growl as Shere Khan, Bale a near-purring lilt when Bagheera is relaxed, Blanchett a hissing undertone as Kaa and Serkis a deep rumbling as Baloo. It's unclear how much of the animalizing of the voices was done during the actors' performances and how much was added in post-production, but the result is a cast of animal characters that truly sound like animals - rather than very human actors lending their voices to CGI creatures. It's a subtle audio touch that adds to the immersive feel of Mowgli.
screenrant.com/mowgli-legend-jungle-movie-reviews/