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Post by mllemass on Dec 7, 2018 20:49:53 GMT
I watched it today, and it was really good! I didn’t know exactly what to expect because I wasn’t all that familiar with the story. I was a bit worried when Mowgli went to the human world because it wasn’t as interesting as the jungle and it felt like a let-down. I missed the animals and the jungle and I wanted Mowgli to go back! Of course, that was intentional and all part of the story, so it was very well-done.
It’s definitely not for little kids, though! There were some intense, violent, scary and also sad parts. The animation is amazing! I totally believe those animals can talk. And they made Shere Khan especially rotten - I gasped at his horribleness! Benedict was perfect - as were all the actors.
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 8, 2018 16:37:33 GMT
I just finished it and agreed it’s a good movie. As I suspected reviewers exaggerated, yes, it’s (slightly) bloody and violent but there isn’t any reason why an adult would feel scared by it! It’s not different to a lot of intense 80’s family oriented movies! Anglo-Saxon critics are becoming increasingly delicate! The worst part is that a lot of them are actually obsessed with those bloody and violent PG-13 movies from the 80s! It’s not for very little kids but I think 10 or 11 years old would understand it and enjoyed it! This is not Saw for kids (as that crazy reviewer said!) and it’s not a “dark” or “goth” version of anything! I have read the books but I don’t remember all the details. It was many years ago! I think there’s a few changes (the small albino wolf for example) but in general it feels much more faithful to the books than the Disney’s cartoon (I haven’t watched the recent film). Yesterday, I read someone who liked it on Twitter saying this is great but it’s not The Jungle Book. He was talking about the Disney classic as if it were *the* Jungle Book, of course. And that’s what IMO affected the reception. A lot of critics think Disney cartoon is the original totally ignoring the nature of the books. Maybe it’s not 100% faithful but without doubt this is much more The Jungle Book than Disney’s if you have actually know what The Jungle Book it’s about. I enjoyed seeing the actors faces on the animals! It’s fantastic if you aren’t waiting for realistic animals expressions! I think they could polished the animation a little. It is a new technique and I think it’s not perfect yet. I would have liked that they explained Shere Khan a little more! I was amazed that there wasn’t a politically correct reaction on Twitter about him considering he, as Richard III, is a disabled character! It has logic in the plot because it’s true that weaker, hungry or vulnerable animals are more dangerous to humans (and their cattle) because they can’t hunt other wild animals. We saw he is “lame” but the other animals aren’t calling him that every second as on the books! There is an interesting parallel between he, Mowgli and the albino wolf. They are different/special, they are bullied but meanwhile hate controls the tiger, the little boy becomes a leader! The ending with the boy showing compassion for the beast that killed his mother and saying him to rest and abandon his anger is very touching (and it’s nice he feel compassion for the tiger but not for the human hunter who doesn’t have any justification to kill! Matthew Rhys is great in his short role, by the way!)
The sad part is that they don’t make it explicit! Considering a few critics moaned about not understanding the “Jungle laws”, I’m sure most of them didn’t even noticed his twisted paw! BC was great as also were Christian Bale, Tom Hollander as a very ugly looking Tabaqui and Peter Mullan as a sober and heroic Akela. They were the stand outs for me. In the human department, as I said above, Matthew Rhys did a wonderful work with his very few scenes as the true villain of the story and the kid was amazing! I read a few comments saying he was the weakest link and that’s crazy! He had a few difficult scenes and he managed them really well! Freida Pinto was given a thankless role as “the nice beautiful woman”. She deserved something better! Probably the best thing it could have happened to this was Netflix. The success of the Disney’s recent version and the huge backlash would had affected it. I have read a good number of positive comments on Twitter so maybe it could have a better legacy there.
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Post by mllemass on Dec 8, 2018 20:20:27 GMT
It made me so sad to read some of the twitter comments yesterday. Andy Serkis had proudly tweeted that Mowgli was now available on Netflix around the world, and some idiots decided to reply to his tweet by telling him that the movie was terrible. Why would anyone do that??
Netflix itself also tweeted about Mowgli, and again people bombarded them with horrible comments about the movie. After reading (and blocking) many of them, I doubt that they had even watched it. They just want to be on record as saying something nasty. After all, it’s not like sitting in a movie theatre. If you’re sitting at home watching something you hate, would you really watch the whole thing and then go on twitter to complain about it? Wouldn’t you just turn it off?
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Reactions
Dec 8, 2018 21:29:09 GMT
via mobile
Post by sgev1977 on Dec 8, 2018 21:29:09 GMT
I haven't checked the movie's hashtag but BC's has a good number of positive comments!
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Post by queenzod on Dec 9, 2018 10:57:55 GMT
I watched it last night and I’m sorry to say I didn’t like it. There were some very beautiful scenes like when he first meets the elephant, and it brought up a lot to think about with the man or animal question and the treatment of other denizens of our planet w/ deforestation and stuff, but for me, it was too brutal. Too grim. I did not like all the animals fighting, or the blood, or the horrible trophy hunter guy. There was also an element of the noble savage with the villagers that I found distasteful/ trite.
Ben was great as usual, tho. There was one moment when I really “saw” or perceived Ben’s face in Shere Khan that was startling and cool.
Too bad, because I wanted to like it.
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 9, 2018 13:11:59 GMT
Really? I was thinking about how old 80s family films could be much more brutal than it! I mean Indiana Jones movies had some awful and very bloody deaths and probably the most traumatic scene in a family film for me was the girl in The Gremlins telling the boy she hated Christmas because the terrible way her father dies. The worst part is that it was a very dark sadistic joke but not exactly for kids!
Scenes of real animals killing each other were also very common in wild documentaries. I don’t think it wasn’t very realistic in the film, TBH.
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Post by mllemass on Dec 9, 2018 16:28:27 GMT
Personally, Mowgli is not really my taste. I’ve never enjoyed “adventure” movies (or even books). I feel the same way about “action” movies. So that includes the superhero movies and even movies like Raiders of the Lost Ark. But I think I can still appreciate a good movie, no matter what the genre. Raiders of the Lost Ark was fun, but I had no desire to see any of its sequels. It was the same for The Lion King - I liked it a lot, but I’ve never watched it again after seeing it for the first time when it came out.
I thought Mowgli was a really good movie, but it would be hard for me to compare it to other similar movies because I never watch them!
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Post by queenzod on Dec 9, 2018 18:52:26 GMT
I thought the Indiana Jones movies were more “camp.” So that guy who melted in front of the arc of the covenant was more cartoony than grim. And while I love nature documentaries, I have to look away during the killing parts, and some of them that do the kill part three times over in super slo-mo I won’t watch.
There were parts of Mowgli that were absorbing. But not my cup of tea.
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Post by sgev1977 on Dec 9, 2018 21:53:39 GMT
Wasn’t there a guy who is chopped by an helicopter in one of the Indiana Jones’ movies? They don’t showed the event itself just the blood everywhere! I was thinking in that instead of the cartoonishly guy melting. I think 80s and 90s PG-13 movies were more sadistic than movies today! I actually used to say that I was normally more shocked with some action/adventure PG-13 films than most R-rated movies. They didn’t explicitly showed things but suggested the most horrible things!
I haven’t watched the 90s, 00s The Jungle Book versión but according to Mendelson it’s even more violent than this one. Who knows?
Also I have problems with the CGI so I didn’t thought it’s very realistic done. Not just in this movie but in most movies with CGI. Maybe that’s why it didn’t affected me.
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Post by queenzod on Dec 9, 2018 22:01:55 GMT
I forgot about the helicopter guy! Well, I was less tender in my youth so it didn’t bother me. But there was just something so grim and brutal about Mowgli that I didn’t care for. No biggie. We don’t have to like everything. 😃
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