While still based on the works of Rudyard Kipling, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle (on Netflix from Fri., Dec. 14) is unrelated to Disney’s rollicking 2016 hit The Jungle Book, which means there’s no big ape singing, “Ooo-be-do, I wanna be like you-oo-oo.” The film stars Rohan Chand as Mowgli, with Matthew Rhys and Freida Pinto also among the human cast.
This version of the Kipling classic directed by Andy Serkis (who voices Baloo) is darker, with mangier, edgier animals – the monkey colony suggests some kind of thrill-kill cult. In one brilliant scene, man-cub Mowgli (Chand) hides from tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch) at the bottom of a pond – the tiger, fresh from a kill, washes blood from his mouth, releasing a cloud of crimson into the water.
The voice performances, including Cate Blanchett’s python and Christian Bale’s panther, are first-rate, but this is definitely one for older kids, with younger ones bound to be scared by the more visceral approach to the well-worn tale. 3 stars