Mowgli - Review Thread

Watching Mowgli just brings two questions to mind: why was this made and who is this for? I didn't exactly go gaga for Disney's live action adaptation two years ago, but at least that version had something this one is severely lacking: heart and soul. There's just no passion behind this thing. It feels as if Andy Serkis just said, "Okay. I want to make a dark version of The Jungle Book," and stopped there. Instead of taking the time to actually build the characters and give us a reason to care about anything, Serkis and screenwriter Callie Kloves just seem concerned with making everything feel as dark and gritty as possible. And considering that the majority of the characters in this film are CGI-created, it's quite simply an odd tone. But apart from that, Mowgli isn't done any further favors given the fact that it's second across the finish line. The majority of this film just has a "been there, done that" kind of feeling...mostly because another movie has already been here and done this. Again, it comes back to why does this movie even exist? It does nothing beyond simply telling The Jungle Book story in a darker way. The film does nothing to mine from that different approach. It's just a re-packaged version of a movie we've already seen, just with slightly different wrapping paper.