Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
This page needs visual enhancement.
You can help All The Tropes by finding a high-quality image or video to illustrate the topic of this page.


Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is a 2018 film produced by Netflix and Warner Bros., and directed by Andy Serkis in his debut. The film is based on the 1894 novel The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling.

Mowgli shares a few similarities with Disney's 2016 adaptation of The Jungle Book, including a cast consisting mostly of CG motion-captured animals voiced by an All-Star Cast, including a female voice for Kaa.

The cast includes Rohan Chand as Mowgli, Matthew Rhys as John Lockwood, Freida Pinto as Messua, Andy Serkis as Baloo, Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, Christian Bale as Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Jack Reynor as Brother Wolf, Tom Hollander as Tabaqui, Peter Mullan as Akela, Naomie Harris as Nisha and Eddie Marsan as Vihaan.

Tropes used in Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle include:
  • All-Star Cast: Just like the English version, the Hindi dub is full of Bollywood stars. Abhishek Bachchan as Bagheera, Kareena Kapoor as Kaa, Madhuri Dixit as Nisha, Anil Kapoor as Baloo and Jackie Shroff as Shere Khan.
  • Badass Grandpa: Despite his age, Akela is still able to defend himself against several younger wolves when his leadership of the pack is challenged, and holds his own for a respectable period of time until Mowgli intervenes. Even afterward, he still commands enough respect that some of the wolves along with Baloo and Bagheera still remain loyal to him.
  • Big Brother Instinct: Bagheera calls Mowgli "little brother" and is protective of him.
  • Darker and Edgier: Especially compared to Disney's version.
  • The Dreaded: Just like in the original book, Kaa is portrayed as a being feared by the rest of the jungle. Baloo teaches Mowgli that Kaa is the only one that the Monkey-People are afraid of, and even Shere Khan backs down when Kaa demands him to.
  • Everything's Worse with Bears: This version of Baloo is a Stern Teacher meets Drill Sergeant Nasty, harsh and demanding with Mowgli, as far from the Beary Funny Disney character as possible. He also looks scarred, rugged and has a deep, grating voice.
  • Evil Cripple: Shere Khan has a crippled front paw, and he is one of the meanest animals in the jungle.
  • Ink Suit Actor: The voice actors share some features with their characters.
  • Logo Joke: The Warner Bros. shield has a snakeskin tint.
  • Real Life Relative: Bhoot is voiced by Louis Ashbourne Serkis, director Andy's son.
    • In the French dub, Baloo and Mowgli are voiced by father and son. Curiously, Baloo's voice actor, Daniel Lobé, was Shere Khan in the 2016 movie.
  • Role Reprisal: In the Italian dub, Luca Tesei reprises his role as Mowgli from The Jungle Book (2016 film), while Fabrizio Pucci returns as Baloo from The Jungle Book 2.
  • Serkis Folk: Andy Serkis himself as Baloo, and the other voice actors also did motion capture for their characters.
  • Truer to the Text: Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle is directly adapted from Kipling's works, and it shows. Tabaqui and Messua have roles, Shere Khan has a limp, Mowgli does not have an easy time adjusting to humankind and ends up going back to the jungle, Baloo is a teacher, Bagheera used to live with humans, and Kaa is wise and not a villain.


Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Mowgli:_Legend_of_the_Jungle?oldid=2017054"