The Jungle Book
This was like revisiting childhood. Only with better graphics and 3D animation.
In my mind, nothing can replace the old cartoon version, but Jon Favreau's version is something to be experienced.
When the film was released with a U/A rating, I wondered who the fool was to have made such a decision...until I watched the movie. The visual effects are so amazing that some parts are hair-raising! And I mean it in its truest sense.
All actors have done a splendid job of lending their voices to the characters and bringing them alive on screen, quite literally. And young Mowgli played by Neel Sethi is endearing. I did miss the vultures and Colonel Haathi, though. :)
I loved every bit of The Jungle Book, savored every character, felt their fear and mourned their loss. Everything except one niggling factor - diction.
So this is a story set in India, with characters that have Indian names - then why pronounce them incorrectly? Every time any character referred to Akela or Sher Khan, I silently cringed in my head. The name is Akela (meaning 'alone' in Hindi), not Akeela (no idea what that means) and it's Sher Khan (sher means 'tiger'), not Share Kahn (he is not German, he is Indian), there is a difference.
When King Louie said he is the king of the 'bandar log', I had to see the subtitles to understand what he meant. Bandar (means 'monkey' in Hindi), and log (means 'people'). To me, as an Indian, that's my language and I didn't like how that sounded.
I don't think the Italians would take it kindly if their names were misspelled and mispronounced. Imagine if Don Corleone was said any other way than it is supposed to be said. And French - as complicated as the language is, forget names, imagine saying 'bon jour' or 'bon apetit' wrong?
Doesn't sound quite right does it? Beacuse it isn't. And it isn't fair. If a story is being picked out of a certain region, it must be kept true to it's origin. And the origin of this movie is in India. So, it's only fair that the diction be checked and actors be trained before they lend their voices to characters.
A counter argument could be that there's an entire Hindi version that was released. Everything would be fine there. Sure. But we, on the subcontinent, are not new to Hindi, the Western audience is.
And they will watch the English movie, where most will learn or hear Hindi words, some maybe for the first time. And they should hear it right!
That said, I totally loved the ride back in time.
My recommendation: A must-watch! The 3D animation will blow your mind!
In my mind, nothing can replace the old cartoon version, but Jon Favreau's version is something to be experienced.
When the film was released with a U/A rating, I wondered who the fool was to have made such a decision...until I watched the movie. The visual effects are so amazing that some parts are hair-raising! And I mean it in its truest sense.
All actors have done a splendid job of lending their voices to the characters and bringing them alive on screen, quite literally. And young Mowgli played by Neel Sethi is endearing. I did miss the vultures and Colonel Haathi, though. :)
I loved every bit of The Jungle Book, savored every character, felt their fear and mourned their loss. Everything except one niggling factor - diction.
So this is a story set in India, with characters that have Indian names - then why pronounce them incorrectly? Every time any character referred to Akela or Sher Khan, I silently cringed in my head. The name is Akela (meaning 'alone' in Hindi), not Akeela (no idea what that means) and it's Sher Khan (sher means 'tiger'), not Share Kahn (he is not German, he is Indian), there is a difference.
When King Louie said he is the king of the 'bandar log', I had to see the subtitles to understand what he meant. Bandar (means 'monkey' in Hindi), and log (means 'people'). To me, as an Indian, that's my language and I didn't like how that sounded.
I don't think the Italians would take it kindly if their names were misspelled and mispronounced. Imagine if Don Corleone was said any other way than it is supposed to be said. And French - as complicated as the language is, forget names, imagine saying 'bon jour' or 'bon apetit' wrong?
Doesn't sound quite right does it? Beacuse it isn't. And it isn't fair. If a story is being picked out of a certain region, it must be kept true to it's origin. And the origin of this movie is in India. So, it's only fair that the diction be checked and actors be trained before they lend their voices to characters.
A counter argument could be that there's an entire Hindi version that was released. Everything would be fine there. Sure. But we, on the subcontinent, are not new to Hindi, the Western audience is.
And they will watch the English movie, where most will learn or hear Hindi words, some maybe for the first time. And they should hear it right!
That said, I totally loved the ride back in time.
My recommendation: A must-watch! The 3D animation will blow your mind!
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