Mowgli [2018] vs. The Jungle Book [2016]

[Grotti Vigilante]

So I've wanted to go off-topic for a bit on these forums and decided to make a post in the Movies & TV section. Now I imagine that some of us on these forums would have seen at least one film in our lifetimes based on Rudyard Kipling's collection of short stories known as The Jungle Book, and some of us (like me) may have even read the book itself. Now when we think of The Jungle Book, we usually just think of the Mowgli stories, and Disney did a remake of their 1967 animated classic in 2016 with live-action actors and CGI. Meanwhile during that production time, Andy Serkis and Warner Bros. worked on a more darker, grittier and realistic take on the story derived straight from the book, which eventually made it onto Netflix as to avoid a box office bomb. Since these two are the most recent films released in such a short period of time, I wanted to know among those who've seen them to tell me which of these two films were better? For me personally, it goes like this:

 

• CGI - The Jungle Book takes this one because of how everything looks more photo-realistic and such, while the animals in Mowgli were more obvious CGI and looked a bit weird. Granted they were anthropomorphised to show more emotion and expression, but the CGI is still worse in my opinion, even if the film still looks very good.
• Cast and Characters - The casting in both films is quite evenly matched. Ben Kingsley (JB) and Christian Bale (M) do a good job as Bagheera, Bill Murray (JB) and Andy Serkis (M) do a good Baloo, even if they are totally different, and Idris Elba (JB) and Benedict Cumberbatch (M) just kill it as Shere Khan. Now the characters are different in both versions, so both groups of actors are portraying different kinds of roles. But ultimately, Mowgli takes the win just because Rohan Chand in Mowgli is a much better actor than Niel Sethi in The Jungle Book.
• Story and Tone - Now Mowgli takes this one just for being so much closer to the original source material. It is much darker and grimmer, and it is certainly not a little kids' film like Disney's sugarcoated version is. Mowgli is rated at PG-13 in US rating, and one particular scene which I shall not spoil had many people traumatised and even crying at due to it's very nature. It pretty much solidified that it wasn't a light-hearted Disney flick if you ever confused it as one.

 

So for all you that have seen them, what do you prefer out of The Jungle Book from 2016 and Mowgli from 2018? Vote and leave your thoughts below, and try to be civilised in your discussions. Thanks for reading.

[Bratva Assassin]

I prefer the 2018 Mowgli because I’ve read The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling much like the OP and really liked it! In fact, unpopular opinion, but I think it’s much better than the Disney version from 1967. I also think the 2018 Mowgli is a lot better than the 2016 Jungle Book. I also prefer the original stories than their Disney equivalents in relation to old school fairytales like Snow White, Cinderella, etc. as well.