Mowgli's Brothers Review

Here is a classic review
of the classic film Mowgli's
Brothers. Enjoy.



Mowgli's Brothers, taken
from The Jungle Book by
Rudyard Kipling, was made
into a 25 minute film by
the legendary animator,
producer and director, Chuck
Jones.

It came out in 1976 and
was narrated by Roddy McDowall.

The 30 minute story heavily
followed the original.

Source

This story would also be made
into comic form by Marvel in 1983.
It was reprinted last year (2007).

SYNOPSIS:

Mowgli's Brothers is the story of a boy
whose parents were chased out of the
jungle in India by Shere Kahn ( a Tiger).
He managed to get to safety by finding
the Seeonee Pack.

Father Wolf and Mother Wolf (Raksha the Demon) as they
are named, would protect him from
Kahn. This was because Mother Wolf never
saw a Human baby before and because of
the baby's fearlessness, appearance and his
boldness to nurse from her, she wanted to
protect it.

They would bring him into a ceremony to have
him inducted into the pack. Baloo
the Brown Bear and Bagheera the Panther
would vouch for Mowgli since Jungle Law
said two outside of parentage would
have to vouch him getting into the pack.

Mowgli the Frog, as he was named by
Mother Wolf, would grow and Kahn
would have no more of Mowgli. He
would in this story trick younger
Wolves to follow his ways.

Akela, the leader of all the Wolves
by this time was old and would soon
fail on his hunt, which Kahn would
take advantage of.

Bagheera and Baloo came up with a plan
to save Akela, Father Wolf and Mother Wolf
since they knew that if Mowgli was gone they
would all die.

Mowgli would enter a human town and
steal coal to make a torch.

Akela fails the hunt, and a meeting is
formed by Kahn. Kahn wants Mowgli.
Mowgli arrives at the meeting and asks if Kahn or
the Wolves lead the pack.

Akela questions handing over Mowgli
to Kahn, since Mowgli has followed all the Laws of
the Jungle. The only difference Akela points
out is that Mowgli is not an animal. And
Akela admits he is old, and tries to
protest further, but he is cut off
by the growing mob.

Mowgli then saves Akela
by making a torch. He says to the younger
Wolves that they are Dogs for following
Kahn. Mowgli said that he wanted to be a Wolf
but would have to return to the Humans.

By this time Mowgli was told by
Bagheera that it was time for him to live
among men since he was crying, and
that is something men do. Bagheera
was secretly crying too.

Mowgli asks Mother Wolf to not forget
him, which she replies that he was
her favorite child.

Mowgli would leave to rejoin Humanity.

END SYNOPSIS

The tale of Mowgli's Brothers on this
film was overall a good movie.

The style of animation was similar to Looney Tunes,
which is no surprise since Chuck Jones
was involved with that franchise. The colors in
the background were distinct from the
characters so you would always notice
the characters.

Kahn was oddly enough in this tale, white
instead of orange as he was written.
This could be because white is usually regarded
as the color of purity and saintliness, which
Kahn in this tale is the opposite of.

The voice acting was decent. Some characters
like Father and Mother Wolf had great voice
actors, but some of it was monotone.  

The film had some interesting concepts.

1) Laws of the Jungle

For example: Wolves must obey the Laws of
the Jungle or die.

Primarily, 'Strength of the Pack is the Wolf',
and 'Strength of the Wolf is the Pack', which
is true in real-life.

Wolves need each other and the Pack to survive
in Nature. Without one and all you can't have
anything.

Father Wolf talks to Mowgli about how the
Law of the Jungle says that every action
must have a justifiable reason. In otherwords
no senseless acts of violence, destruction,
rudeness, or anything like that.

This is also true in real-life. Nature does
what it does to ensure ecosystems are in balance.
It isn't senseless in what it does.

Father Wolf talks about how those of Nature
must never eat Man. For if an Animal attacks
and eats Man for any reason, they will come
en masse with torches and no Animal will
win.

This is also true in real life. Humans who attack one
another will be taken to jail for sinister
crimes.

If an Animal attacks out of self-defense,
or to protect it's territory or if it is taunted
will be slaughtered by Humans and witch hunts begin.

This happened with a falsely reported Wolf attack
on a Human in Canada.

Falsely Reported Wolf Attack

As well as the Tiger Tatiana, who was taunted
by several San Francisco Zoo patrons. She was
able to escape the Zoo due to out-of-date codes
for the Zoo. She would later be shot to death
by local police, rather than captured alive.

Tiger 'attack victim' admits taunting, police say
Zoo director says tiger wall lower than recommended height

2) Mowgli's origin interestingly enough, is awfully similar
to that of one of the legends of Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome.

Both were separated from their parents and would
be raised by a Wolf. In the legend of Romulus and
Remus, the Wolf was a female by the name of Lupa.

They would grow up with courage and
masculinity, much like Mowgli did.

Romulus and Remus

The only parts that were flawed (not every film or form
of media is perfect) in this film and the original stories
were how the young Wolves were easily misled and
followed Kahn.

It's metaphorical to the idea of young people being highly rebellious
and not listening to their 'wise' elders. Not all
young ones are rebellious and not all elders are wise.

And of course this is fiction so this situation
really doesn't happen in Nature. The part of
a Tiger being a villain and leading a rival
pack of Wolves that are villains doesn't happen in
real-life.

Parents might want to caution that Wolves and Tigers don't
do this in real-life and that they do have
human attributes and styles of ethics (for better
or for worse), in this tale.

However the film of The Jungle Book in 1994
told the tale I think in better in some aspects.

How Kahn isn't a villain, along with the Wolves,
but the real villains are those who are greedy among Humanity.

Though The Jungle Book underscores
the importance of Mowgli raised by Wolves
in most of Disney's portrayals of the
story.

Nearly all of The Jungle Book products by Disney,
the Wolves are constantly left out.

40th Anniversary
Jungle Book Movie
The Jungle Book (Limited Issue)
Soundtrack
Book
Software

Except one. This figure
set actually has Mowgli's Wolf Mother included.

No surprise considering they portray them badly in Beauty
and the Beast, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion,
The Witch and The Wardrobe, among many films.

Overall the film is solid for a story adapted
from the late 1800's. Check it out to see the
predecessor to many of today's Animal Tales,
such as Mononoke Hime (Princess Mononoke) and
Stormy Night (Arashi no Yoruni).

Score: 3.5/5

Mike Wagner -- Director and Founder of Heart of the
Wolf Organization, Honor Fallen and Oppressed Wolves
-- and Co-Host of KWF Wolf Conservation, Webbb of Life

http://www.heartofthewolf.org
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/heartofthewolf
http://groups.myspace.com/HeartOfTheWolf
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/Wolfconservationists
http://www.care2.com/c2c/group/weboflife
http://www.heartofthewolf.org/HFOW.htm