The Jungle Book: Too Dark For Kids? [SPOILER ALERT]

Our favourite childhood story, The Jungle Book, had a wild opening weekend with $103.6 million (RM408.62 million) in ticket sales. This classic tale was written by Rudyard Kipling in 1894. Yes, you read it correctly, it was exactly 122 years ago. Surprisingly, there are some people who didn’t know the existence of

The Jungle Book prior to this remake. Walt Disney had previously produced The Jungle Book: Mowgli’s Story in 1998, The Jungle Book in 1994 as well as an animated version of the movie in 1967. The latest reboot is by far the most successful and best live-action Disney remake so far.

It seems that Disney is trying to make their movies appeal to a more matured audience through their live-action movies. Just like Maleficent, the latest Jungle Book has a really dark approach to it. Some even debated that it’s not really suitable for younger audiences. The movie also received a PG (parental-guidance) rating in India and the US.

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Despite the ratings, the movie is doing really well around the world and has also received a 95% rating from The Rotten Tomatoes which proves Disney’s new ‘magical’ formula is actually working. So, what are the so- called scenes that were borderline creepy, scary and dark?

Kaa meets Mowgli

Image: Disney

Scarlett Johansson did an absolute amazing job as Kaa. She delivered her lines in the most spine-chilling way, just like when you saw your grandma eating without her dentures in the middle of the night. What made it even creepier was the CGI; Kaa was super-realistic, it was as if she was slithering and breathing down your throat. The moment she opened her mouth to devour Mowgli got us all closing our eyes and flinching.

King Louie chases Mowgli

Image: Disney

In the original animated version, King Louie is depicted as a fun, jovial, orang utan. However, in this remake, Disney has brought King Louie up not one, but a few hundred notches by turning him into a bigger ape from the Gigantopithecus species. And instead of dancing away with Baloo and Mowgli, this Godzilla version of King Louie chased Mowgli around his temple and basically annihilated everything in his path.

Shere Khan kills Mowgli’s father

Image: Disney

Surprise, surprise, turns out that Mowgli’s father did not appear in the original animated version. Perhaps Disney wanted to narrate a better story line by including Mowgli’s father – but in the most tragic way. Shere Khan killed Mowgli’s father in a cave and the scene was, let’s just say tragic and heart-breaking.

Shere Khan kills Akela

Image: Disney

Akela only made a brief appearance in the animated version of The Jungle Book. He had a more prominent role as the leader of the wolf pack as well as the mate for Raksha, who adopted and raised Mowgli. Akela’s death was quite vicious and sudden; it definitely caught us off guard. We couldn’t help but feel a pang of sadness seeing Shere Khan violently throw Akela off the hills to his death.

So, what did you think of these dark scenes in The Jungle Book? Do you think that they were dark or were actually just meh. Tell us in the comment section below.