A wilderness expert isn’t happy with the depiction of Mowgli in the live-action remake of The Jungle Book. Starring Neel Sethi as Mowgli, the 2016 remake depicted a young boy trying to survive in the wilderness with the help of the jungle’s many animals and resources. The movie was a massive success, generating over $950 million against a budget of approximately $175 million. That does not, however, mean that it was accurate.
Despite outperforming the original movie on Rotten Tomatoes, The Jungle Book was far from an accurate depiction of life in the jungle. Insider invited wilderness expert Hazen Audel to discuss the reality of Mowgli’s life in the jungle. While showcasing just how effective grass-made ropes can be, Audel picked apart many of Mowgli’s decisions. With efforts to detail the practical effects of Mowgli’s plans, he shows just how much danger the young hero would be in. Check out his quote below:
“If you’re familiar with the rainforest, you know what works best for different scenarios. You know where the strongest ropes and strongest roots are by how they look. It’s kind of like people live in the city, they know that that little Toyota is not a fast car, but a Ferarri is a very fast car. People can see the rainforest like that. That just all comes from familiarity of being outside. You recognize what a strong piece of wood is, as opposed to rotten branch. So vines and roots, if you get the right kinds, are really strong and make very quick and dirty rope, just like that…
Mowgli made that clip looks really easy to be able to get those bees like that. You could go there and kick the hive like that. I mean, you would get stung almost to death being unprotected like that, especially without use of smoke. In that scenario it was unrealistic. Just holding onto a rope like that, if you did find yourself getting into the honey, it’d be a sticky, slippery mess. Making it even more dangerous. I give this clip a 4.”
The Inaccuracies Of The Jungle Book
There are numerous inaccuracies in the movie, and they do not only relate to Mowgli’s skills. Many of the animals are larger than their real-life counterparts, giving them an appearance of towering over the young Mowgli. Mowgli’s ability to communicate and behave like most other children is also inaccurate to the reality of children raised by animals in the jungle. At the very least, he would hardly be speaking human languages and would be largely unable to communicate with other humans.
The particular danger of Mowgli striking the bees is not too much of an inaccuracy. After all, Mowgli was acting on the orders of one of his friends, who assured him that the bees would not sting him. The rope may have been a dangerous decision, but his choice of striking the bees was simply the result of Mowgli being young and inexperienced, while trusting the wrong bear.
Most of the inaccuracy issues stem from the fact that it is a Disney remake featuring talking animals. Not every element can be perfectly accurate, nor do they need to be. The plot and characters remain compelling and touching even despite imperfections. After the success of The Jungle Book, Disney has planned many more live-action remakes, which all build on the lessons the movie taught.
