English novelist and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Rud Kipling
The adaptation of The Jungle Book (1894) by Joseph Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), the British novelist and Nobel Prize winner for literature, was so successful that there is probably no other world apart from Disney. Other studios can do it.
"The Jungle Book" is a collection of children's stories published by Kipling in 1894. The collection contains 8 stories, the boy "Mowgli", the Baloo Bear, the black panther Bahli, the python "Khal", and the tiger Shelly Kerr Khan... These images are all drawn from the Indian jungle, and the name alone has a strong Indian flavor. The Jungle Book was originally written by Kipling to his daughter Josephine, who was only six when she died in 1899.
When the first edition of The Jungle Book was published, the illustrations included were hand drawn by Kipling's father! It can be said that this collection of forest stories lives up to its name and is written for both children and adults.
Today, more than a hundred years later, on April 15, 2016, "Fantasy Forest" was released in mainland China. When Disney put it on the big screen, we were fortunate to experience the "fantasy forest" written by Nobel's literary master once again through vivid 3D, CG technology and real-life interpretation.
When this film was introduced to China, it took a very pleasant name - "Fantasy Forest", which is easily reminiscent of "The Fantastic Drifting of Boys" directed by Ang Lee. But in fact, as long as you have watched this movie, you can really appreciate that in addition to talking animals, there are very few "fantasy" colors in the film. It is neither like "The Fantasy Drifting of Teen Pi" The splendor and dreaminess in it are not like the fictional zootopia in "Zootopia" that has just swept the big screen.
Although some fans affectionately call it the "live-action" "Zootopia", because the two characters are very similar - both the police rabbit and Mowgli represent being surrounded by good and evil.
It can be said that the film combines the former's rich philosophical metaphors with the latter's reflections on race, justice, peace and war.
——Currently, 7 major media on Metacritic have given "Fantasy Forest" a comprehensive rating of 78, and 19 media on Rotten Tomatoes have given a 100% favorable rating. From these data, it can be seen that the film's popularity The momentum is undiminished in "Zootopia".
"Fantasy Forest" takes "Wolf Child" Mowgli's journey in pursuit of himself as the main clue, and revolves around his confusion and pursuit of his identity. The major forces in the film - the wolf pack (who raised wolf child Mowgli), the tiger Sheri Khan as the villain, and the great ape "King Louis" who dreams of becoming the king of the forest...
Watch this During the course of the movie, I was always in a trance, thinking it was a kid's version of The Revenant.
Whether it is the setting of the characters or the unfolding of the plot, there are quite a few similarities, but in "Fantasy Forest", Leonardo was replaced by Mowgli the wolf boy.
These two movies also take people surviving in the wild jungle as the main story line, but in "The Revenant", Leonardo played the hero to avenge his son, and in "Fantasy Forest", the two sides of revenge are reversed. : Tiger Sheri Khan killed Mowgli's father many years ago, and was burned in the face by the torch in his hand, leaving an ugly scar, Sheree Khan fled in a panic, Mowgli escaped , was later discovered by the black panther Bahli, and finally raised by the wolves, but after many years, the tiger Sheri Khan's hatred of humans has never disappeared. In order to avoid its pursuit, Mowgli embarked on a journey through the jungle. A perilous journey.
It can be said that the vengeance in this is two-way: both animals against humans, and humans against animals. This makes the meaning of the film more complex and profound.
In the setting of such a story, there is no absolute distinction between justice and evil. The main line of the film is very clear and logical, revolving around the process of Mowgli's self-identity from doubt, to pursuit and confirmation. The values in "Fantasy Forest" have always been very stable.
In other words, you could also read the film as a coming-of-age story, or something like an educational novel. Such "growth education" themes are extremely common in the history of Western literature, such as Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn", the white child Finn and the black Jim rafting on the Mississippi River, also poured Mark Twain Concerns about Fein's upbringing, self-identity, and racism.
So, what is the success of "Fantasy Forest", or what is its most famous place?
I think the first is that it tries to remove the color of anthropocentrism as much as possible. Although this film is full of humanitarianism everywhere, it is full of reflection and criticism of human society and the law of the jungle. But in the final analysis, the core of it is that it has shaped the unique image of the protagonist of the boy Mowgli: as a "wolf child", it has both the animal nature of the wolf and the wisdom of humans, and all of this is concentrated in the A child who is "underage" can easily resonate with the audience, not to mention the young actor Neel Sethi who plays the wolf child is really good.
Neel is a standard "post-00", born in New York in 2003, is an Indian-American.
Neel grew up in the United States, but because of his ethnicity and skin color, as well as his excellent acting skills, it was a perfect fit for this forest tale with a strong Indian flavor. I think if Kipling traveled through time and space to our time and saw Disney put the Jungle Book he wrote for his daughter on the big screen, he would be moved to kiss the half-breed Neel.
In the movie, wolves have their own set of "laws of the jungle". Lone wolves can only prosper if they unite. If they violate the principles of wolves, they will perish. Mowgli was raised by wolves since he was a child. The wolves taught him how to survive. Survival in the jungle, however, with the intervention and revenge of the tiger Sheri Khan, the peaceful coexistence of various animals in the jungle was broken. At this time, Mowgli had to face his own "adult ceremony": either leave the jungle and return to human society, or stay in the jungle - that would be in danger and endanger the wolves who had nurtured him.
Inspired by the black panther, Mowgli is forced to embark on an adventure through the jungle, at the same time, it encounters a series of dangers, hunted by tigers, lured by pythons, migrating cattle, mudslides and by the great apes The threat of King Louis... And behind all of this, there is a sinister power struggle. The tiger Sheri Khan wants to kill Mowgli, a bloody human harm to it; while the giant ape King Louis wants to use the Mowgli's human talent - stealing fire - came to dominate the entire jungle society.
When Mowgli fell into all kinds of coercion and temptation, his uninspired "humanity" began to appear. He wanted to avenge the "wolf father" who was killed by the tiger Sheree Khan. In this way, he must take advantage of human civilization. At the same time, the cruel laws of the adult world and human society appeared in him. Therefore, his choice determined his discovery of "self"—— "To live or to die, that is the question", Shakespeare's classic line, applies equally well to Mowgli.
What amazes me is that in this film, the cruelty of human beings to animals and the cruel side of human nature are always hidden behind the story as a background. In this movie, the wolf boy Mowgli is the absolute "human" in the story, and at the same time It is dehumanized, and his nature has an identification with the animal world and jungle life.
Furthermore, "Fantasy Forest" shows another dark world hidden deep outside the animal society, this world is human. When Mowgli went deep into the human village on the edge of the jungle to steal the torch, the scene of adults drinking and revelling in front of the fire left a deep impression on Mowgli. Mowgli wondered why he wanted to return to human society and whether it was necessary to return There is no real answer to human society, but just when he stole the torch and returned to the jungle, the depth of the film took another step forward.
Mowgli is always in the predicament of different ethical laws. As a child, he should not face the cruel adult world, but "Fantasy Forest" subtly presents this cruelty to the audience: in order to avenge the wolf father , Mowgli, who has always been warned to refuse to use the tricks of human civilization, has to use the superiority of others - the borrowing of the fire of civilization, and the fire that symbolizes human civilization - in the film, "fire" is called "fire" by animals. "Red Flower", where the red flowers bloom, animals, forests, primitive and savage things are about to be destroyed, and then be ruled by humans.
Tiger Sheri Khan finally died in a sea of fire, perhaps a symbol of the victory of human nature over animal nature and the destruction of barbarism by civilization. However, the reflection of "Fantasy Forest" does not stop there. It does not have a simple dualism of black and white, but Mowgli's pain (the human fire he stole accidentally burned all over the forest), his redemption and Regret is on full display.
In the last scene of the film, the baby elephant, once rescued by Mowgli, extended a rescue hand together with the elephant family, the creator of the forest, and finally prevented a terrible disaster from coming. All of these imply the core values of the film - eliminating racial differences and peaceful coexistence can share everything that nature and the creator have given us.
Thank you Disney for making such a good movie.
April 15, 2016
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