How Netflix Shaped The Darkest Jungle Book Story, Ever

WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle, streaming now on Netflix.

Andy Serkis' Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle stays close to the vision of author Rudyard Kipling, crafting something different from the numerous versions we've seen on the big and small screens. However, the reception to it has been lukewarm, likely du in part to Jon Favreau's 2016 Disney adaptation still fresh in everyone's mind.

Traditionally, The Jungle Book tends to resonate better with people when it's a lighthearted, warm story, as opposed to Serkis' dark journey with Mowgli (Rohan Chand). That said, there's a valid reason for the Netflix version's bleak direction; Serkis wants to convey that in the jungle, whether it's man or animal, it's all about survival of the fittest -- which means there'll be a lot of death.

Kipling's collective work wasn't afraid of death, especially as he often wrote about being a child of two worlds -- England and India -- and feeling like in order to exist, he had to sacrifice or kill one off. He saw Britain as savages during this colonial era, which is why he wrote about Mowgli, an innocent man-cub trying find his place in the world, and whether he belonged to the side of man or animal.

From the onset, Serkis adopts this macabre perspective, painting the vicious tiger Shere Khan (Benedict Cumberbatch) as the man who killed Mowgli's parents when he was a baby, allowing Bagheera (Christian Bale) to bring him to the jungle's wolves to be raised. And it's this shadow of death which plagues Mowgli all his life, as Khan has vowed to finish the job he started. Ironically, in trying to hide from death, Mowgli is exposed to it even more; as the boy trains for his inevitable showdown, Khan has already seeded discord into the wolf pack via his hyena henchman Tabaqui (who Disney left out), stirring a civil war to overthrow the leader, Akela (Peter Mullan).

In a gruesome sequence, Mowgli watches rivals attack Akela, trying to usurp him in a battle he barely survives. This, of course, is because Mowgli has threatened the tiger with fire, breaking the jungle's laws and becoming exiled. As he enters the world of man, he sees even more death, not to mention things like slavery and politics. Mowgli is fascinated by how the British Empire is trying to colonize India, and as he empathizes with his people, he starts to become mentored by John Lockwood (Matthew Rhys), a colonial hunter and a taxidermist.

It's this discovery which truly cements how dark the story is. Mowgli finds the head of his childhood friend, Bhoot (an albino wolf) in Lockwood's office, which spurs him to try to kill the hunter in his sleep. The attack is not solely to avenge the wolf, but to assuage his own guilt. Mowgli's last interaction with Bhoot saw him chastise his friend and deem him a freak. Bhoot ran away to his cruel fate, and as he remembers this, the man-cub is now overwhelmed with self-blame.

At this point, Mowgli learns that the concept that only the strong survive exists in both worlds. From the cattle Khan kept murdering, to the elephants Lockwood was sniping, to the bloody war of the wolf pack, to now seeing his brother-esque figure beheaded, Mowgli knows the only way to save his people is by embracing death. In the finale, he lays a trap for the tiger and guts him in a brutal, bloody sequence; it's not sanitized as when Disney had Idris Elba's Khan falling into a forest of fire. To top that off, Mowgli bribed the elephants into attacking Lockwood and stampeding him to death, but sadly, not before he gets one shot off at Mowgli's head.

Akela takes the bullet, though, and dies, passing leadership of the jungle onto Mowgli. Despite the man-cub breaking so many rules, everyone -- from Akela to Bagheera to Baloo (the bear who trained Mowgli, as played by Serkis) -- knew that the old era was over. And that's what makes this a darker Jungle Book than we're accustomed to; Serkis acknowledges that to build a new world, Mowgli had to get his hands as dirty as the bloodthirsty animals and men around him. In the end, this was the only way he could become strong enough to protect the jungle.

Directed by Andy Serkis, Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle stars Rohan Chand as Mowgli, with Christian Bale as Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as Kaa, Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan, Naomie Harris as Raksha, Freida Pinto as Messua and Andy Serkis as Baloo.