Andy Serkis has given 'The Jungle Book' the ‘dark and moody’ treatment and we’re on board

What’s good, nowadays, is that if someone has already made a film about something, but you want to make a film about the same thing, you are allowed to do it if you make it dark. Sometimes it works (Casino Royale) and sometimes it doesn’t (all the other ones), but that doesn’t stop them a’coming, as is evidenced in the trailer for Mowgli, the latest take on The Jungle Book. Only thing is, this time it looks… actually… quite… great?

Maybe sticking closer to the source material (there’s no King Louis or song-and-dance numbers, for example) and de-Disneyfying the whole thing might a better movie make. Take a look at the trailer - which specifically bangs you over the head with the fact that it’s a dark version of the famous story - below:

That’s a scary tiger right there, make absolutely zero mistakes. Old Benedict Cumberbatch as Shere Khan really ramping up the menace there (better than Idris Elba’s one two years ago? Maybe!), alongside Christian Bale as Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as Kaa and newcomer Rohan Chand as Mowgli.

Andy Serkis is directing as well as playing Baloo (can’t keep him away from sticking a load of dots on his face and crawling around on all fours, no siree) - here’s some behind the scenes footage of him waxing lyrical about what to expect:

Yep, keen for this. Like, it’s not going to be an 18 or anything, and all the animals have weirdly human eyes which is disturbing to the point of spontaneous combustion, but aside from that it looks mighty exciting, if we do say so ourselves. You’ll have to wait until October 19 to find out if we’re right.

(Image: Warner Bros)