{"id":6557,"date":"2018-12-07T13:05:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T18:05:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=6557"},"modified":"2018-12-07T13:05:20","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T18:05:20","slug":"netflix-capsule-reviews-dumplin-and-mowgli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/?p=6557","title":{"rendered":"Netflix Capsule Reviews: DUMPLIN’ and MOWGLI"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dumplin\u2019<\/em> – Fix 7\/10<\/strong><\/h3>\n

If you had the same \u201cyuck\u201d reaction that I did to Netflix\u2019 popular series \u201cInsatiable\u201d then \u201cDumplin\u2019\u201d is for you. Director Anne \"\"Fletcher\u2019s comedy drama about an overweight teen who bravely enters a small town beauty pageant is her best movie since 2009\u2019s \u201cThe Proposal.\u201d<\/p>\n

The story has Willowdean (an excellent Danielle Macdonald) deciding to stand up to her beauty queen mother, Rosie (a nice turn by Jennifer Aniston), by entering the Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant. Although Rosie is her biological mom, she was raised by her mother\u2019s late sister, Lucy (Hilliary Begley), who idolized Dolly Parton. The soundtrack features a collection of Dolly\u2019s greatest hits (yes, we do get \u201cJolene\u201d and other faves). Initially joining the competition was a stunt for Willowdean, but once she devotes herself seriously to spirit of the event, her real beauty shines through.<\/p>\n

Sentimental, disarming, if, also, at times, a little manipulative with on-the-nose moments, \u201cDumplin\u2019\u201d is everything that \u201cInsatiable\u201d should have been.<\/p>\n

Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle<\/em> – No Fix 5\/10<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This project evolved in the shadow of Disney\u2019s far better \u201cThe Jungle Book\u201d released to great acclaim in 2016. And it is sad, because \u201cMowgli\u201d is the passion project of motion capture expert Andy Serkis (who directs here), the actor responsible for \"\"crafting the memorable characters of Gollum from \u201cThe Lord of the Rings\u201d franchise and Caesar from the \u201cPlanet of the Apes\u201d reboot trilogy.<\/p>\n

Based on the classic novel by Rudyard Kipling, we once again dive into the jungle where a human child, Mowgli (Rohan Chand), is raised by wolves and must face off against the evil tiger Shere Khan (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). The effects range from stunning to distracting as the familiar characters come to life. Voice talent includes big name UK talent, with the likes of Christian Bale, Cate Blanchett, Naomie Harris, Peter Mullan and others sounding off.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, with all the talent and skill employed, \u201cMowgli\u201d fails to connect on a narrative level. It is impossible to ignore comparison\u2019s to Disney\u2019s groundbreaking \u201cThe Jungle Book,\u201d a film that works on almost every level. What is clear is that the technology used to make both films is advancing at a record pace, and soon, actors could be reduced to mere voices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jonathan survey\u2019s a couple of the more high-profile Netflix releases available this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1102,1100,287,1098,1101,1099,268,1103],"class_list":["post-6557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-andy-serkis","tag-anne-fletcher","tag-benedict-cumberbatch","tag-dumplin","tag-jennifer-aniston","tag-mowgli","tag-netflix","tag-the-jungle-book","no-thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6557"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6572,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6557\/revisions\/6572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyfilmfix.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}