Throwing some newspapers into the recycling bin, I dropped a Parade magazine from Sunday, April 3rd. The cover story concerned the new Disney release of "The Jungle Book" and the various actors in it-- all but the boy playing Mowgli being voice only, as their characters are played by computer pixels. Glancing at the story, I saw that someone named Scarlett Johansson is the voice of Kaa, the snake that tries to hypnotize Mowgli... and I groaned, inwardly. I did not see the 1967 version, other than clips here and there, but I presume that the same plot point was in that one as well-- Kaa hypnotizing Mowgli.
Now, I don't like being thought of as a purist where film adaptions of books are concerned. Film is limited by time and other constraints, so a film cannot be as complex and deep as a book, and thus films often make major cuts in plots and characters, eliminating some and adding others to make up for gaps in the narrative. I understand that.
But, a respect for the original should prevent this type of nonsense. I dunno if you've read Kipling's books (most of which are worth the time!), but an important point of Mowgli's character as Man (in the human being sense) is that Kaa could NOT hypnotize him! All the other animals-- even Bagheera-- were susceptible to Kaa's spell, but Mowgli was not.
Sheesh. Probably trying to create a sense of tension or danger in the film, when the difference between the boy and the animals was a striking feature of the story.
If you haven't read "The Jungle Book" (and not some bowdlerized, condensed version), then I recommend it, and the "Just-So" stories as well. These are an important part of Western culture and contain scenes and phrases that you should just know or be exposed to, aside from the sheer pleasure of Kipling's writing-- "the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo River, all set about with fever trees." I love that one. It's in "The Elephant's Child: How the Elephant Got His Trunk" and a funny story.
Some people might consider this stuff children's stories, and many originated as tales Kipling told his own children; but any intelligent adult can enjoy these, too. You might think they're too much for the child of today, but I doubt it. Turn off the electronic stuff and read some good stories to them. Is "Treasure Island" just a boys' adventure book? Any boy (or girl) worth his (or her) salt should like it, and so should any adult worthy of the name.
Don't mean to rant, and I'm trying not to, really. But Kaa hypnotizing Mowgli??? Gawdawmighty!!! Read the book!!!