You might find it hard to believe, but perhaps the most interesting topic to discuss when leaving The Jungle Book is the location in which the film was shot and brought to life. As the credits come to a close you will see the words “FILMED IN DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES” plastered on the screen. I bet all those patrons sitting in the theater scratching their heads the entire movie thinking “where did they make this?” stayed until the very end credits waiting to see “Filmed on the outskirts of Africa” or someplace with exotic rain-forest like jungle atmospheres, boy how dumbfounded they must have been. ​

You heard that correct, The Jungle Book is completely 100% digital CGI landscape in one of the purest most visceral experiences any moviegoer will have. In fact, the only REAL actor in the entire film is newcomer, Neel Sethi who steals almost the entire movie with his boyish charm as Mowgli. That’s right, all the animals, all the trees, the water, the vines were digitally composited…and I can’t tell you how incredibly dazzling it all syncs together. It’s as though Jon Favreau watched Avatar and thought how he could turn a $175 million production budget into something magical. He not only did just that, he set the bar exceedingly high for any future filmmaker who dares take this path.

Enough about me gushing over the luscious visual landscape, because honestly I could talk for days about the steps in technological advances we have made. And how The Jungle Book is a warm embracing reminder of the leaps we have made in filmmaking.

After Kenneth Branagh successfully reinvented Cinderella this time last year (partially thanks to the strong supporting work of Cate Blanchett’s wicked stepmother). Now, it’s The Jungle Book’s turn in the rotation, as Disney once again proves to be firing on all cylinders. After bringing Star Wars back to life just last December, chalk that up to their Marvel and Pixar divisions, and I’d say the mouse house has a formula down that no other studio has been able to match. As I said above, the film stars Neel Sethi as the young “man-cub”  named Mowgli who was raised in a wild pack of wolves by Akela (Giancarlo Esposito) and Raksha (Lupita Nyong’o) after a father like black panther named Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) found him as a toddler. Mowgli is raised by the communal code of the wolfpack and lives in unison with the rest of the jungle inhabitants until a scathing, vengeful tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba in some of the best voice over work of the decade) comes looking for him. Khan was scared by the red-flower (the term the critters in the jungle use for “fire”) and now he wants an eye-for-eye payback, otherwise these woodland creatures will get a quick lesson on who rules the food chain.

In an attempt to protect Mowgli from the villainous Khan, Bagheera decides to head the cub back to the man village where he will be protected. But of course, some things go awry (as they must to help progress the plot along). Mowgli gets caught in the snarling slithering cuffs of a snake (Scarlett Johansson) and comes into contact with a lovable, fluffy, con artist bear by the name of Baloo (Bill Murray). Mowgli even finds himself in the crosshairs of one King Louis (Christopher Walken) a fun mix of musical nuances ensue including hits like “The Bear Necessities” and “I Wanna Be Like You” – which is actually the only quarrel I have with the finished product.

As opposed to The Bear Necessities (which, by law, has to be in The Jungle Book). I Wanna Be Like You felt oddly misplaced in the the film, it’s a fine song, but when you have a film this great and this terrific you don’t need to try and turn it into a typical Disney sing-along.

Iron-Man director Jon Favreau directs with such precision it’s miraculous to witness, It’s also one of the best cases of CGI talking animals I have seen in quite some time. The animals lips actually go together with what they are saying. I did screen the film in the 3D format, I could probably suggest seeking the film out in 2D and you will be just fine.

The notion I enjoyed most about The Jungle Book was that Favreau never forget what he was doing: making an adventure film for children. While some of the final climactic battles and initial scenes with Khan are quite effective (I was very on edge whenever that Bengal tiger roared on screen), the heart and soul of the original toon is still intact, making this easily one of the best movies of 2016 so far. A-