LOS ANGELES — At some point in the future, filmmakers will be able to create CG worlds, creatures and stories from whole cloth that are so convincing, so tactile and touchable, you'll no longer be vexed by that instinctual sense of picking apart what's real and what's animated.

Folks, that future is this weekend, when The Jungle Book comes out.

The latest Disney live-action take on an animated classic, this one from director Jon Favreau (he of Iron Man, Elf and Swingers), contains a shocking twist at the end of the credits sequence — "Filmed in Downtown Los Angeles" — that reminded me what I had utterly forgotten for its entire 105-minute runtime: None of this, not one leaf, not one rivulet of water, not a single hair on an animal's back, is real.

Mowgli and Baloo (voiced by Bill Murray). Image: Disney

The only exception is Neel Sethi, the young actor who plays Mowgli. Even he's probably a rendering when he's not delivering dialogue. And you'd never know it.

The electric-green screen has been one of moviemaking's biggest canvases for a few decades now, but here it's at full peak in a lush, steamy jungle filled with talking animals.

I could go on, but that would risk burying the other lead, which is this: The Jungle Book's characters, action and story are also first-rate, a completely original take on the time-honored tale that restores some of Rudyard Kipling's elements while hewing just close enough to the 1967 animated classic to satisfy its biggest fans.

The original, animated Mowgli. Image: Disney

And that starts with Mowgli himself.

Neel Sethi, a complete unknown from New York when Favreau cast him at age 10, has all the akimbo-limbed, good-vibes energy of the animated Mowgli, plus a lot of his bouncy physicality and a pretty dead-on voice match to boot.

Neel Sethi, at the time of his casting in Disney's "The Jungle Book." Image: DISNEY

They just nailed it with this kid — and considering all he's got to rub up against for his first acting job is a green screen and some help with eye-lines, he more than holds up his end of the bargain.

Sethi's Mowgli is plucky and courageous and totally game, but there's fear in his eyes when there needs to be. The film is so seamless that within a few minutes you're there, deep in the jungles of India, watching this story begin to unfold.

Mowgli and Bagheera (voiced by Patrick Stewart) traipse through the jungle. Image: Disney

Screenwriter Justin Marks' storyline is in many ways more faithful to Kipling, but takes some liberties here and there that give this version a welcome freshness. It's still more or less Mowgli's journey away from the only life he's known, as a member of a wolfpack that raised him from infancy. (In particular, this Jungle Book has an ending that would more readily allow for that rumored sequel.)

But Marks weaves in plenty of beats from the classic 'toon — this is no musical, but the songs you want to hear most get their due — and preserves the characteristics of your favorite animals.

Credit Favreau with getting rich voice work from each of his actors, in particular Bill Murray, whose Baloo is more schemer than layabout at first. Idris Elba's Shere Khan is a freakishly terrifying presence, but like the animated menace that came before, there's something relatable, even likeable, about this lone Bengal tiger who deals in death to keep the jungle in a state of unease.

He is surely feared, but not loathed; his menace is too powerful for that. And while he spreads dread, he also commands respect, fixing Shere Khan squarely in the pantheon of great Disney villains.

Voiced by Idris Elba, Shere Khan bears the scars of man, which fuel his hatred of humans. Image: Sarah Dunn/Disney Enterprises, Inc.

It's all a bit intense, and little ones who are particularly sensitive might even find it scary. But that's no reason to keep them at home. Disney has been delicately terrorizing children for generations, and in that regard, The Jungle Book is a masterclass.

In every regard, really. If The Jungle Book were merely a visual marvel, it would be worth seeing; same if it were just a great take on a classic fantasy tale.

But it is both, making it one of those movies that you'll want to round up the whole pack to see on the biggest, brightest screen you can find.

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