No more apparent is the goal of Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book than in its wonderful opening credits.

Rendered in a mix of 3D CG and what appears to be hand-drawn animation, the credits quickly rush us through the traditional Disney castle opening - rendered as if it were drawn in the 1960’s - into a lush, incredibly realistic jungle setting…and would you believe it? None of it. Not a leaf, not a branch, not a ray of sunshine, is real. And you’re going to have a very, very hard time convincing your eyes and brain of that.

Despite taking a low-key detour with 2014’s Chef, Jon Favreau has been quietly been building a resume as one of Hollywood’s most dependable and innovative blockbuster filmmakers. It’s easy to forget that without his hard work on Iron Man and Iron Man 2, he birthed the Marvel Universe. With Elf, he gave us a modern Christmas film for the entire family. And now, with his re-interpretation of The Jungle Book, he’s repurposed a Disney classic, retaining it’s beating heart and joyous family storytelling, while pushing cinema forward with a film that is every bit as innovative and jaw-dropping as James Cameron’s Avatar.

There’s not much to say about the story of the film - if you’ve seen the 1967 Disney animated film, you’ve seen this. But you’ve never seen it come alive in quite this way.

As the film’s credits indicate - all of The Jungle Book was filmed in Downtown Los Angeles. The only thing real and true on screen is the debuting Neel Sethi, as man-cub Mowgli. With that exception, every environment and creature is rendered in CG. And somehow, in an age where effect after effect feels artificial and false, this movie populated by talking animals feels just as real and alive as a BBC Nature documentary. Very rarely does the film enter the uncanny valley, and you are along for the thrilling ride as Mowgli looks to learn his proper place in the jungle realm and escape the claws of the villainous tiger Shere Kahn.

The film is helped greatly by an absolute murderers row of Hollywood talent lending their voices. Idris Elba voices Shere Khan with every bit of the bass in his powerful voice striking fear into young Mowgli. Bill Murray plays the laid-back Baloo, with Sir Ben Kingsley adding gravitas to his role as the protective panther Bagheera. Lupita Nyong’o again provides solid work in the CG realm as wolf Raksha, and Scarlett Johannson’s sultry tones hypnotize as the snake Kaa. Other standouts in the film include Christopher Walken’s wonderful work as King Louie (changed here to being a gigantopithecus, from the original orangutan), and the last work of the late Garry Shandling as Ikki, a neurotic porkupine.

But honestly - what stands above everything else is the incredible creations of the graphics team. From motion capture actors and green screens to an incredibly realized living, breathing jungle environment filled with animals, the Moving Picture Company and Weta Digital deserve every single bit of acclaim for making this film come to life. And in that same regard, much how Avatar became all the more immersive in the large-format realm of an IMAX 3D screen, The Jungle Book too should be seen on the largest screen available, complete with 3D glasses, to truly take in the work made by these artists.

In a realm filled with superhero films and animated films, Jon Favreau’s The Jungle Book has delivered something for the entire family that pushes filmmaking forward, while retaining what made the 60’s classic so great. See it in theaters - don’t wait for home video, it won’t be anywhere near as engrossing. Give yourself up to the experience - you’ll love it.

The Jungle Book is in theaters now.