“The Jungle Book” – how many of us watched the animated Disney version of this with our kids – again and again and again? Well, if you thought that version was awesome, just wait. Wait until you see Disney's latest version with a newcomer playing man-cub Mowgli, Neel Sethli.

Imagine being Neel for a moment. It's your first movie. You're a kid, and oh, by the way, everything else in the movie (except for the voices) isn't real. He is perfection.

Sethli is the only real character or entity in the entire film. Director Jon Favreau and an incredibly talented team created an all CGI (computer generated imagery) 3-D film – and a breathtaking one at that. The scenes are rich and detailed – from the dark and mysterious part of the Indian jungle where Kaa, the boa constrictor (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) dwells to the lush sub-tropical pine forests, the dry deciduous forests to the moist forests – each scene making you hungry for more. It is d-a-z-z-l-i-n-g. Like, we're talkin' major wow factor here.

The screenplay by Justin Marks follows the original tale of the same name written by Rudyard Kipling in 1894. Mowgli is a toddler when his father dies at the paws of the Bengal tiger, Shere Khan (Idris Elba), when he tries to chase the tiger away from the boy with the “red flower” (fire). Shere Khan is permanently disfigured from the flower, but kills the father before leaving, forgetting about the child. Mowgli is raised by wolf couple Raksha (Lupito Nyong'o) and Akela (Giancarlo Esposito). One day around the watering hole Shere Kahn shows up creating an instant ripple of fear. He can smell the man-cub and he aims to have him.

Panther-protector-tutor Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) and Mowgli's wolf parents decide the only safe place for the man-cub is in the village. Bagheera offers to escort the child there. Let the adventure begin!

Along the way, Mowgli meets the fun and honey loving bear Baloo (Bill Murray). Baloo actually saves Mowgli from being devoured by Kaa, who has just finished telling the man-cub his life story while she hypnotizes him with her eyes. The scene is a wee bit creepy – mostly because you're looking at a predatory snake with a beguiling voice on the screen!

Thanks to the technology, all the creatures resemble the actors lending their voices, particularly Baloo. A song from the animated 1967 film, “Bare Necessities,” is partially sung as the two float down a river. Baloo decides Mowgli will repay him by getting the honey out of the hives hanging from the cliffs near his bear cave.

This movie is filled with scene after scene of incredible visuals. The scene in which Mowgli is kidnapped by group of henchmen, or hench-apes, who move throughout the jungle via branch and vine – sometimes tossing Mowgli up higher than the top of the canope – is fascinating, second by second.

King Louie (Christopher Walken) is a giant, ages old relative of orangutans who wants the man-cub to tell him how to make the “red flower.” Think of the terror he could instill in his subjects – or unwanted visitors – with that kind of, er, 'flower power.'

As I left the technical screening at The Harbor Theatre, I could remember only one other time I was so affected by the effects used in a film: “Fantasia.”

Director Favreau's camera crew used Arri Alexa digital models and something called the Pace system and Simulcan – the latter developed for use in the making of “Avatar.” Sensational.

In an interview with the U.K.'s Telegraph, Favreau said he wanted his version of “The Jungle Book” “... to capture not just the well-known characters and jazz-drenched languor of the Disney cartoon, but the way in which childhood, through a child’s eyes, can take on a mythic vibrancy and scale.”

“The Jungle Book” is indeed mythic. Mythic and mesmerizing.

And, stay to watch the credits! The creativity and impressive visuals continue with a “live” take off on pop up books from which scenes and characters in the movie pop up from the pages.

This Disney film is a treat – one that will no doubt be on the holiday wish lists of many a child – and adult – once it’s released on DVD.

But until then, head to The Harbor Theatre in Boothbay Harbor and see this treasure on the big screen! “The Jungle Book” opens tonight, Friday, May 6 at 7 p.m. and is shown at the same time Saturday, May 7, Wednesday, May 11 and Thursday, May 12; the Sunday, May 8 matinee is at 2.