Review: 'The Jungle Book' is a dazzling visual experience

Like "Avatar" before it, this CG and live action interpretation of Rudyard Kipling's classic tale of the boy raised by wolves feels like a momentous occasion in the technical advancements of big budget cinema.

From the thrill of a distant waterfall to the terror of a mudslide or stampeding buffalo, Favreau and his visual effects maestros have created artificial living things that truly look and feel real.

The story follows the same beats as Disney's animated feature from 1967, but Favreau and his team made sure to up the intensity a few notches — the hyperrealism of the animals necessitates it.

[...] much of the third act feels more like a check list than plot advancement, and the emotional arc neither lives up to its source material nor the beauty of the visuals.

[...] it is one of the stronger of Disney's live-action adaptations and executed with such sincerity and technical prowess and inspiring ingenuity that it's more promising than anything else — a true family-friendly adventure that's smart and often thrilling.

The Jungle Book," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG by the Motion Picture Association of America for "some sequences of scary action and peril.