Much of the discourse surrounding Wildwood comes down to whether moviegoers are truly interested in original movies. Audiences, by and large, are still more likely to check out familiar IP than something new, and even studios as talented as Laika can’t begin to match Marvel box office numbers. With Wildwood being the company’s most ambitious project at the cost of $100 million, that puts high expectations on whether major film studios will greenlight similar risky ventures going forward.

However, financial risks should not take away from what a monumental achievement Laika has created in Wildwood. Surpassing the bar set by Coraline and ParaNorman, this adaptation of writer Colin Meloy and illustrator Carson Ellis’s 2011 fantasy novel is unlike anything put to stop-motion animation before in terms of technical wizardry and scale. Comparisons to the storylines of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and the 1986 movie Labyrinth are inevitable, but Wildwood manages to throw in enough unique twists to give this world an identity that, however dense the lore behind its forests, will captivate from beginning to end.

Clocking in at over two hours, this is the longest stop-motion film to date and takes full advantage of that runtime to bring two unique worlds to life in vivid detail. One is contemporary Portland, Oregon, where Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) lives with her New Age parents and infant brother, Mac. Explicitly told not to let Mac out of the house, Prue subsequently treats him to a bike ride through Portland’s streets, taking in all the fun oddities of the city from artists to coffee shops. At 13 years old, Prue is ready to leave childish notions of fantasy and fairy tales behind, like the legends of the Impassable Wilderness outside Portland. However, when a murder of crows shows up Hitchcock-style and kidnaps Mac, Prue’s attempt to rescue him with her school friend Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) leads them well outside their comfort zones and into the woods.

As it turns out, hidden behind the Impassable Wilderness is a mystical fantasy realm populated by humans and sentient animals alike. Tensions between the different corners of this realm have been fraught for years, all stemming from a tragedy that befell former governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan) and her means of filling that void through magic and bloodshed. Now a guerrilla tyrant leading an army of uniform-wearing coyotes, Alexandra seeks total control of the forest to help her locate her dead son’s body, putting her in conflict with the Bandit King (Mahershala Ali) and his merry men–inspired warriors.

Separated during their initial journey, Prue and Curtis find themselves on opposite ends of this conflict. For Prue, allies come in the form of the bird-run Avian Principality, such as exiled prince Owl Rex (Richard E. Grant) and a giant eagle warrior (Angela Bassett). Curtis, meanwhile, ends up befriending a rat, Septima (Awkwafina), and gets drafted into the governess’s army before aligning with the Bandit King to thwart her true plans. Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, and more round out the human and animal supporting cast, but the true star is Wildwood itself, treating viewers to massive mountain ranges, humble villages, dense forests, and even aerial battles that push stop-motion into uncharted territory. There’s a richness to this world’s culture and, though it’s never explained how Wildwood came to exist next to Portland, the visual spectacle will absolutely impress you.

At times, Wildwood’s ambition can prove a bit unbalanced. Several times Prue encounters major cultural or political tensions that receive little development once introduced, and two major revelations about how Alexandra’s son died and why Prue can access the realm are told through lengthy flashbacks. Neither ruins the overarching story, but this reliance on exposition awkwardly undercuts pacing in ways that Laika productions are traditionally above. It’s an issue director Travis Knight faced with his Masters of the Universe adaptation, though Wildwood fares better with how seriously it treats themes of grief, bravery, and not rushing the journey into adulthood.

While Laika is no stranger to dark subject matter, Wildwood fully embraces its PG-13 rating to portray death and even visible bloodshed that make our heroes’ journey feel extra perilous. The final battle alone exhibits a shocking level of viciousness, pitting multiple armies wielding guns, swords, arrows, and even trebuchets. Characters genuinely die, and that dichotomy between magic and savagery might not be suitable for all ages, but one must respect Laika trusting audiences to grapple with such imagery.

From breathtaking landscapes to grueling skirmishes and mature characterization, Wildwood is a marvel of animated storytelling. It’s an epic that deserves to be seen in theaters, and one can only hope audiences turn out to ensure Wildwood’s artistry pays off at the box office.