Laika’s stop-motion films are always such a treat, given how ambitiously those creative folks push the medium. Wildwood certainly falls into that same camp, presenting a grander, technically impressive adventure. One could easily praise the film on those merits alone, but there’s thankfully more than a visual feast at this table. This fantasy has real meat, and it never feels like it’s sanding down the edges to be a safer picture for family viewing. Once more, this isn’t out of the ordinary for Laika, especially given director Travis Knight, who previously directed the emotionally thoughtful and exhilarating fantasy Kubo and the Two Strings. I used to consider Kubo to be Laika and Knight’s masterpiece, but this time they’ve pushed themselves further to make something even better.

Set in Portland’s colorful fall landscape, the teenager Prue, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, has to deal with her baby brother being kidnapped by a murder of crows. To rescue her lost siblings, she ventures into the Impassable Wilderness, a place her parents warned her not to tread. It’s easy to see why once she arrives. There is a war between kingdoms composed of mystics and bandits, as well as coyotes, owls, and all manner of anthropomorphic beings. She’ll have to learn fast in a fantasy land of dangerous creatures that have absolutely no issues biting, shooting, pecking, or stabbing their victims to test. Maybe in a PG stop-motion film she’d be safe, but not so much in a PG-13 picture that is less Labyrinth and more Princess Mononoke.

Along for the ride is Prue’s geeky companion Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), a boy whose jam is fantasy games and worlds. The Impassable Wilderness sounds right up his alley, but the fantasy is a bit too real for his tabletop-loving heart to handle. Targeting his meekness is the manipulative dowager governess, Alexandra (Carey Mulligan). Her tragic backstory, which plays out like a fantasy version of Astro Boy, drives her to kidnap Prue’s brother to reacquire what was lost. In addition to witnessing such darkness, Curtis also finds himself allying with bandits, led by the gruff king Brendan (Mahershala Ali). While terrified of this fantasy realm, Curtis finds himself gravitating more towards a group of thieves for stealing what they need from people who can afford to lose it. He says they’re like Robin Hood, a character the bandits don’t know. Moments like that stress that Curtis isn’t just LARPing with fantasy folk, but taking part in a real fight that won’t leave him as giddy by the finale.

And there are many other characters that Prue and Curtis encounter on their rescue, including a helpful rat voiced by Awkwafina, a commanding eagle voiced by Angela Bassett, a wise owl voiced by Richard E. Grant, and a mystic of the woods voiced by Tantoo Cardinal, just to name a few. All these characters, from different factions of the woods, with their own goals and philosophies, could’ve made this film a mess. But Chris Butler’s screenplay thankfully wastes little time explaining the politics of these complex woods. It’s far more exciting to watch young characters hit the ground running, but with more to learn as they go, rather than stumble through all manner of fantasy.

This story never feels like a Terry Gilliam-style fantasy hash that keeps dolloping on dazzling sights with the most tenuous connections. One of my favorite moments is when Prue is brought to a governor’s mansion, home to a corrupt political figure in the woods. Upon entering, however, Prue discovers a bureaucratic establishment of lines and paperwork, where various anthropomorphic animals busily attend to their duties. Everything you need to know about the governor’s rule is illustrated in these scenes. The governor might imprison Prue for being an outsider, but the canine security guard is easy to best with a few doggy distractions. Prue questions whether a place with cavorting animals in clothing, acting like government workers, is adorable or terrifying; the obvious answer is both.

While the film rarely wastes time, it does take a moment to appreciate its wondrous staging and immaculate animation. One of the most dazzling sequences shows Prue escaping the governor and governess’s forces on the back of a giant eagle. The massive bird swoops through the clouds and across the trees and rivers, both to show off the gorgeous landscape and escape vicious crows. There’s a breath in between the high speeds for Prue to drink in the freedom of the skies and for the audience to appreciate the assembly of such a sequence, before it turns dark. This is another aspect I deeply appreciated about Laika’s boldness: being more emotionally honest than whimsically wonderful. Real danger and real consequence loom; by the time the film reaches its epic battle for the woods, death and destruction make the hideous nature of war clear. It’s not every stop-motion film that can boast fantasy action sequences worthy of the thrills of The Lord of the Rings or The Chronicles of Narnia.

Yet the film never feels derivative of the many fantasy inspirations it likely draws from. You can probably pick out a few familiar shots or worldbuilding elements here and there, but all the ingredients melt so effortlessly together. There’s as much thought placed into this fantasy setting as Laika has placed in the little details, ranging from the muddy textures of the woodland paths to the knitted clothing of Prue’s parents. This is another hallmark of Laika that I never tire of: how they craft their films. They always focus on both the big and small elements of their films. Consider how Kubo and the Two Strings features the studio’s largest stop-motion character, a towering monster, and its smallest, a moving origami character. Wildwood also features characters of various sizes, from an eagle that looms over landscapes to a wee rat that bathes in stew. Nothing out there compares to Laika’s devotion to the medium, yet they keep pushing themselves further, making this one of their more elaborate and entertaining films to date.

Wildwood is a mesmerizing showcase of grand stop-motion animation while also boasting an earnest fantasy with maturity and wonder. While other animated films have settled for familiar frameworks and tools, the Laika studio continues to impress by daring to explore more of the medium’s potential in both storytelling and technical capabilities. To other studios, such ambition seems like the Impassable Woods, where few films dare to tread, given the expense and the general-audience focus. This creative team’s daring approach sets it apart from the competition, crafting an animated fantasy that stands in a league of its own and bravely goes where no marionette production has gone before.