The immersive and verdant visual landscape sweeps us up, while the tactile special effects -- the puppetry is remarkable -- feel entirely believable. But the storytelling is disjointed, the dialogue muddy, and the film’s ending seems woolly and fumbled.

The first feature from music-video director Isaiah Saxon boasts wondrous old-school creature effects, but they’ve been applied to a rather derivative fable, an eccentric but skimpy Amblin wannabe.

I didn't enjoy it much whilst I was watching it; afterwards, my admiration for it has increased.

If the plot and characterisation can seem sketchy and derivative, the tangible aesthetic and vivid world-building are anything but.