Featuring the voices of Jim Sturgess, Geoffrey Rush, and Helen Mirren. Rated G. Opens Friday, September 24, at the Cinemark Tinseltown

Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole may be about adorable little owls, but make no mistake: it is an epic story of good versus evil. Call it Lord of the Wings.

In the hands of Watchmen and 300 director Zack Snyder, the children’s book—from a series by Kathryn Lasky (Guardians of Ga’Hoole)—becomes a breathlessly intense, 3-D action-packed fantasy.

After falling from their family tree while trying to learn to fly, two brother owlets are whisked away by sinister, armour-wearing owls to enslavement in a Mordorlike cave world. The older sibling, Kludd, easily falls in with the evil forces led by menacing Metal Beak (Joel Edgerton) and his wife, Nyra (Helen Mirren). But the younger Soren (Jim Sturgess), is bent on escaping and journeying for help from the legendary Guardians of the Great Ga’Hoole Tree. What follows is a sibling rivalry on a truly Shakespearean scale.

The film literally gives you a bird’s-eye view on the world, and not just in action sequences that find our feathered friends weaving through canyons or diving off cliffs. The owls’ huge eyes squint with concern and widen with fear; their sharp little pink beaks speak and smile. You can watch a burrowing owl’s feathers ruffle in the wind as he flies. You’re never distracted by the idea that these creatures are computer-generated; the birds are utterly alive.

The technology is mind-blowing, but Legend also has heart. Is it too scary? Smaller kids will be freaked out by Metal Beak’s fascist hell. But have you ever seen what happens on Pleasure Island in Pinocchio? Or some of the frightening stuff in The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe or The Wizard of Oz? Classic children’s movies often go to dark places and come out again on the other side. And with Legend, Snyder has definitely given us a classic—albeit with 3-D–cranked thrills.