Writer/director Guillermo Del Toro has spoken for years about how he’s wanted to make a Frankenstein movie. It’s the kind of passion project that he’s earned the clout and financial backing to finally pull off. And his Frankenstein movie premiered earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival, where it enjoyed some solid acclaim. And yet, I approach this with apprehension because the thing about Guillermo Del Toro is sometimes his films can get so overwhelmed in style, that they forget to tell a good story. But sometimes when a filmmaker is so passionate about the film they want to make, you can notice it in every frame of the finished film. And that’s what we have in Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein.

Victor Frankenstein (Oscar Isaac) is a brilliant scientist who brings a creature (Jacob Elordi) to life in an experiment where he’s stitched together a bunch of dead body parts in order to reanimate something dead. Henrich (Christoph Waltz) funds his experiment while the glamorous Elizabeth (Mia Goth) questions his actions. His experiment leads to the undoing of both creator and creation.

Del Toro’s Frankenstein takes a while to get going. The pacing is languid and choppy in the beginning, and I worried we’d have another Crimson Peak or Nightmare Alley on our hands, where there’s peak visual splendor and less for the film to offer narratively. But the deeper we get into this story, the more the power of Del Toro’s storytelling becomes evident. Frankenstein is a visually sumptuous, brutal and ultimately moving adaptation that isn’t adding much to the story we all know, but is telling it well and offers compelling reasons why we go back to stories like this over and over again.

Oscar Isaac is very well cast in the role of Victor Frankenstein. We’re on his side in the beginning, he’s sympathetic enough until he isn’t. Isaac does an exquisite job of detailing his character’s signature descent into madness. He makes the viewer care about where this man ends up, regardless whether we already know. Mia Goth is doing the best she can with an underwritten role. She’s mainly here to react to things, and it feels like she’s outgrown this kind of part. And there’s a spinoff/sequel tease involving her character for a film I’m sure we’ll never get, and I found that a bit frustrating. Christoph Waltz is also doing the best he can, but there’s isn’t a lot for him to work with.

If there’s one reason to see this film, however, it’s what Jacob Elordi is doing here. His work is captivating and thrilling to watch at pretty much every moment. It’s fascinating for an actor like Elordi, this young, in-demand actor with this swaggering heartthrob persona, to take on a role like this where he’s unrecognizable for the majority and must find something real and emotionally in a role that doesn’t even let him speak for the majority of his screentime. Elordi is doing something wildly different from anything we’ve seen from him previously, and this is without question the strongest work of his career to date. I wouldn’t have thought Frankenstein’s monster would be a character that would bring me to tears, but Elordi is upending every preconceived notion the viewer could have of this character. I love when a charming, handsome leading actor type leans into the more challenging, difficult roles and emerges as more of a character actor. And the fact that Elordi seems to be continuing this trend is very exciting.

And if there’s one additional reason to see this film, besides Elordi, it’s the technical aspects on display. Of course, we expect elite cinematography, production and costume design from a Guillermo Del Toro film, but I cannot overstate how spectacular the look of this film is in every aspect. Cinematographer Dan Lausten, who has worked with Del Toro on and off since the ‘90s, returns here and the camerawork is simultaneously elegant and harrowing. Production designer Tamara Deverell, who also worked with Del Toro on Nightmare Alley, returns as well and the sets are enormous and very detailed. And it’s clear so much work went into the way these locations change as the film goes on, and that’s very exciting. And Crimson Peak costume designer Kate Hawley returns as well, and everything Mia Goth is wearing is artful and impeccably detailed. Mike Hill, Jordan Samuel and Cliona Furey are credited as the hair and makeup team, and the work to turn Jacob Elordi into The Creature is pretty stunning as well.

The most upsetting thing about Guillermo Del Toro’s Frankenstein is that most audiences will have to see it at home on Netflix. While it may not be bold-print-underline perfect, it’s absolutely a film that deserves the canvas of the big screen, so if you’re able to see it projected, I would absolutely do so. Like I said, we’ve got some tone and pacing issues early on, and the film also kind of whacks you over the head repeatedly with the ‘humans are the real monsters!’ metaphor. And yet, eventually almost everything about this film won me over. This is a gorgeously made and emotionally effective retelling of a classic story, and it’s proof something this familiar can still feel fresh and exciting. And it’s more proof that we should just let Guillermo Del Toro make whatever he wants for the rest of his career.

Frankenstein is in limited theatrical release today, October 17th and will stream globally on Netflix on November 7th.