I own this movie on DVD and although it's only about an hour, the first time I watched it with a friend he couldn't watch the whole thing in one sitting. We watched about 40 minutes before he required a break. If that isn't perfect for POE i don't know what is.
I always thought it was neat but not uber-neat. I spend too much time making the obvious Akira comparisons (for which -2 stars, but +1 for mind-bending stop-motion fun).