‘Wildwood’ Review: An Animated Miracle

Laika Studios’ first film in over seven years, Wildwood, based on the novel by Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis, is a stop-motion work of art with a beautiful story about finding bravery in your love for others.

For starters, I’ve been a fan of Laika’s films ever since I saw Coraline in theaters back in 2009. With every release of theirs to follow, I’d be there on opening night, always enjoying these beautifully animated handcrafted stories. With this bias aside, as a fan of the studio’s previous work, Wildwood feels wholly unlike anything I’ve seen in stop-motion before. The sheer scale of the world, the story, the sets, the thousands of puppets murdering one another in a huge battle sequence- all of it was absolutely breathtaking to watch unfold. Wildwood is a film sixteen years in the making, helmed by CEO of Laika, Travis Knight. Damn near everything that fills each frame of the film was painstakingly done by hand, with so much love that is apparent on screen. 

Wildwood follows Prue Mckeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) on a day when her parents (Jake Johnson & Maya Erskine) task her with watching her baby brother, Mac (played by Knight’s son, Arthur Knight), with the one rule that she cannot leave the house with him. See, Prue lives in a fictional version of Portland, Oregon (the same state where the studio is located) that is enshrouded by a dangerous forest known as “The Impassable Wilderness”. This forest is filled with self-governing anthropomorphic animals, with their own political hierarchy and factions, and wondrous magic that could become deadly in the wrong hands. Prue decides to ignore her parents’ wishes and takes Mac to the park, where they run into her fantasy-obsessed classmate, Curtis (Jacob Tremblay). As the two catch up, Mac is then captured by an ominous murder of crows and taken into The Impassable Wilderness, where Prue and Curtis journey to save her little brother from the former Governess of the woods, Alexandra (Carey Mulligan). Prue & Curtis discover a world they never knew existed beyond their city limits and end up getting caught in a civil war between factions of the wilderness. What follows is a gorgeously animated and shockingly mature journey about the lengths we will go to help the ones we love. 

Wildwood’s world is so vast yet never feels overwhelming; we are introduced to each faction of the woods naturally, with the story moving at a steady pace that never feels like we are lingering too long on a sequence nor moving too fast. The Impassable Wilderness is made up of five factions: The Avian Principality, led by The General (Angela Bassett), containing all species of birds in the forest except for the crows. The Bandit Camp is a group of freedom fighters labeled outlaws by the local government. Their leader, Brendan (Mahershala Ali), fights for his fallen home, overrun by the magical Ivy.  The Coyote Army is Alexandra’s army of red-coat-wearing, gun-toting coyotes with a ruthless leader, Maxim (Tom Waits). The Pittock Mansion is a hub where all members of the forest’s high society stay under the protection of a corrupt government. The final faction is the Mystics, a group of spiritual mentors who communicate with the foliage of the forest. All of these factions are in a struggle for power as Alexandra wreaks havoc on the wilderness. 

This all leads to a climactic third act that is truly breathtaking; I felt like I was flying as I watched the resolution to this story. Wildwood can be really mature for your typical Laika film, as it is rated PG-13 and it makes full use of that rating. There’s blood splatter, plenty of character death, and really heavy concepts like suicide that I think will drive some young viewers away. However, for the children who can handle it, I think this will be an immensely formative film. Adults alike can find aspects of the story to latch onto, given the mature themes the film covers, making this one of the rare animated films released these days that I truly believe can be enjoyed by all audiences, as it treats its younger audience with the same respect it treats adults.

I really cannot overstate how impressive this film is on every level; the characters are gorgeously detailed, anchored by wonderful voice performances, the cinematography by Caleb Deschanel is astounding, the sets from production designer Nelson Lowry are massive and lived-in, the score by Dario Marianelli is beautiful, and the animation by the 40 animators who dedicated their lives to this is the best I’ve ever seen in the stop-motion medium. I cannot recommend Wildwood enough; it’s intense, funny, and heartwarming. This is the reason why animation matters in a world where AI looms over the arts. Support this film.

Wildwood is directed by Travis Knight and written by Chris Butler, based on the novel of the same name by Colin Meloy & Carson Ellis. The film stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Tom Waits, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Maya Erskine, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Tantoo Cardinal, Richard E. Grant, Blythe Danner, Ólafur Darri Ólaffsson, Len Cairou, Marc Evan Johnson, and Rob Delaney. 

Fathom Entertainment & Laika Studios will be releasing Wildwood in theaters on October 23. 

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