Wildwood
by Hope Madden
Laika Studios don’t produce a lot of movies, but the films they make are remarkable. Kubo and the Two Strings has been the high-water mark, but Coraline set their path. The gorgeous stop motion, the perilous adventures, the emotionally rich and intelligent stories together mark each of the studio’s efforts.
The same goes for Wildwood, their latest, a hero’s journey set in the studio’s own back yard.
Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) lives in Oregon with her parents and her toddler brother, Mac. Her overprotective, hippie parents don’t let Mac out of the house, but Prue thinks that’s dumb and takes him on his own wee adventure. Promptly, Mac is abducted by a massive murder of crows and carted off to the Impassable Wilderness. In an attempt to rescue her brother, Prue drags (inadvertently) the goofy Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) into said wilderness. But there’s a reason it’s impassable, and a reason Prue can get inside. What she finds in there is a magical quest.
“Magical quest” are not words that appeal to me. They’re not actually words that appeal to Prue, either, which is part of the reason Wildwood works so well.
The voice cast doesn’t hurt. Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Charlie Day, Tom Waits, Jemaine Clement, Awkwafina, Carey Mulligan, Jake Johnson, Richard E. Grant, Blythe Danner and more bring this epic to vivid life.
Directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Masters of the Universe) and based on Colin Meloy’s beloved fantasy novel, Wildwood offers a beguiling tale masterfully articulated with stop motion animation and powerful performances. It is glorious to look at, the animation astonishing, the intricacy of the environment and the nuance in each character is just breathtaking.
And while the film is an immediate crowd pleaser, it is not meant to entertain the very young. There are battle scenes here worthy of a live-action period epic. Battle scenes mean violence and death, and these animators shy away from neither.
There’s humor, some of it cynical, and love, emotion and some great needle drops. The film is spooky at times, magical at times, breathless and beguiling. While every Laika film has been a treasure, Wildwood is probably their most polished jewel.
