‘Wildwood’ review: This is why movies exist

Wildwood is Laika’s best film yet. It’s one of the best films, period, to be released in quite some time.

Wildwood is an adaptation of the 2011 children’s fantasy novel of the same name, from the husband/wife duo of writer (and Decemberists frontman) Colin Meloy and illustrator Carson Ellis. It is also the first film in seven years from Laika, the stop-motion powerhouse with an uncanny ability to produce celebrated films that never actually turn a profit. This is at least in part the result of Laika CEO/Wildwood director Travis Knight being the son of Nike co-founder Phil Knight, but it’s hard to be mad about a nepo baby when that nepo baby makes great art and is one of the primary forces keeping a medium alive.

The hero of Wildwood is Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), an angsty pre-teen who is too self-serious to fit in with the Portland community or her hippie parents (Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine). But she does love her baby brother Mac (Travis Knight’s son Arthur), sneaking him out on fun adventures despite her parents’ fantastical tales of the dangers of taking him outside. Unfortunately, those tales turn out to be more than cautionary. A murder of crows snatch Mac while the siblings play at the school playground, and Prue and local nerd Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) chase after them in hot pursuit.

When they follow the crows into the local woods, Prue and Curtis are surprised to discover a mythical land where mankind and animals live alongside each other. Prue promptly runs afoul of the corrupt governor (Marc Evan Jackson) before finding an ally in some of the wood’s local bird population (Richard E. Grant, Angela Bassett, and Colleen O’Shaughnessey). Curtis briefly comes under the grim tutelage of the dowager governess (Carey Mulligan), a once-benevolent leader driven mad by the grief of losing her son, then befriends rat Septima (Awkwafina) and allies himself with the feared bandit king (Mahershala Ali). When it’s discovered the dowager governess intends for Mac to be a human sacrifice in service of her conquest, Prue must unite the woods’ many competing factions if she is to have any hope of returning her brother alive.

A mythical achievement.

Photo Credit: Laika

It should not be a surprise that Wildwood is a great film. Even Laika’s lesser films have been better than what many other smaller studios have ever been able to accomplish. The surprise here is the extent of that greatness. It is not difficult to claim that Wildwood is the greatest thing Laika has ever produced.

Laika has an established track record of pushing the boundaries of stop-motion which each film that they make. Wildwood is no exception. This is the clearest, most seamless that stop-motion animation has ever looked. It’s an unprecedented technical accomplishment that will continue to be discussed by other critics. The mark of success in stop-motion is not when it ceases to look like stop-motion. More importantly, Wildwood would likely have been just as outstanding had it been produced as a live-action film. What’s remarkable about Wildwood is the agony of Chris Butler’s script and how effectively Knight and the cast translate that script to the screen.

Wildwood nabbed some headlines when it became the first Laika title to earn a PG-13 rating. Anyone why may have attributed this to the continued watering down of the PG-13 rating will be surprised, as the film is actually extremely dark even as far as the PG-13 rating goes. Laika has done dark before, but it has always couched that darkness in fantasy. It’s easy to downplay darkness when that darkness isn’t real.

Wildwood, in contrast, never denies the reality of its darkness despite its fantasy setting. This is a film about war. It is a film about killers. People die. Impossible tasks end in failure. Parents let down their kids. Children are robbed of innocence by tragedy. Children are robbed of innocence because adults are cowards. And it is made clear that the real world is just as prone to these trials as any fantasy one. That is about as dark a film as it gets.

A fable for families.

Photo Credit: Laika

At the same time, it is still very obviously (and unapologetically) a film for children. Young viewers will see themselves in these characters and they will understand their challenges. And the parents who are willing to discuss the film with their kids will find their family better for it. Much of the film’s nuance in this regard is original to Butler’s screenplay rather than coming from the source material. It’s not a coincidence that it arrives in the political environment it has, nor that much of the film’s press tour has been focused on the destructive effect of artificial intelligence on creativity. This film was made specifically for today’s children.

The adult cast is as good as any cast of this caliber could be expected to be, but it’s Lee and Tremblay who shine brightest. They bring a weight and a weariness to their performances that is unlike anything viewers will have come to expect from animation and from children’s media. But it works, and the film’s themes work because these performances make such a powerful case for them.

The bottom line.

Laika has bypassed the traditional distribution model for this one, partnering directly with Fathom Events for the release. But, like most Laika films, Wildwood still appears poised to underperform at the box office. Perhaps that’s inevitable, but it will benefit those who take the time to seek it out. If you’re smart, you’ll be one of them.

Wildwood is playing now in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer below.

Images courtesy of Laika.

Brogan Luke Bouwhuis

Brogan Luke Bouwhuis is a writer and film programmer whose frequent pop culture deep dives have allowed him to write about everything from the Richard Gere gerbil rumor to the history of the holiday yule log video. He co-hosts the Franchise Fiends podcast, co-captains the narrative shorts program at the Slamdance Film Festival, and co-created three children with his wife, Jessica.