Wildwood – Film Review

Director – Travis Knight
Writers – Chris Butler, Carson Ellis, Colin Meloy
Stars – Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan

When Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is left in charge of her little brother, Mac, her parents repeatedly warn her not to take him outside. Naturally, she ignores their advice and sets off on an adventure into the city. Once there, she finds a playground where Mac can enjoy the slides, but events soon take a bizarre turn. Suddenly, she is surrounded by hundreds of crows, which swoop down, kidnap her brother and carry him off towards the woods. Determined to rescue Mac before her parents discover he is missing, Prue sets out in pursuit, accompanied by her friend Curtis (Jacob Tremblay). Their journey takes them into the Impassable Wilderness, a strange and mysterious world where nothing is quite as it seems.

This is the latest film from Laika Studios, the acclaimed animation house behind such imaginative stop-motion works as Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. It is directed by Travis Knight, who has also ventured into live-action cinema with films such as Bumblebee and Masters of the Universe. The film boasts an impressive voice cast, including Tom Waits as Maxsim, Richard E. Grant as Owl Rex and Rob Delaney as Samuel, among many others. The story is based on the book by Colin Meloy, frontman of The Decemberists, with illustrations by Carson Ellis. Meloy also contributes to the film’s soundtrack.

There is a clear debt to fantasy classics such as Labyrinth and The Lord of the Rings, although it is difficult for any work in the genre to avoid the influence of such towering predecessors. What distinguishes this film, however, is the extraordinary world its animators have created, populated by a multitude of memorable and often delightfully eccentric characters. There is a remarkable sense of scale to the adventure, with large-scale scenes involving hundreds of puppets. The result is an immersive fantasy that draws the viewer into its strange universe.

One of the film’s most intriguing features is its cinematography. Caleb Deschanel, a six-time Oscar nominee whose credits include The Right Stuff, The Natural and The Passion of the Christ, brings his considerable experience to the production. This is no conventional animated feature, and it deserves to be approached on its own terms. The battle sequences, in particular, have a visceral intensity more reminiscent of Braveheart than the typical stop-motion adventure. The scale and dynamism of these scenes demonstrate just how far the medium can be pushed when ambition and craftsmanship come together.

This richly imaginative work creates a world that is lush and entrancing. Its blend of eccentric characters and epic action makes for an adventure that feels refreshingly ambitious. It’s extremely rare to see an animation on this scale. Fans of fantasy and animation alike should make every effort to experience it on the big screen.