Laika, the Oregon-based animation house behind multiple Best Animated Feature Oscar nominees, is one of those studios that we all root for to succeed. It’s the insane amount of work that goes into the creation of a single frame of stop-motion animation, its specialty, and that it produces imaginative, high-quality films that are unlike any other. With Wildwood, a kind of love letter to Portland, OR and films such as Labyrinth and The Neverending Story, Laika has truly outdone itself with a film that has everything: magic, action, sacrifice, heroism, and an epic quest into a strange and wonderful land.
Directed by Laika founder Travis Knight, following a pair of live-action efforts in Bumblebee and Masters of the Universe, the story of Wildwood takes place in the hipster capital of the world, Portland. It’s here that 12-year-old Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) navigates this strange and quirky place, not quite giving in to its oddities or the fantastical tales spun by her hippie parents (Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine) to scare her. Prue has an infant brother, Mac, who she promises to babysit at home, but instead ventures out into the city. She’s stunned when a murder of crows emerges from the skies like a black cloud, and snatches Mac up right out of the playground and into the terrifying Impassable Forest, a place Prue has been warned about her entire life.
Joined by her timid Dungeons & Dragons player Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), Prue ventures into the forest to discover an alternate world full of talking coyotes dressed as Redcoats, majestic birds led by the regal golden eagle The General (Angela Bassett), and a bandit army led by Brendan (Mahershala Ali), known as the Bandit King. This unusual kingdom is ruled by Alexandra (Carey Mulligan), the icy dowager governess who has let grief over a dead loved one consume her. There’s also the ineffectual governor (Marc Evan Jackson) who is too much of a joke to rule anything.
It isn’t long before Curtis is locked up in a prison and Prue is discovering she has a magical connection to this forest land. Of course, all roads lead to a pitched confrontation between Alexandra and the bandits, with Prue caught in the middle as an outsider figure seen as both a threat and a savior.
Wildwood is based on the novel by artist Carson Ellis and writer Colin Meloy, Decemberists frontman whose posters adorn walls in the film. I’m grateful that I didn’t read the book beforehand, because I was unprepared for the huge scope of the story, clearly the biggest that Laika has ever produced. J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis would be impressed by the sweep of it, the pure wonder and adventure of it, but at no point does it ever feel overwhelming. Prue’s coming-of-age is balanced beautifully with the battle between good and evil, the acts of courage, and, and shocking acts of violence. While I hesitate to say the film is scary in the Coraline mold, it goes to some very dark places, likely too dark for younger-aged kids. Beloved characters fall in battle, others step up to the plate, and it’s always unpredictable as to who.
Shot by veteran DP Caleb Deschanel in his first animated feature, Wildwood is Laika’s most beautiful film since Kubo and the Two Strings, with visuals that leap off the screen. With stop-motion, it’s sometimes a problem capturing expressions of human emotion, but Knight and his team have fully mastered it in a way that makes these characters unforgettable. Laika has never reaped the financial rewards of Pixar or Dreamworks, even though its films are just as beloved by critics and fans of animation. Hopefully, that will change with Wildwood, a masterpiece that should have Laika back in the Oscar race once more.
Wildwood opens in theaters on October 23rd.
