The adventures of Prue McKeel as she sets off to the forests outside Portland to find her kidnapped brother.
It’s always nice to see an ambitious animated film that isn’t a sequel or remake, and ‘Wildwood’, the latest from Laika, is a particularly impressive example. Based on the novel by Colin Meloy, it’s a sweeping fantasy adventure about a young girl named Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), whose baby brother is abducted by a flock of crows and taken into the Impassable Wilderness, an enchanted forest on the outskirts of Portland, Oregon. Accompanied by her classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), she sets off to rescue him, discovering a world populated by talking animals, bandits and various factions on the brink of war, with the pair soon becoming caught up in a much larger conflict than either could have imagined.
I’ve long thought Laika are probably the strongest animation studio operating today, particularly with Pixar having gone through something of a slump in recent years, and ‘Wildwood’ only strengthens that view. Directed by Travis Knight, whose previous work with the studio has already earned him considerable recognition at the Oscars, it’s a hugely ambitious film that manages to balance its sprawling fantasy story with some very personal themes. There’s a real confidence in the storytelling, particularly in how the history of the forest and its various inhabitants is gradually revealed, giving us enough information to understand what’s happening without explaining everything too early. It’s a complicated world with plenty of characters and competing interests, but I thought the film did a very good job of bringing it all together.
The stop-motion animation is quite extraordinary, with an enormous amount of detail in the characters and environments, and some spectacular sequences that demonstrate just how far Laika have pushed the technique. The voice cast is excellent too, with Lee and Tremblay providing likeable leads and the likes of Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali and Angela Bassett bringing a wide range of supporting characters to life. What I particularly appreciated, however, was the film’s willingness to tackle some fairly challenging themes, especially for something that will attract a lot of children. Grief and loss are central to the story, as is the damaging effect of holding on to anger, and the film doesn’t shy away from the consequences of either. I sometimes feel that children’s films have become a little too sanitised, particularly compared with films from the 1990s like ‘The Lion King’, which weren’t afraid to include some genuinely upsetting moments. ‘Wildwood’ feels closer to that tradition, trusting its audience, particularly slightly older children, to deal with some difficult ideas.
I really liked ‘Wildwood’, which is an impressive achievement both in terms of its animation and the scale of the story it tells. At over two hours it’s a substantial film, but I was invested in the characters and interested in the world Knight and his team had created throughout. It’s visually stunning, but there’s plenty going on beyond the animation, with a well-constructed story that has some real emotional weight to it. Laika continue to set an incredibly high standard, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see ‘Wildwood’ among the leading contenders for Best Animated Feature at next year’s Oscars.
Rating: 4/5
Directed By: Travis Knight
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Blythe Danner, Arthur Knight, Angela Bassett and Mahershala Ali
