Wildwood
When her parents (voices of Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine) head out, thirteen year-old Prue McKeel (voice of Peyton Elizabeth Lee, "Pizza Movie") is left with her baby brother Mac and one instruction - 'don't leave the house' - so of course the first thing she does is head into Portland with Mac in tow. After bumping into her nerdy classmate Curtis (voice of Jacob Tremblay), they'll head to a playground where a murmuring murder of crows snatches Mac from the top of a slide. Horrified, Prue follows, somehow making her way into the Impassable Wilderness, determined to find him, but it is Curtis who first notices the magic of "Wildwood."
Laura's Review: A
The latest LAIKA stop motion animation from director Travis Knight ("Kubo and the Two Strings") isn't appropriate for younger children with its opening suicide, bloody battlefield, beheadings, torture and the threat of child sacrifice, but for those able to deal with life's darker aspects, "Wildwood" is simply spectacular. "Kubo's" Chris Butler adapts the novel by Colin Meloy (illustrated by his wife Carson Ellis) into an epic animation, modelers and production designer Nelson Lowry ("Fantastic Mr. Fox," "Kubo and the Two Strings") bringing two entire worlds into being.
The two worlds are neatly linked in the film's opening moments, the story of a queen so grief-stricken by the loss of her son she secretly replaced him with a mechanical replica only to have that replica rip its own heart out upon learning the truth being read to young Mac by Mr. McKeel, Prue remarking on its inappropriateness. Little does she know that the first creatures she will meet that afternoon in those mysterious woods will be members of that very woman's coyote army, Alexandra's (voice of Carey Mulligan) dual grief having turned her into a threat against Wildwood. It is Curtis who, initially delighted to see a talking member of the dog family, will volunteer to become a decoy when he and Prue realize their danger, allowing Prue to continue her search while he is captured and brought to Alexandra, the Dowager Governess, who drafts him, puts him in uniform and shows him the horrors of a recent battle, demanding he take a sword to an elderly fallen soldier (he cannot).
Meanwhile, Prue is picked up by a mail carrier and discovers she is in the Avian Principality, but the hope that news inspires is quickly dashed by The General (voice of Angela Bassett), a giant gold eagle who informs her the crows left long ago. The General is also alarmed to learn an outsider has gained access to the woods when only their kind should be able, so she instructs the mail carrier to take her to Pittock Mansion where the Governor Regent of South Wood, Lars Svik (voice of Marc Evan Jackson) and his assistant Roger (voice of Jemaine Clement), deal with Wildwood's bureaucracy. They also intend to imprison her in a tower room, but Prue escapes and meets The Crown Prince of the Avian Principality, Owl Rex (voice of Richard E. Grant), who tells her the Governor doesn't realize the woods have become a savage place because of The Dowager Governess and her coyote army.
Wildwood also features a Bandit King, Brendan (voice of Mahershala Ali), who fights Alexandra and will end up imprisoned by the Dowager Governess with his men in gibbet cages along with a scrawny coyote named Dmitri (voice of Charlie Day), Curtis and the rat, Septima (voice of Awkwafina), who befriends him. And after a truly pulse-pounding, excitingly choreographed chase scene, that murder of crows in pursuit of Prue and The Gemeral, Prue will learn just what is in store for Mac and will be aided in trying to save him by the mystic Iphigenia (voice of Tantoo Cardinal) and those imprisoned by Alexandra. It is rewarding to watch Curtis, who is obsessed with fantasy play back in his normal life, evolve into an actual warrior, the shy and awkward nerd becoming a true hero.
The stop motion figures of "Wildwood" move more smoothly than in the past, the human characters having the waxy appearance of German Christmas angels, Prue's dad's nose given a translucent quality. This is an impressive production, the glories of nature hand crafted in miniature, structures outfitted like elaborate doll houses, costuming detailed, the coyote army's red jackets adorned with gold braid a standout. The vocal cast is first rate, Trembley's Curtis and Awkwafina's rat particularly endearing ('are you dry heaving?!' she asks upon their first meeting). The score evolves throughout the film with themes of grief, love, terror, courage and bravery. Travis Knight has brought an epic fantasy adventure to life, literally frame by frame, and it's a stunner.
Fathom Entertainment releases "Wildwood" in theaters on 10/23/26.
