‘Wildwood’ hits theaters as a wildly beautiful experience 

By Cadence Powers

What are you willing to do for the people you love? This question echoes throughout LAIKA Studios’ newest animated stop-motion film “Wildwood.” The story follows  a young girl, Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) trying to find her baby brother after he is kidnapped by a flock of crows. Along with help from another kid, Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay,) the two set off to a magical world. Their journey leads them to meet talking animals, see complicated dynamics between people and animals and must deal with the witch, Alexandra Svik (Carey Mulligan).

With breathtaking visuals and a beautiful story of family, grief and love, “Wildwood” is an experience of a film that is incredibly engaging through all of its storytelling mediums. The practicality of the sets, the richness of the themes and the way the darker elements of the story are portrayed all contribute to a magical atmosphere. 

Visually, the world created by teams of designers and animators, is gorgeous. From the view of Portland as Prue adventures through it, to the depths of the Wildwood—hours were poured into every detail. It is a small wonder the film took sixteen years to make, with even small details, such as a vine, being handmoved from second-to-second. 

But it is not just the miniature set that is intensely detailed and laborious to construct. The puppets that make up the cast of characters include humans and animals, many of which have individual costumes created for them. The level of intricacy required to do so, mirrors the actual creation of costumes for real-life, human actors; just on an extreme miniature scale. 

As a stop-motion film, the art form is incredibly labor intensive, sometimes taking weeks to film a few frames. Not only this, but it is incredibly expensive, as everything has to be hand-made, or made in lots of replicas. However, the hand-made quality of the film only adds to the film’s beauty. Some sequences are technically difficult, such as large battle sequences where there are hundreds of characters moving at once, or nature sequences where every individual leaf has to be moved from frame to frame. And when taking a step back and considering, it is striking to think of the process of this world’s creation. 

But it is not just the visuals that are stunning; the writing adds a whole other layer to the film. The themes of family, grief and how far you are willing to go for the people you love echo in every part of the story. Characters interact with these themes differently, making the story incredibly complex and layered. 

Alexandra is an incredibly compelling villain. Her primary motivation for the actions she commits is grief, which drives everything she does. The narrative does not try to justify the actions she commits, but it does make the viewer understand why she does what she does. Overall, the screenwriting is compelling and layered, which makes for a very enjoyable viewing experience. 

I will say that as their first PG-13 film, LAIKA takes the opportunity to explore darker content than if the movie were PG. This includes a lot of brutal action sequences, but also covers heavy topics such as suicide, infertility and what it means to grow up. It also allows for LAIKA to cover the idea of how far one is willing to go for love, by exploring the darker aspects of what can happen if someone goes too far. 

Overall, this is a beautiful and thematically rich film. I was blown away by the sheer scale of the design and the visuals. I also thoroughly enjoyed the story itself, and really appreciated the way it handles complicated themes and subject matter. And I did find that the creepier sequences were not gratuitous. The story allowed the dark elements to be there—and uses them to expand into the overall themes. 

I would recommend this film. The stop-motion animation styles, the visual aspects of the film and the writing are all high-quality and worth the time to see it in theaters. 

“Wildwood” is currently in theaters.

Cadence Powers is a senior Professional Writing and Information Design Major. She loves nature, handmade art and good storytelling. This was exactly what she wanted out of a film. 

Images Courtesy of LAIKA Studios.