‘Wildwood’: A Stop-Motion Dark Fantasy Spectacle To Behold

A breathtaking work of art steeped in the children’s fantasies of yesteryear, Wildwood is a visual triumph even if its story gets a little lost along the way.

Directed by Travis Knight and hailing from iconic animation studio, Laika (Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings), Wildwood follows Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee, who ventures into an enchanted forest to rescue her kidnapped baby brother. Along the way, she encounters peculiar creatures and all manner of magical (and not-so-magical) beings, before finding herself caught up in a much bigger fight for the forest and its inhabitants.

Set in the wild and wacky world of Portland, Oregon, Wildwood is an absolute stunner. The craftsmanship is mind-bogglingly good, from the intricate textures and character designs to the forest’s lush, ethereal atmosphere and sprawling scale.

Every corner feels painstakingly imagined, while its ambitious set pieces deliver some genuinely spectacular moments, culminating in one hell of a battle sequence.

It’s distinctly Laika, with all the studio’s signature eccentricity and eerie charm, but there’s a sort of cosier, more inviting quality to this world, too.

A refreshing return to form, Wildwood embraces the peril and strangeness of the dark fantasy genre, bringing to mind the likes of Labyrinth, Narnia and The Spiderwick Chronicles. It recaptures that old-fashioned sense of wonder, even if its story occasionally feels like familiar ground.

For all its imaginative splendour and terrific voice work across the board, however, the character work and story doesn’t quite keep up and lands as a bit too conventional.

Prue’s desperation and frustration make her easy to root for, but she never quite develops beyond her fierce devotion to her little brother.

Her relationship with Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), a reedy boy who dreams of becoming a warrior before finding himself swept into the Dowager Governess’s army of coyotes, has its moments, but the pair are separated for much of the adventure, leaving their dynamic feeling underwritten.

Maybe unsurprisingly, it’s the villain who makes the deepest impression. Alexandra, the Dowager Governess (Carey Mulligan) is a wonderfully sinister presence, driven by a grief that’s as palpable as her menace. After losing her son and failing to bring him back through dark magic, she sets her sights on Prue’s baby brother, hoping to resurrect him once more.

It’s a deliciously dark premise, and her desperation gives the character a depth that the film’s protagonist could have done with.

Grief and triumph are all woven through this sprawling adventure, and there’s plenty of heart to be found along the way. But with so much lore and even more characters vying for attention, some of its emotional beats don’t quite land, and the two-hour runtime could certainly dol with a trim.

At times, Wildwood feels as though it’s buckling under the weight of its own source material.

Still, writing it off as style over substance would be doing it a grave disservice. This is a genuine labour of love, packed with imagination, charming moments and some of the most gorgeous animation in recent memory, and very possibly even in time to come.

Its darker edges might make it an unexpected fit for very young viewers, and its story may not linger quite as long as its images, but there’s something special about a children’s fantasy this willing to get weird.

It might be a little overstuffed, perhaps, but Wildwood is a film that’s absolutely worth getting lost in.

Wildwood is in cinemas now.