Wildwood

Despite being warned to keep her baby brother indoors, "Prue" takes him out on a trip around town and he gets pinched by a menacing murder of crows and taken deep into the impenetrable forest. She's determined to get him back and so sets off into the dark and forbidding woods where she quickly encounters the coyotes - the guards of the "Dowager Governess". Captured and taken to her castle, she is promised assistance in retrieving her sibling but just how trustworthy is this outwardly benign lady? For that matter, what about the marauding "Brendan" and his gang of ruthless bandits? Finally of course, just what have the crows got to do do with things in a kingdom where the other birds seem a good deal more helpful? So, who or what - if any - can she trust? I wasn't so impressed with the story here - it's a fairly obvious hybrid of Frodo Potter goes to Narnia adventures, but the detail in...

Laika has always been one of my least favorite animation studios, and it's because they are tied to a medium of animation (stop-motion) that is becoming more and more dated as CGI is trying to replicate it with new software, and *Wildwood* is no exception. This movie is based on a 2011 novel about a teenager named Prue McKeel, who ventures into a forbidden forest to retrieve her baby brother Mac from the dowager governess, Alexandra. While the movie itself has a great story that perfectly blends action, comedy, character development, solid pacing, and emotional moments, and even has a phenomenal score from Dario Marianelli, the film's edgy, PG-13-level tone and stop motion visuals, while alluring, feel like a major letdown. The character designs look so stiff and plastic, almost like moving dolls rather than real people. And that's my problem with stop motion animation: the texture...

Technically its a marvel, but storywise it really falls flat. The stop-motion animation is so well done and fluid it looks like it could be computer generated. It must have taken an absolutely mammoth effort to create the film. The film has a painterly palette which looks gorgeous. Which is all the more shame as the characters and story let it down. The characters are less than one dimensional. The parents make some of the most bizarre and illogical actions ever set to screen. Prue doesn't believe in magic she says, but never ever questions it. The other characters are under-developed cliches. The core of the story has conflicting messages and just washed over me, I didn't develop any affinity for any of the characters or end up rooting for them, and the film didn't connect with me on any level emotionally. The film looks gorgeous, but there is nothing under the surface.

Check out my full review @ https://www.manuelsbento.com/wildwood-2026-laika-delivers-a-stop-motion-generational-masterpiece/ Rating: A+ WILDWOOD is a true masterpiece, and I don't use that word lightly. Travis Knight and everyone at Laika spent years building, by hand, the most impressive stop-motion movie I've ever seen, one that deserves the "generational classic" stamp. Caleb Deschanel's cinematography and Dario Marianelli's score belong in every major awards conversation, as the final battle sits right next to the greatest set pieces ever put to screen. Peyton Elizabeth Lee and Jacob Tremblay carry two beautiful arcs. Carey Mulligan makes sorrow terrifying and heartbreaking at the same time. It's a dark, brave, deeply emotional story about grief, family, sacrifice, and, in a very Tolkien manner, the courage of small creatures and their everyday deeds to keep darkness at bay. No...