Wildwood Review: Laika's Most Beautiful (and Heartbreaking) Story

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Laika, the stop motion animation studio, may craft magical worlds aimed at children but they never shy away from showing the darkness. Remember, 2009's Coraline was about child murder and sewing buttons onto their eyes, after all, while 2012's Paranorman focused on the torment of a child killed for being different. Their latest cinematic adventure, Wildwood, is a similarly ominous tale of adolescence, one about the fear of holding another's life in your hands, and accidentally losing it. Filled with some of the most superb, and technically ambitious, animation the studio has ever done, Wildwood continues to situate Laika as one of the best animation houses making movies today.

Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) is a teen girl desperate to grow up and see a world beyond the confines of Portland, Oregon. Despite her parents advising her to never leave the house with her baby brother Mac, Prue decides to take Mac on an adventure anyway. but when a murder of crows abduct the toddler, it's up to Prue to venture into the "Impassable Wilderness" to save him. Once there, she meets the inhabitants of Wildwood, a city of disparate communities torn apart and against each other by the Dowager Governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan).

Coraline is a valid comparison to Wildwood, in that both feature apathetic young girls transported to a magical land of talking animals where they do battle with a vengeful woman. (There's also a heavy dose of Jim Henson's Labyrinth here.) But where the comparison ends is in Wildwood's utter darkness. The movie's opening scene sees a boy take a plummet off a balcony to his death, setting in motion what becomes a story of grief, and how it can transform us into bitter beings intent on destroying the world as a means of feeling something.

Laika ascribes to hiring A-list talent for their casts, no different than other animated studios, and yet their movies often feel like they prioritize talent over name. These actors aren't specifically voice actors, but they all seem perfectly suited to the role they're inhabiting that you're content to not question who they are till the end. This is imperative for a movie with such a deep lore as Wildwood's, an adaptation of Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy's novel. Lee and Jacob Tremblay, as Prue's cowardly friend Curtis, give off youthful energy tinged with a hint of melancholy, even before they enter Wildwood.

The rest of the supporting cast is solid, from Richard E. Grant to Tom Waits (doing another great animated voice performance alongside Netflix's Ray Gunn). Even Awkwafina, as the rat Septima, manages to charm. But it is Carey Mulligan, as the Dowager Governess Alexandra who gives a performance that is equal parts heartbreaking and terrifying. Alexandra is struggling with the loss of her son, and not just at this death but at the fact that his body has never been found. Mulligan's gentle voice works to great effect, even when the characters is doing something remarkably evil. There's a growing desire in films these days, especially ones aimed at kids, to find a redeeming quality in a villain, and, thankfully, Laika chooses to forego this. It's not that Alexandra isn't sympathetic, but there's no redemption found for her.

As a character, Prue is a girl desperate for excitement but feeling stymied by her parents' seemingly bizarre desire to keep her little brother Mac confined. At one point her father says when Mac marries everyone can live with them. There's a narrative reason behind this that doesn't deal 100% with the implications of how it pushes Mac and Prue into different worlds. In a landscape where one sibling can often be the golden child and the other not, how can two siblings bond?

Once Prue gets to Wildwood the movie becomes a dark fantasy mystery, with Prue and Curtis investigating how to get Mac back. They meet all manner of talking animals and humans, all with the growing awareness that Wildwood is in danger of being destroyed by warring factions and the mysterious ivy that remains at bay. This is where Wildwood becomes one of Laika's most utterly beautiful movies. The movie itself took 16 years to develop and produce because of how grand its scale is. The General alone, a flying eagle voiced by Angela Bassett, was nothing short of a technical marvel for the studio.

And it is breathtaking to see on a big screen. Laika's always been superb at the facial expressions on its characters. Prue's face is one that seems older before its time, constantly seeming exhausted and bored. You can see the fear in Curtis's eyes. But that's coupled with the majesty of Wildwood itself, the trees, the individual animals and people. And that's to say nothing of the massive battle that takes place in the third act as the various groups of Wildwood finally go to war (complete with decapitations, btw). To think that one person is crafted out of clay and filmed is one thing, but countless individual bodies, with weapons, fighting on a grand scale, shot one at a time is mind-boggling. And the finished result looks perfect when all put together.

Families might feel a bit of bait and switch with the trailers for Wildwood, and it's worth going in with realistic expectations. The movie is grim. Characters die (and stay dead), babies are put in peril, and there's less of a sense of magical awe found in Wildwood itself. This holds more in common with fantastical YA books like Brian Jacques' Redwall, wherein one can't be fooled by the cute critters. The mythos is sweeping and foreboding. Those with little kids might want to take note.

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At its core, Wildwood is a story about sadness, whether that's the grief of losing a loved one or the feeling of not being on the right track in life. Laika film never give easy answers, but always making you feeling truly connected to the emotions and characters. Technically ambitious and gorgeous, Wildwood is one that certainly sticks with you.

Grade: B+

Wildwood is in theaters Friday.

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