After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel launches a desperate rescue mission into an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Ore. Joined by a hapless but loyal classmate, Prue risks it all as she navigates a world of bandits, talking animals and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition.
Director: Travis Knight
Production Company: LAIKA
Cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Arthur Knight, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Charlie Day, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Blythe Danner, Rob Delaney, Marc Evan Jackson, Len Cariou
Rotten Tomatoes: N/A (updating)
Metacritic: N/A (updating)
Some Reviews (updating):
The Wrap - Williams Bibbiani - 100 / 100
Laika’s Fantasy Epic Is One of the Most Astonishing Animated Movies Ever Made | The stop-motion adventure, directed by Travis Knight, is so ambitious and intricate that it’s hard to even fathom. “Wildwood” is a wonder on many levels. It would be one of the best movies this year even with a mediocre story, but the narrative here is incredibly rich. I’d say it has to be seen to be believed, but even after you see this movie, it’s pretty unbelievable.
The Telegraph - Robbie Collin - 5 / 5
Adapted from a 2011 children’s novel by Colin Meloy, lead singer of the folk-rock band the Decemberists, Wildwood is a surpassingly beautiful and beguiling modern-day Narnia fable, every frame of which has been hand-crafted with a delicacy and artistry that took my breath away. I am not sure I have ever seen a stop-motion film this intricate or lavish, nor am I sure I ever will again.
Popped - Josh Martin-Jones - 5 / 5
Travis Knight and Laika’s latest film proves to be Laika’s most ambitious and best film to date. Inspired by the likes of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings, the film builds up to a sensational final act which rewards patience and the long journey presented to audiences. A film of epic scale, with clear care and consideration put into each and every shot, this is animation at its best, and one film you do not want to miss when it arrives in cinemas.
FilmHounds - Gavin Spoors - 5 / 5
Everything culminates in an astonishing third act that delivers an all-timer battle sequence and an emotional peak that will have adults in tears. Wildwood is Laika’s magnum opus; a cinematic achievement that we won’t soon see the likes of again. The love and ingenuity on display throughout the writing, directing, art, music and technical work is immense. In a time when we need creativity and art more than ever, Laika have called on us to fight for it, and believe in the magic.
ScreenRant - Liz Declan - 10 / 10
In the end, however, any quibbles feel small in comparison to the film's achievement. If Laika set out to prove that it is still worthy of its reputation as one of the best animation studios today, Wildwood has more than accomplished that—and I'd put money on the fact that the 2027 awards season will validate that.
Film Stories - James Harvey - 5 / 5
This is a film of contradictions: an expertly told, classic adventure story that rejects classic adventure stories, with a superficially perfectly happy protagonist who nonetheless already seems to have the cares of the world carved on her teenage face. Wildwood is both bleak and hopeful, thrillingly violent and concerned with the ramifications of violence, a no-holds-barred fantasy epic made up of puppets the size of your hand. It’s a film that both has its cake and eats it with indigestion-threatening gusto. You’d better start believing in fairy stories; Knight and co have just made the closest thing we’ll get to real magic.
Inverse - Hoai-Tran Bui
Wildwood is a stunning feat of animation — even more so because it could only have been animated in stop-motion. Its classic fantasy story, tied with its use of the oldest animated medium, somehow feels wholly fresh, because Knight and co. take its story and characters so deeply seriously. It strikes the balance between classic and novel, traditional and innovative. Wildwood may be indebted to so many great films and epics before it, but there’s truly nothing like it.
IGN - Tom Jorgensen - 8 / 10
Wildwood is an arresting, exciting fantasy epic made all the more impressive by the fact that its fully realized and well-thought out world is handmade and hand-animated. The craft on display from Laika and director Travis Knight through this story of grief and growing up is commendable, and Wildwood’s massive sense of both scale and whimsy are constant joys. Wildwood’s ambitions aren’t quite consistently enough matched by Prue, Curtis, and villain Alexandra’s individual stories in the midst of all that visual splendor, especially for as long as the movie is, but the emotional authenticity the voice cast - from the leads down to characters with only a few lines - bring to the table do a lot to make up for any shortcomings.
The Hollywood Reporter - Frank Scheck
The narrative and visual imagination on display is truly stunning, but they’re overshadowed by the genuine feeling in the screenplay crafted by director and Laika CEO Travis Knight and writer Chris Butler (ParaNorman, Missing Link). Alexandra is far from a cartoon villain, her motivation stemming from the traumatic loss of a son whom she vainly tried to replace with a mechanical replica. The tender family bonds between Prue and her parents and infant brother provide beautiful grace notes, as does Prue’s growing respect and affection for her classmate Curtis, whom she once considered a “loser.”
Collider - Aidan Kelley - 9 / 10
There are a few teeny tiny story decisions here and there that prevent Wildwood's plot from being on par with its 10/10 looks. But the tale Knight's movie weaves overall is one that harkens back to a simpler and nicer time of fantasy filmmaking — one where Willow and The Secret of NIMH reigned supreme and weren't afraid to go to dark places to tell a compelling story with well-developed characters. In more ways than one, Wildwood's marvelous ambition and scale makes it the Narnia of a new generation, and its status as an instant cult classic is all but guaranteed. Laika has made many visually striking movies in their nearly two-decade career, but Wildwood soars above them all with some of the most breathtaking sequences of the year.
Screen Daily - Wendy Ide
There’s a labour of love quality evident in the filmmaking, not just in the meticulous artistry of the model making but also in the way in which the personality of the location is evoked. Portland is brought to life in all its quirkiness and creativity in a glorious early sequence. Prue, hopped up on pre-teen rebellion and the giddy thrill of speed, barrels through the city on her bike, with her baby brother squealing his excitement from a little trailer bouncing haphazardly behind her. The densely detailed streets of downtown Portland zip by so quickly that it’s almost impossible to take it all in.
IndieWire - David Ehrlich - 'B-'
Just as courage doesn’t mean the absence of fear, and growing up doesn’t mean leaving every trace of childhood astonishment behind, a trite story and a few digital embellishments don’t mean that “Wildwood” isn’t a rare spectacle worth savoring, or that Laika has somehow lost its way. Indeed, the film almost seems to deliberately court these defects, as if to focus its audience on appreciating the beauty that survives them. As one particularly wizened character tells Prue it: “You’re so intent on seeing no magic in the world, but you miss it in every blade of grass and budding flower.” To watch a Laika movie, even — or especially — this one, is to rediscover that magic everywhere you look.
DEADLINE - Pete Hammond
There can be no doubt Meloy created this sweeping story in the tradition of other epics like Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia, and though Wildwood isn’t quite up on that mountain it ably marches to its own drummer, a story of grief, courage, determination and triumph, and yet another Laika stop-motion gem that stays in the heart.
Variety - Guy Lodge
“Wildwood” is on the verge of visual and sonic overkill, but abundance is very much the point of a story about exploring and embracing all corners of the world around you, even those you’ve been explicitly told to stay away from. In that spirit, too, Knight’s film borrows much from the library of fantasy and folklore, but with enough of its own exuberance and imagination to feel like a new standard. Perhaps handmade art isn’t going anywhere just yet.
Verdict - Josh Parham
“You think you outgrow magic, but magic doesn’t outgrow you”. A dark fable of colossal proportions, Wildwood is the most ambitious stop-motion film I’ve ever seen
The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw - 3 / 5
submitted by /u/ChiefLeef22The stop-motion animation style has, as with Coraline, a robust and pleasing directness, and results in, for me, a more organic character and physical immediacy than Pixar’s ubiquitous digital look, to which it makes a welcome change. I wasn’t sure that the narrative delivered a satisfyingly clear motive for the governess’s reprehensible plan, and in fact the story itself did not have the scary punch of Coraline, except in the uncanny opening sequence. Then again, it’s not that kind of story.
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