Wildwood Review: Lovely, Dark, and Deep

The oldest opening to a tale of magic and wonder is a stolen baby. Whether it’s pixies or witches or changelings, an empty crib is a reason for the most unlikely of heroes to take a stand against the uncanny.

And so it is with Wildwood, the latest from the stop-motion master craftsmen at Laika, the studio behind ParaNorman, Missing Link, and Coraline. When the Dowager Governess of the South Wood (Carey Mulligan) sends her forces to a playground in Portland, Oregon, to steal the little brother of Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), the young girl must head into the Wildwood to recover him. Oh, but the Governess has her legion of coyotes in their crimson jackets, armed with muskets and teeth and cruelty, and her murder of crows, black as her magic and multitudinous enough to blot out the sun. And Prue only has her wits, and a ragtag band of birds, bandits, and farmers – and, of course, her loyal if hapless and a little besotted classmate, Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay, Room, The Life of Chuck) – to help her on her quest.

Even if the Oscars have yet to truly acknowledge it, Laika has revolutionized stop-motion with every film, and Wildwood somehow overthrows the order they have established. Its complexity and immersiveness is comparable to FX legend Phil Tippett’s singular stop-motion nightmare, Mad God, but to very different ends. In adapting the 2011 illustrated novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, director and studio co-founder Travis Knight (Bumblebee, Kubo and the Two Strings) and scriptwriter Chris Butler add even greater light and shade to this modern take on classic kids’ fantasy literature, deepening the themes of family and loss. Prue’s quest becomes even more demanding, the Dowager Governess is even more of a tragic villain, and Curtis is even more fun, especially when paired with a cowardly coyote named Dmitri (Charlie Day).

With every distinctive voice from Mahershala Ali to Tom Waits in the recording booth, Wildwood is one of those rare animated films in which an all-star cast is a boon, not a burden. Between pitch-perfect vocal casting and what one can only presume to be exquisite guidance from Knight, the stars never outshine the parts. Even Awkwafina’s charming turn as Septima, a rat who befriends Curtis, is enough to flush away memories of her cringe-inducing butchery of Scuttle in the remake of The Little Mermaid.

This is a film that could only have been crafted with stop-motion (and, as is Laika’s way, there’s a mid-credit sting showing the production process). Yet, at the same time, it’s almost impossible to see how this was achieved in that most laborious of filmmaking techniques. From the opening moments, a wordless tragedy that will illuminate the Dowager Governess’ motivations, through the immense caverns under her domain, to the vast ranks of her coyote legion, to the whole communities of animals and people that stand against her, to just the sheer number of rustling leaves on the trees of the Wildwood, it’s a whole world constructed in miniature and in more convincing detail than ever. Or rather, two worlds, as Knight and the set designers crafted both the Wildwood and a perfect replica of an idealized version of Laika’s hometown of Portland.

Knight has said that this is a 16-year passion project for him, just as Tippett took 30 years to complete Mad God. If so, then it’s just proof that the best things take a little while. As studios increasingly threaten to speed production with AI prompts replacing craft, Wildwood is a perfect reminder of the incalculable value of the artist’s hand, even if it is moving an armature on a puppet one tiny gesture at a time. In those motions, there is life and magic.

Find movie times.

This article appears in October 23 • 2026.