In this climate of the industry, Laika’s newest film is nothing short of a miracle that everyone needs to see. The fact that this 16 year in the making stop-motion epic got made in an era of ‘nostalgia bait’ and dreadful use of ai, is proof as to why human art will always reign supreme.
- Director – Travis Knight
- Runtime – 132 minutes
- Certificate – 12A
- Country- United States
This miracle claim will keep coming up and it’s for good reason. The film is one of the most stunning of the year. Images that could be framed and hung in the Louvre – especially in that final battle. I can’t imagine the effort that goes into this and every single crew member deserves praise. Where the animators deserve praise so does the legendary cinematographer Caleb Deschanel. He really composes some gorgeous shots and the way he moves the camera is not only outrageously good but creative. The way the camera will go past an object and then transition into a close up shot of the character speaking.
With a runtime of 2 hours and 10 minutes, it’s the longest stop motion film ever made and it shows. Besides its creative camera movements it has these grand set pieces. As mentioned earlier that final battle is something special. It feels like something you would see in Lord of the Rings.
All I could think of while watching is the amount of effort that went into and how is it physically possible to create something on this scale.
I’m not familiar with the source material and to be honest I hadn’t seen much about the film apart from it is a new Laika film. So imagine my surprise when I found out it was this epic dark fantasy tale. And I mean dark. The story is not afraid to go to these places where the viewer wouldn’t expect whether it be graphically or with events that are genuinely disturbing. Some moments I was actually shocked at how dark it got for a film like this.
That’s what made the writing so good – how mature it was. Events that take place are real things that can happen to parents and then how they choose to deal with the grief that comes along with it. Any parent would want their child back no matter the cost. Which is why Alexandra is an immediate all-time villain. She’s so fantastically and tragically written that you start to sympathise with her. She’s also brilliantly voiced Carey Mulligan. The rest of the cast is also great with numerous Oscar winners and nominees such as Angela Bassett as The General, Mahershala Ali as the rebel leader Brenden, and Richard E. Grant as Owl Rex.
While the overall story is fantasy, our protagonist Prue McKeel’s narrative is a coming of age. Usually I don’t like coming of age stories. I find the main characters annoying and their situations are never that relatable. However, this was never the case with Prue but almost the complete opposite. She’s actually quite funny instead of annoying. How she responds to this new found world with sarcastic comments and confusion is probably how I would respond as well. Voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, who is only 22, adds an essence of youth to the character that it desperately needs. Her performance feels genuine.
Going back to the fantasy aspect, its inspirations are clear – J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, Narnia and probably way more. And yet it has its own identity. Its world building is endlessly charming that made me feel like a kid again. But what great fantasy film is complete without a great score? That’s what elevates the film even more for me – it is phenomenal. It’s composer Dario Marianelli third collaboration with both Laika and director Knight and clearly something works between the parties. It adds so much weight to this story that makes it truly feel like an epic.
Through its masterful technical prowess and emotional weight, Wildwood proves that human made art will ever only be true way to consume media.