Sixteen years in the making, Laika’s stop-motion epic about a girl, a stolen baby brother and an impossible forest is the animated film of the year. This Wildwood review breaks down why it earns that title.
By The Cinephile — CelebnMusic247
Some films are animated. Wildwood was built, one frame at a time, over a production so long the studio calls it sixteen years in development. Laika’s sixth feature, directed by Travis Knight from Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis’s novel, sends headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) into the Impassable Wilderness beyond Portland after a murder of crows abducts her baby brother — and it never once feels like a children’s film playing dress-up.
The scale is the first shock. Talking animals, military coyotes, giant birds of prey, sorceresses and bandits collide in a gothic fairy-tale world, per Film Focus Online, which called it a once-in-a-generation animated masterpiece with the mythic weight of The Lord of the Rings filtered through The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. Collider went further, calling it the Narnia of a new generation and some of the best stop-motion ever put to screen. The Playlist gave it an A+, praising a reckoning with irreparable loss that the artistry never overshadows. At 132 minutes and rated PG-13, per review coverage, this is Laika’s darkest and most mature film — and Knight directs it, per Get Your Comic On, like the last film he will ever make, without a single dragging stretch.
Wildwood review: the consensus quibble
If there is a consensus quibble, it is small: Collider noted a few story decisions keep the plot a notch below its 10/10 looks, and AccessReel flagged dense mythology and occasionally uneven humor. This desk felt the density as richness, not clutter — the film trusts young viewers the way the best ’80s fantasy did, and Carey Mulligan‘s Dowager Governess Alexandra gives it a villain who is threatening, tragic and morbidly funny at once. And in a year when generative AI hangs over animation, the words “Handmade in Oregon” in the credits, noted by Rendy Reviews, land as a mission statement.
Who is it for? Families with kids old enough for real darkness, animation lovers, and anyone who still believes practical craft can out-dazzle a render farm. See it on the biggest screen available.
Verdict: ★★★★★ out of 5 — a handcrafted fantasy epic with genuine emotional weight; the rare animated film that aims at masterpiece and gets there.
Oscar worthy: yes — Best Animated Feature should start engraving the shortlist, and if the Academy’s craft branches are paying attention, the production design conversation starts here too.
Sources: Collider | Film Focus Online | Get Your Comic On
