Synopis
After her baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) launches a desperate rescue mission into the Impassable Wilderness—an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland, Oregon. Joined by her hapless but loyal classmate Curtis Mehlberg (Jacob Tremblay), Prue navigates a world of talking animals, bandits, and powerful figures driven by grief and ambition. As the pair is drawn into a conflict threatening the balance of the forest itself, Prue must discover the strength and belief she never knew she possessed. If she hopes to save her brother and protect Wildwood’s fragile future, she will have to risk everything. From Oscar®-nominated and BAFTA®-winning LAIKA, Wildwood is a sweeping adventure about love, sacrifice, and the magic that reveals itself when we dare to look beyond the familiar.
Review
This movie is probably easily my favorite movie of the year for a multitude of factors. I’ll start off by saying that I had seen the trailers for this movie, but I knew little about the plot or anything else about it. I had originally assumed it was a movie for kids, but I had gotten a heads-up the day before that it wasn’t, so I did know that going into it (I will go into detail with this in my spoiler section of my review). I also learned that it’s based off a middle-grade book written by Colin Meloy (lead singer of the Decemberists).
Laika sets off to do one thing: Keep Portland weird (and wild). Well, they set off to do more than that, but very early on you’re introduced to a colorful look at Portland. I love Portlandia, so some of the vibes of the town were a little familiar to me, and even though I’ve never been to that city, I felt like it perfectly encapsulated it. Oregon is the perfect setting for this story with its lush landscapes and an environment that lends itself to the mystical and supernatural. Laika’s background and setting details were on point throughout this movie and shows how much love and time went into this film.
One thing I loved right off the bat was the sibling love between Prue and her young brother Mac. A lot of the time, stories like this have a jaded older sibling who isn’t a fan of their much younger sibling, but there’s such deep love and devotion between the two, which spurs Prue to look for her brother despite the risks that lurk in the forbidden woods on the other side of the train tracks.
Joined by Curtis, the try-too-hard side character, the duo navigates the mystical woods and stumbles into a world that I feel resembles a darker version of Narnia. You have talking animals, divided kingdoms, shadow rulers, battles, good versus antagonists, and so much more. There is a lot of stuff packed into this 2hr and 12-minute movie, but at its core, it explores the question of how far will people go for the ones they love?
Below is the spoiler part of the review, so if you would like the movie to remain unspoiled, skip this section; you can jump to the end for my final thoughts.
The opening of the movie was my first indicator that this is not a kid’s movie. Although I don’t think it was necessary to show a naked Alexei committing suicide (especially since he is technically a young teenager, and that made me a bit uncomfortable to witness), the beginning scenes were impactful and set the stage for the characters we see later in the movie. Nothing gets much darker than a child ripping out their heart (a mechanical one in this case) and jumping to their death.
Prue was given strict instructions not to take Mac outside, which seemed so weird to me. Her parents have hippie vibes, and they had rules about Mac never going outside, but it wasn’t explained to Prue or the audience. So, once they leave, Prue does the exact opposite and takes him on a fun adventure through the city. She runs into Curtis, they go to the park, and then Mac is abducted by the crows and taken into the forbidden woods.
Once Prue and Curtis enter the Impenetrable Woods, there is a lot of action. The coyote troops they encounter felt very much like the White Witch’s wolf troops in Narnia, and their red coat uniforms evoked imagery of the British troops of the American Revolutionary War era. Using coyotes instead of wolves was an interesting choice to use for the antagonistic troops. We also see early on that the crows aren’t to be trusted, and they also fall into the ranks of the dark forces that inhabit the woods.
The duo gets split up in their attempt to escape the coyotes, Curtis being captured and Prue ending up in the care of a mailman. He gives her a lift through the woods to get help from the Governor of the South Wood. Along the way, they encounter the remnants of the troubles shadowing the woods and the bird kingdom inhabitants. Bandits are supposedly responsible for the destruction of the woods, and they are feared. The General, a giant golden eagle voiced by Angela Bassett, was one of my favorite minor characters–and there are a lot of them in this movie, which is another testament to the scale of this film and why it took so long to make. From there, Prue is sent to the Pittock Mansion, which looks very different from how it did in the beginning of the movie. A place of bureaucracy and filled with men and talking animals alike, Prue tries to seek help from the Governor, only to be imprisoned for being an outsider. This movie highlights the bloat and ineffectiveness of government processes (or at least a government that reflects familiar Western governments), especially in the case of the Governor, who is basically an inept puppet, and his conniving assistant.
Prue, ever the resourceful girl since the beginning, is aided by a sparrow named Ember from the bird kingdom to go see Owl Rex, the crown prince of the kingdom, and get answers to what is going on and how she can find her brother. After a harrowing and sometimes silly escape, she heads on her way to the bird kingdom.
Curtis, meanwhile, awakes in a dark, Game of Thrones-esque place with the Dowager Countess Alexandra attending to him. Alexandra calls him Alexei, which was my first clue that something wasn’t right with her. She is the leader of the coyotes in the Warren. Curtis doesn’t catch the fact that she calls him by her dead son’s name, but Curtis isn’t great at picking up on clues. A rat, Septima, voiced by Awkwafina, tries to warn him, but he yet again doesn’t pay attention and is naively trusting. This kind of character can be very frustrating and unlikeable, but it’s part of his character flaw that he grows through by the end of the story.
He gets dressed up as one of the coyote soldiers and is asked to join Alexandra on the front lines as they go to stop a bandit incursion. When they arrive at the battlefield littered with coyote and human bodies, Alexandra taunts the bandit king, voiced by Mahershala Ali) and his captured men. Curtis gets a first-hand look at Alexandra’s darkness when she tells him to kill a dying man, and he refuses. We see how cold she is to her enemies, but the strange deluded affection she shows to Curtis who she periodically thinks resembles her son.
When Prue meets Owl Rex, voiced by Richard E. Grant, who felt more like a pompous ruler rather than a wise old owl, she learns the truth behind what’s going on and Alexandra’s sad and dark history. Alexei had died tragically on a ride, and his body had never been recovered. His mother tried to bring him back with dark magic after her husband also passed away, creating a mechanized child imbued with the essence of her son. Everything was fine until fake Alexei realized what he was and decided to end his life, which pushed Alexandra into madness when the townspeople exiled her to the edges of the woods. Owl Rex was present for these events and offers Prue a solution to talk to the mystics who have a deep connection to the nature of the woods and might be able to help her find her brother. As things go, they are interrupted by the Governor’s people who tracked them down, and Prue has to escape with the General while Owl Rex is arrested.
This leads into one of the coolest, most vivid chase scenes of the whole movie. On the back of the eagle, Prue flies through the air, outflying coyotes and the crows. One thought of taking the eagles to Mordor did cross my mind while watching this. We get to see all the details Laika put into this one character, and I read that over 3000 individual feathers were used for the eagle. Just as everything seems to be going well, an arrow cuts the hope short and sends it crashing to the ground. I let out an audible gasp as the General was straight-up killed on screen and died instantly. It wasn’t something I was expecting, reminding me of the movie’s overarching theme: the beautiful things are not what they seem. Prue is captured and taken to the Warren.
At the coyote headquarters, Curtis begins to question his decision to stay, wanders into the nesting place of Alexandra’s crows, and finds Mac at the center. Alexandra’s plan is to sacrifice a babe born of magic to the ivy that encircles the woods in the hopes that she can control it and find where her son’s bones are to bring him back with magic. I originally didn’t flag the “born of magic” part, although early on in the movie, it’s shown that Prue’s blood seems to have some magical properties that she’s unaware of, but the plants recognize. The ivy was foreshadowed at the start, and some characters worriedly whispered about its barrier failing. I thought it was the protector of the woods, but it turns out it was the cause of many of the issues and destruction, overtaking everything, as ivy is prone to do–just with some magic added in.
Curtis ends up being imprisoned with the other bandits once Alexandra realizes that he knows and plans to run away with Mac. Her attention turns to Prue, and for a moment it seems like she truly just wants to find her son and uses Prue’s desperation to fool her into thinking that Mac is dead, and that it would be better for her to return home and deliver the news so her parents can grieve. Prue does this without Curtis, and when she returns, she breaks the news to her family. I wasn’t sure at this part of the story how much time had passed since she left home and entered the woods. I thought time might have moved weirdly there, but unlike Narnia, time seems to move the same in both places.
Another theme this movie does well is not putting blame on Prue. She apologizes several times, saying she’s sorry she caused this mess, but characters tell her that things were happening before she showed up; she just helped fan the flames. So often, movies like this have others blaming characters like Prue who enter different worlds or situations. Her parents don’t blame her either, instead telling her that this is part of something that happened long before she was born.
And at this point we are told about how Prue came into being and why Mac was actually taken. The story takes a Rumplestiltskin turn where Prue’s parents agree to give up their second-born child in order to have a child. They are told about this option by a spooky witch under a bridge who is on the fringes of a typical Portland farmers market. Classic Portland. Alexandra is the one they meet on the bridge between the two worlds, and a bargain is struck; the parents naively think they will only have one child, so the bargain wouldn’t apply to them. This is a part of the movie that wasn’t really explained: how much of the world outside of Wildwood knows about the magic beyond it? It’s talked about briefly in books Prue’s father tells her, but not much else is explained, like how the witch had the bell (although I suspect it might have been Alexandra in disguise), or how Alexandra could cross through the ivy. Simple answer is probably magic, but it’s also unclear how magic exists in the Wildwood and not in the rest of the world.
At the end of the tale, Prue reacts with anger, which is understandable, and argues with her parents about when it’s time to let go versus when it’s time to keep searching. This draws a bit of a parallel to Alexandra’s own tragic obsession, but unlike her Prue returns to the woods on her own out of hope rather than despair.
War is brewing in the woods, so it’s a rush for Prue and Curtis, who escapes with the bandits to return to their home in the Bandit Camp, to get help and stop Alexandra. Prue heads to the Ancient’s Grove to seek the help of the mystics, one of whom was also present for Alexandra’s exile. Out of all the places in the Wildwood, the Ancient’s Grove had the most down-to-earth vibes, with the animals and people living in harmony with the land, with their large sacred tree on the hill. After some back-and-forth and communing with a tree, Prue accidentally activates the tree with her blood and sees a vision of what’s to come. This forces a peaceful village to do a Seven Samurai turnaround, grab whatever they have, and prepare for war.
This film has moments where it adds a bit of lightheartedness to some of the darker scenes, and one of those happens in an unexpected scene. As Alexandra and her army are advancing on the Bandit’s Camp (this is where the sleeping ivy taproot is sleeping and has turned a once thriving city into ruins by strangling everything), Mac is fussy, and she soothes him by making funny faces–something that seems out of character for the warlord and knowing all the horrible things she’s done. And then she gives one of my favorite lines: “No, that’s Mommy’s sacrificial knife, it’s dangerous!” While this is funny, I also think this scene in particular is sad because it shows she can be so caring and just wants a child to love, but is willing to do the unthinkable to reclaim what she’s lost.
The line, “Whatever it takes,” is echoed throughout the movie by both Alexandra and Prue’s own parents. There are two variations of parents: the ones who are willing to let go when the time comes, and the one who is consumed by grief. Now, I would say that in the beginning, Prue’s parents were driven by desperation, making a deal to get what they wanted even though there was a chance they would have to give up something they loved. This was a tricky point for me because it seemed like in the end they were resigned to Mac’s fate, while Prue was willing to go back into danger for her brother. I also had speculations that Mac was maybe even Alexandra’s since his complexion matches her more than his own parents, while Prue is more of her parents’ child, sporting the same little birthmark under her left eye that her dad has. That could explain why they were more willing to let him go compared to their firstborn. I don’t know if this was intentional, but with how much time went into the designs, it seems like it could be.
The last part of the movie has the most action and stunning scenes. The final battle scene was one that would put Game of Thrones to shame (and you can at least see what’s going on). I almost forgot I was watching a stop-motion film. The bandits and the people of the Ancient’s Grove meet Alexandra’s forces on the field to try and stop her from reaching the ivy taproot on the plinth. Wildwood doesn’t shy away from on-screen deaths, and there are many in this battle. Gunshots, arrows, eyes pecked out by crows, decapitations, mauled by coyotes, stabbings, and being burned alive from a tar spill that overtakes the battlefield. It highlighted that war was hell, and it’s the crucible where Curtis has the most growth. He loses Septima, another death that got me right in the feels. Prue chases after Alexandra to the plinth and tries to stop her from killing her brother. She once again accidentally activates the ivy, causing it to explode over the ruins and start to take over everything.
Alexandra meets a gruesome end, and Prue is able to calm the ivy and rescue her brother. The coyotes, now leaderless, flee and the day is won, although not without cost. Alexandra’s body is seemingly consumed by the ivy and never seen again. I would have liked for maybe Prue to have the ivy bring Alexei to a place he could have been buried or at least send Alexandra’s body to wherever her son’s was so at least they could have been reunited in death, but that didn’t happen.
Parts of the ending felt rushed. Crutis and Prue basically Irish-goodbye the people who helped them along the way and return to town. I wanted a bit more of the people helping them to the edge of the woods and saying goodbye to them. Prue’s magic is never explained, and the future consequences of it aren’t talked about–or whether Mac might also have this power. It felt like her magic became more of a convenient plot tool when it was needed. Some people in this world mentioned that they could sense people with magic, but no one, not even Alexandra, mentioned it to Prue. I also couldn’t tell how much time had passed in the world outside the Impenetrable Woods, or how much time had passed since Alexandra’s exile to the current events. The world was advanced enough to have guns and cars and electricity, but it was hard to pin down what era it was supposed to be set in, which might have been part of its charm. These were my main critiques of the movie. Since this movie is based on a book, which is the first in a trilogy, there could be more of this world explored in another movie, but that remains to be seen, and I haven’t read the books to know what else happens.
End of spoilers.
This film reminds us of the beauty of old-school, tactile animation. It’s a true love letter to the craft and exemplifies the bounds of human creativity without AI. One of the things this movie does really well is have compelling scenes where nothing is said at all; it lets the action tell the story. It does this throughout the film and at the end. I recommend sticking around for the credits. The music was also on point; even the beginning of the main theme had some GOT undertones to it and then flowed into more of a Studio Ghibli vibe. Dario Marianelli also did the score for Kubo and the Two Strings, which is another stop-motion film I adore (another Travis Knight film).
Overall, this is a solid movie that subverts some classic tropes and mixes childlike whimsy with gritty fantasy. I highly recommend seeing this film, and let yourself fall into an immersive story.
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