Laika’s Wildwood brings handcrafted stop-motion to a family quest fantasy
Laika’s *Wildwood* is a stop-motion fantasy adventure about two children who enter a hidden forest world after crows carry off a baby. Its old-fashioned quest story and handcrafted animation offer a family-friendly alternative to the studio’s more frightening *Coraline*.
Set beside modern-day Portland, the film follows 12-year-old Prue and her classmate Curtis as they encounter talking animals, oppressed forest dwellers and an evil dowager governess voiced by Carey Mulligan. Travis Knight directs a screenplay by Chris Butler, based on the book by Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy; the reviewer praises the animation’s physical immediacy but finds the governess’s motives unclear. The film screened at the London Film Festival and is due in cinemas on 23 October in the UK and US, and 22 October in Australia.
- Crows take Prue’s baby brother into a secret forest world.
- Laika brings the tale to life with distinctive stop-motion animation.
- The reviewer praises its craft but questions the villain’s motives.
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Laika is an animation studio known for creating stop-motion films with distinctive visual styles. Wildwood is their latest release, a fantasy adventure aimed at family audiences—a different tone from their earlier film Coraline, which had darker elements.
The story follows 12-year-old Prue and her classmate Curtis after crows take away a baby, leading them into a hidden forest world. There they encounter talking animals, oppressed woodland inhabitants and an evil governess voiced by Carey Mulligan. The film is set in modern-day Portland but draws on traditional adventure storytelling.
Wildwood is based on a book by Carson Ellis and Colin Meloy and directed by Travis Knight. It comes to cinemas on 23 October in the UK and US, and 22 October in Australia. Like Laika's other productions, the film uses handcrafted stop-motion animation rather than digital techniques.
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Originally published by The Guardian as “Wildwood review – Laika’s pleasingly old fashioned stop-motion magic-forest odyssey”.