Wildwood Review: Laika's Stunner Makes Fantasy Feel Fresh Again

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Travis Knight's new stop-motion fantasy epic "Wildwood," based on the novel by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis, is one of the most dazzling films I have seen in a long time. I've never seen an animated film that looks quite this alive, bursting in every frame with vivacious detail. There is a tactile quality to stop-motion animation that allows the medium to breathe and jitter to life, and Knight has filled his film with expressive characters, quivering plants, and windblown leaves that make "Wildwood" a beauty to behold.

"Wildwood" is so visually astonishing, so textured and vivacious, that it makes the old fantasy clichés in its script feel new again. After a generation of "Harry Potter" knockoffs, YA fantasy tropes became a reliable road map, usually suffused with boring "chosen one" and "special child" narratives that became as predictable as any slasher movie. 

"Wildwood," however, manages, through its wilful visuals, to shed its genre's staleness. It is free of Harry Potter-style YA self-grandeur, free of the tiresome Peter Jackson "Lord of the Rings" portent, and definitely beyond insufferable Disney hyperkinetic semi-comedic cheekiness. Too many animated films, even great ones, lean into a type of chaotic CGI visual busyness, clearly aimed to distract the kiddies with movement and noise. 

"Wildwood," perhaps because stop-motion animation is so labor-intensive, settles into a more natural pace. Characters aren't "witty" chatterboxes who scream eight lines before you get a chance to think. The action is deliberate and focused. The frame isn't stuffed full of too many details; many films require a Blu-ray release and a pause button for some scenes to be fully appreciated. Not with "Wildwood." Finally, finally, we can breathe and take in the beauty of it all. 

/Film posited that "Wildwood" could be one of 2026's best films. It is.

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"Wildwood" tells the story of Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee) a 12-year-old girl with a one-year-old brother who lives in Portland with her hippie-dippie parents (Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine). The attention to Portland is impeccable, with Prue riding her bike past Powell's Books and buying herself one of those Cap'n Crunch donuts from Voodoo Donuts. Her parents have warned Prue not to take her little brother outdoors, but, being a defiant tweener, she does it anyway. This attracts a Hitchcockian murder of crows that whisk away the infant, and lead Prue, along with an accumulated friend named Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), to the edge of the Oregonian woods. 

Prue manages to break the seal between worlds (there is something eerie about her blood) and treks into the greenworld of "Wildwood." There, she encounters a pack of talking coyotes dressed like Colonialist soldiers. Delving deeper, and becoming separated from Curtis, Prue encounters noble talking birds, led by a regal eagle played by Angela Bassett, and eventually runs aground in the magical state capital, run by a corrupt mayor and his sniveling Roy Brocksmith-like assistant. She also is astonished to find that animals and humans live side-by-side, filling out paperwork together. 

Curtis, meanwhile, finds himself in the company of the Dowager Governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan), an imposing sorceress who commands the coyote army, and who has a scheme of her own. Also involved in the narrative is a colorful band of angry bandits led by the enormous Brendan (Mahershala Ali) and a group of tree-worshiping druids, represented by the elderly Iphigenia (Tantoo Cardinal). All of this results in the most visually creative fantasy movie since "The Dark Crystal."

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The bandits and the mystics give a lot of grave warnings about Alexandra and her plan. Alexandra, meanwhile, has no issues with indoctrinating Curtis as a child soldier; she gleefully murders people right in front of him.

For sensitive parents, be warned: "Wildwood" features scenes of actual death and on-screen blood (it's rated PG-13, uncommon for animated films). This is a fairy tale that ends in a fiery battlefield conflagration with swords, bayonets, and arterial spray. In a weird way, it's refreshing to see a fantasy film lean into the more unpleasant aspects of war, depicting it as horrifying and bloody. Not a single character is a kung-fu-trained badass who backflips and slashes at enemies bloodlessly. 

There is a tendency in fantasy films for human protagonists to react to the extraordinary with a flippant "whatever," or, at the very least, a brief bout of panic before settling into the fantastical with ease. "Wildwood" somehow manages to retain its awe, mystery, and fear throughout. Prue and Curtis understand the rules of the world, but they also never lose their outsider status. This is a small detail, but it's vital to maintaining wonderment and magic in your fantasy film. "Awesome" has become the antithesis of "awestruck." "Wildwood" leaves you feeling the latter. 

The original "Wildwood" book was published in 2011, making it a direct descendant of the YA trend kicked off by Harry Potter. It's literary influences, however, aren't of that trend. "Wildwood" has more in common with the works of Philip Pullman ("The Golden Compass") than J.K. Rowling (boo, hiss). Its pastoral, mossy visuals seem to have been taken from folk horror tales like Arthur Machen's 1904 short story "The White People" combined with the poetry of Wordsworth.

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Throughout "Wildwood," you may need to remind yourself that this was all stop-motion, and that you are watching real-world maquettes captured by real cameras. The movement is so smooth, and the characters are so expressive, you wonder why anyone bothers with CGI at all. "Wildwood" was photographed by the great Caleb Deschanel ("Being There," "The Right Stuff," "Fly Away Home," many others), which may go a long way to explain its visual appeal. Everything is clear, crisp, and cogent. And beautiful. It's all so beautiful. 

The central criticism I have with "Wildwood" is its script. The story is, on paper, typical fantasy hooey, all about a brave sister entering a scary place to rescue a helpless relative. That's the plot of "Labyrinth" and a dozen others. The main themes of "Wildwood" are also familiar, with a young girl finding a sense of responsibility and becoming a young woman, all through the crucibles of adventure, friendship, and battlefield violence. 

Too many fantasy stories climax with an actual war, which always feels uncreative to me. Is there no way to better settle an existential battle than to depict people waiting on each other for 20 minutes? But some great characterization and animation are more than enough to elevate "Wildwood" into something breathtaking. I felt like I was drinking a cool glass of water after a months-long heatwave, left in tears by something so gorgeous. 

/Film Rating: 9 out of 10

"Wildwood" opens in theaters on October 23, 2026.