Wildwood (2026)

I love stop animation. In fact, it might be my favorite type of film, and as one reviewer noted, it's just about the biggest FU to AI there is. 

LAIKA has an incredible track record. Wildwood is its sixth film. The first five all were Oscar nominated for Best Animated Feature. For Wildwood, I would love to see it nominated for Best Picture, period. It's that good. Only three animated films -- Beauty and the Beast (1991), Up (2009), and Toy Story 3 (2010) have been nominated for Best Picture, and they all lost. 

Let me just mention the other five LAIKA films. Coraline is probably my favorite of the first five, but I think Wildwood blows them all away:

Coraline (2009)

ParaNorman (2012)

The Boxtrolls (2014)

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Missing Link (2019)

What makes Wildwood even better than the previous five LAIKA films? It's even more epic. It perfectly captures both the cityscape of Portland, and the natural environment of the Impassible Woods. Although I've only spent a few days in Portland, I was amazed at how much they were able to replicate, and I found myself thinking, "I've walked that street," and "I know that place," and "that really does look like Portland."

Beyond just general setting locations, I was amazed at the attention to detail they put into the characters. Their teeth gleam, but more than that, when they talk, you can see the saliva in their mouths. Now that's attention to detail. Likewise, the reflection in the characters' eyes is perfect. And if there's candle or firelight in a room, you're going to see its reflection in their eyes. Nothing is overlooked. 

The main battle sequence: I've already read that some reviewers have written that it's better done than The Odyssey. Probably so. It blows my mind to think about how they were able to pull this off with stop-animation. It just seems impossible, not only with the amount of people and beasts on the ground that would need to be individually moved hundreds of times, but also the additional complexity of moving all of the birds when they enter the battle. And the catapults launching fire everywhere. How did they do all that so perfectly?

The answer: An estimated $80 million budget, 50 stop-motion animators, with another 1,000 artists and assorted technicians working on the project over 4+ years of active production time, and additional, what, maybe up to 10 years of pre-production development. Movies like this aren't quick and cheap to make, but the proof of effort is clearly visible in the final product. 

It helps that the movie has a great story, too. Wildwood is based on a young adult trilogy (which I need to read). From what I've read, the movie only adapts the first book in the series. That means there's more story written, and the only way to know what happens next is to read the books. 

What I like about this film, and all of the LAIKA films for that matter, is the unique individual design. Although Portland is authentic and easily recognizable, it's also true that the film creates its own world. You've never seen anything like this before. Wildwood is original. It's not a copy of anything. And it goes places with a PG-13 rating that maybe previous LAIKA films haven't gone before. It's definitely not a "young kids" movie, and some of the moments in the film can be a little brutal. Even the opening scene. We know that's not a boy, but yet, he looks like a boy, and his "end" is pretty impactful. 

Great film. Of the 500+ movies I've watched this year, quite possibly my favorite. It's one of those films that's so good, you would probably be willing to stay in the theater and immediately watch it again. Really fun to watch with a crowd, too, because everyone gets into it, and it's cool to hear the audience laugh together, but also to hear the audience register moments of pure communal shock. Definitely a film worth seeing in the theater. 

Rating: 5/5 stars