Wildwood Turns Sixteen Years of Handcrafted Stop-Motion Into an Epic Worth the Wait

The artistic form of animation has always been a mixed bag, some view the method as a simple means to children’s entertainment, others a tool to achieve larger than life stories. Whatever the case, there seems to be a prestige when it comes to the particular form of stop-motion, that being a group of tireless artists moving models around by tiny increments until at the end they have a chain of photographs that have a story. Possibly the most famous stop-motion creation is Wallace and Gromit, but other examples include the work of Adam Elliot and Laika Studios. Laika has produced some of the much loved stop-motion works of the past few decades and now they have potentially created their greatest work yet with Wildwood. Wildwood tells the story of Prue McKeel who loses her baby brother and ventures deep into the dense and magical woodland to get him back, encountering a wide range of enchanted humans and creatures both good and bad. This film directed by Laika CEO Travis Knight is not only the crowning achievement of stop-motion animation but feels like it could be a crowning achievement in the art of filmmaking. Wildwood had its world premiere at the BFI London Film Festival.

The evolution of animation has progressed rapidly over the past century, starting with the traditional 2D style and developing into the norm of CGI rendering. Outside all of this there feels a niche has been cut out of stop-motion animation, and this too has evolved with the years. Traditionally, stop-motion animation was used to tell crude simple stories with a couple of characters. These stories came with their own signature charm but films like Wildwood just show where this medium can go. Wildwood is a film of great scale, drawing obvious comparisons narratively to Jim Henson’s Labyrinth but the scale of this film more resembles the epics of Narnia or even the Lord of the Rings franchise. Filled with meticulously detailed rooms and grand battles, this is a film that has been a dedicated task for this group of creatives for the last sixteen years. In an introduction to the film at its London world premiere, director Travis Knight highlighted that this film is an achievement of human artistry in an age of algorithms; as the concept of generative AI threatens to displace creativity, Wildwood just shows what human imagination can achieve.

Wildwood assembles an all star cast to voice its collection of characters both human or otherwise. Both Peyton Elizabeth Lee as Prue and Jacob Tremblay as Curtis are charming as our human protagonists, their voice work is dynamic and emotionally relevant for a central theme of the film, that being the causes and consequences of growing up. Alongside the young stars are the likes of Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Basset, Richard E. Grant and Jake Johnson whose voices are all at hand to bring this gorgeously crafted world to life.

The story of Wildwood feels like that of a classic fairytale, complete with talking animals and a brutal Brothers Grimm edge. Some may argue that this story filled with character archetypes and familiar scenarios may make Wildwood seem redundant but I would argue that it makes the film feel timeless, just like Knight has been crafting this story for almost two decades, this story feels apt for that time, apt for this time and apt for the time that’s going forwards. Besides, even in moments when the story doesn’t grip as much, you’re still greeted with the beautiful visuals on screen, an emotionally powered score by Dario Marianelli and the promise that something epic is around the corner.

Packed with epic visuals and an unexpected brutality, Wildwood sets a new peak for the medium of animation and highlights just how important handcrafted creativity is in our modern world. A story that will resonate with everyone young and old and stunning to look at, this isn’t just the best animated film of the year but in the upper echelons of the year’s cinema full stop. Travis Knight and his team of craftsmen defy the odds in an age of AI, having created an entire world from scratch and pushing the boundaries of a process they’ve dedicated much of their life to. Scary and intense at times, funny and beautiful in others, Wildwood is a visual feast being presented as a cinematic event.

Half-term starts next week, and EyeOnLondon would get the family to the cinema for this one before the rush sets in.

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[Image Credit | Laika]

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