Gorgeous ‘Wildwood’ long on looks, short on story
“Stunning” best describes the animated wonder that is “Wildwood.” It’s easily the finest stop-motion work I’ve yet seen, brimming with “how did they do that” shots that are almost lifelike, whether it’s something as minor as a character’s gait or an epic battle that rivals any in “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Words simply can’t do it justice. And to think it was constructed at just a fraction of the cost of most Disney or Pixar productions.
What it lacks is a story as emotionally resonant as those tales from the House of Mouse. The characters are standard issue, and the plot follows the familiar path of a young girl eager to escape the “tyranny” of her overprotective, granola-bar parents. But, man, those visuals! They held me in their grip from beginning to end.
It’s not just a movie; it’s a breathtaking work of art that convincingly creates another world, just across the river from Portland, Oregon, home to Laika, the upstart studio owned by Nike founder Phil Knight, whose son, Travis, is both the company’s CEO and helmer of “Wildwood.” And, oh, what a good Knight it is! Not quite on a plane with the company’s masterpiece, “Coraline,” but jaw-dropping enough to be a colossus on a scale you’d expect from Cecil B. DeMille — if he were still around to direct animated extravaganzas like this.
What impresses me most is its uncanny ability to convey speed, whether it’s a bicycle jetting through the streets of Portland, a foot chase through an enchanted forest, or majestic birds darting across a cobalt sky. It’s all rendered with a level of authenticity that keeps you on the edge of your seat. At the heart of it is the aptly named Impassable Forest, a perilous fairyland of great beauty lorded over by the all-powerful Dowager Governess Alexandra (voiced by Carey Mulligan), a Maleficent-type scheming to regenerate the young son fate cruelly took from her.
That part of the story is accessible and moving, but it grows convoluted as more and more ancillary characters enter the fray, whether it’s a band of indigenous people seeking to reclaim their land or a group of disgruntled farmers whose crops have been overrun by killer ivy. Each strand is worthwhile in its own right, but they dilute the main focus: the escalating feud between Alexandra and the film’s precocious prepubescent protagonist, Prue McKeel (Peyton Elizabeth Lee).
The other characters, except possibly Awkwafina’s talkative rat, Septima, are either uninteresting or overshadowed by Mulligan, who excels at projecting an intriguing mix of evil and heartbreak. She’s so dynamic that you never believe a wee girl as wan as Lee’s Prue ever stands a chance. She’s too one-note, defined only by her eagerness to grow up fast and chart a destiny free of her hippie-dippy parents, voiced by a grating Jake Johnson and Maya Erskine.
Prue also desperately wants to emancipate her baby brother, Mac, who’s not even allowed to leave the house- ever. Why? I can’t say, but I can tell you that one Saturday, while Mom and Dad are away, Prue and Mac sneak out long enough for a murder of crows to swoop down and whisk Mac across the river to the fog-shrouded Impassable Forest. Prue then vows to make it her core mission, abetted by her nerdy, braver-than-he-thinks admirer, Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), to find and retrieve Mac.
The story’s rote nature falls on Chris Butler, whose adaptation of a graphic novel penned by Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy lacks heart and emotion, unlike his previous scripts for the Laika hits “Paranorman,” “Missing Link,” and “Kubo and the Two Strings.” It’s largely pedestrian and pizzazz-free, handcuffing a high-caliber cast that also includes Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Richard E. Grant, and Awkwafina.
Yet, it’s not nearly as detrimental as you’d expect. Not when a film is this imaginative and picturesque. I particularly admired how the story comes at you from multiple angles: from the air, via flocks and flocks of warrior birds, and from the ground, through a legion of ravenous coyotes dressed as 18th century soldiers and toting what look like muskets. Who thinks of that? Well, this is Portland, after all. And the animators have fun satirizing their city in an affectionate, “Portlandia” sort of way, as Prue and Mac zoom through the streets on bike and cart, whizzing past quirky storefronts and their equally eccentric patrons.
It also cleverly pays homage to Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Birds,” with a scene in which hundreds of crows alight on every available perch, waiting for the right moment to strike. The costumes are eye-catching, too, from the gowns and armor platting adorning Alexandera to the native-style tunics worn by Ali’s fierce dreadlocked warrior leader, Brendan. But the animators save the best for last, staging a climactic battle in which hundreds of humans and critters set upon each other with guns, bayonets and catapults hurling great balls of fire.
It’s so violent (we also witness early on a child committing suicide) that it almost goes without saying that “Wildwood” is much too disturbing for kids under 10. But everyone else, do yourselves a favor and see this spectacular spectacle on the biggest screen possible. You’ll never look at animation the same way again.
Movie review
Wildwood
Rated: PG-13
Featuring the voices of: Carey Mulligan, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Richard E. Grant and Awkwafina
Director: Travis Knight
Writer: Chris Butler
Runtime: 129 minutes
Where: In theaters Oct. 23
Grade: B
