Wildwood 3 stars
Wildwood is Laika Studio’s new animated fantasy film just released in theaters. Laika is known for their previous animated films Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. Wildwood is based on a Young Adult novel by Colin Meloy published in 2011. At the opening of the movie, we witness a young boy in an isolated mansion who is about to attempt to kill himself. He reveals that he is an automaton before throwing himself off a balcony to his death in view of his mother. Thus, we are assured that this is going to be something very dark. The animation style is stop-motion photography, made with very detailed puppets and background and is quite beautiful. The story is a kind of fairy tale involving a huge number of characters that takes place in a magical land. The story begins in a family’s home in Portland, Oregon, seemingly in the nineteen eighties. Prue is a teenage girl living there with her parents and baby brother, Mac. This version of Portland is surrounded by a magic forest known as the Impassable Wilderness with Prue’s parents warning her that she must never venture there, so right away we know something is up. When the parents need to leave the house one day, Prue is left to care for Mac and is told that the boy must never leave the house. So, naturally Prue takes him for a bike ride around the city like a teen girl would do. Unfortunately, little Mac gets kidnapped by a murder of crows and is taken to the previously mentioned forbidding forest. It is up to Prue and a teen boy, Curtis, to go searching for him in this forbidden land. Upon entering the forest, the two discover that the forest is inhabited by talking animals including a brigade of coyotes dressed in military uniforms. Here the pair are separated, and each has their own harrowing adventure in this magical, yet terrifying land. From here the story gets increasingly involved as it centers around a warrior queen bent on extending her power with no care as to who gets killed in the process. The adventure grows more complex as characters are added and secrets are revealed all culminating in a final battle scene of epic proportions. Prue’s bravery and devotion to her baby brother are put to the ultimate test. The animation is very elaborate and detailed, with plenty of action. Quite a few well-known actors lend their voices to the characters that I won’t go into here. I had to wonder about the choice of setting the filmmakers used. The magical forest seemed to be set in the late 1800’s, but they have modern inventions like automobiles at the same time as 18th century military uniforms, crossbows, artillery with cannonballs and catapults. And the warrior queen wears a suit of armor straight out of the Middle Ages. Some things seemed very out of place. I thought the movie was too dark and violent for younger viewers so I’m not sure who the best audience for the movie is. It’s worth seeing if you have nothing better available.