Wildwood is currently playing as part of the BFI London Film Festival and will be released in UK cinemas on October 23, 2026.
Synopsis
After a murder of crows abducts her baby brother, headstrong teenager Prue McKeel launches a desperate rescue mission into an enchanted forest hidden just beyond Portland.
Review
It’s been seven years since Laika last graced our cinema screens with Missing Link. During that time, the studio has stayed mostly quiet whilst brewing something big in the background…that big project, as we now know, is Wildwood, a film that the studio has had in development for roughly 16 years. So after all that, is this film worth the wait? Well, to say yes would be an understatement.
This film is genuinely unlike anything that has come before. Yes, some can make comparisons to other fantasy or stop motion media but from the perspective of sheer scale and ambition, Wildwood stands head and shoulders above the rest. With it being made by Laika, there is a certain attention to detail that comes with their animation and Wildwood delivers that same level of expertise that we’ve all come to expect. However, this film also manages to somehow push the boundaries of what stop motion animation is capable of. There are entire sequences that boggle the mind when you start to comprehend how a certain action or camera move was executed with that much precision and complexity.
Travis Knight, who is no strangers to stop motion and Laika, directs this film like it’s the last one he’ll ever make. The storytelling is handled with a great sense of care and respect which helps motivate, not just the characters but the film’s pacing as well. The film never drags once during its 2-hour 20-minute runtime, as it bounces seamlessly from point A to point B whilst keeping you thoroughly invested along the way.
This is also a film that’s not afraid to shy away from dark or mature themes. The bleak, and quite jarring opening scene sets the tone immediately and the film only continues to push these thematic threads further as it goes on. That’s not to say the entire film is dark and depressing as there is still a lot of wonder and humour to be found, it’s just very refreshing to see a film like this commit to its darker tones and ideas without watering anything down or going out of its way to make things kid friendly. This notion is even reflected in the set pieces, each of which are just as thrilling as the last, but can also be surprisingly intense and brutal when they have to be.
The characters that inhabit this world, both human and animal, are all fantastic in their own unique ways. Obviously they’re effortlessly animated and emoting with an uncanny sense of realism and fluidity, but they’re all equally brought to life by the impressive voice cast who make these characters their own. Peyton Elizabeth Lee has to do a lot of the heavy lifting here as the main protagonist, Prue, and she does so with ease. She’s accompanied by the likes of Jacob Tremblay, Angela Bassett, Mahershela Ali, Awkwafina, Tom Waits and Jake Johnson, just to name a few, who are all bringing their A-game as well. With that being said, the standout of the already stellar cast is Carey Mulligan who drives home some of the film’s most powerful scenes as Alexandra.
It’s clear to see how much passion has been put into every frame of Wildwood. It’s bold, emotionally raw and action-packed from start to finish and is, without a doubt, one of the most audacious feats of animated filmmaking ever made. Laika have come a long way since the likes of Coraline and ParaNorman, with years of skill and talent culminating in what many will describe as the studio’s crowning masterpiece.
Verdict
Wildwood is a monumental achievement in stop motion animation and easily one of the year’s best films. Its scale, heart and mature storytelling prove single-handedly that Laika are still the best at what they do.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
