by Winter Music
In a world full of AI-generated slop created by machines, original stories crafted by hand with immense attention to detail truly feel like a breath of fresh air. Wildwood, directed by Travis Knight, is the latest film released by Laika Studios and the longest stop-motion film to ever grace the silver screen. Wildwood took 16 years to complete with a budget estimated to be near $400 million.
Anyone who’s seen the film can easily tell that that time was well spent since this film has some of the smoothest, busiest and most action-packed animation that stop motion can offer. It’s easy to forget the film is stop motion at all with how crisp it feels in comparison to Laika’s previous films, but if you watch it, you’ll probably have a similar question to the one I had — how the hell did they do that? Laika is known as one of the best stop-motion animation studios in the world, however, the complexity and technological prowess shown in this film, combined with raw, human artistry, can be felt through every second, marking this as a true masterpiece.
This isn’t just a movie for animation nerds like myself, it’s an adaptation of the novel Wildwood, written by Colin Meloy, lead singer of The Decemberists. The story follows Prue McKeel, who finds herself in the middle of a major conflict between several factions of intelligent talking animals while trying to find her brother in the magical woods she was told to stay away from. Each faction is fleshed out and well executed, with an impressive roster of characters who each feel real in their motivations and character traits.
In spite of the fantasy concept, this movie is PG-13 with violent, emotional and sometimes bloody scenes. The film grabs your attention from the beginning and isn’t afraid of death or intense imagery, which may be surprising since many stop-motion fantasy films are seen as being made for kids. This isn’t a child’s story, but instead a fairytale for adults who need to reconnect with their inner child and remember that magic is real, and that it’s in all of us.
Winter Music is a junior English major and copy editor for the Lumberjack. You can reach her at wlm38@humboldt.edu.