Wildwood is pure dark magic you need to see for yourself

Wildwood is already considered the movie that will walk away with the Oscar for best animated film next year.

Produced by US stop-motion animation studio Laika, the makers of Coraline and Missing Link, the film is an epic dark fantasy, written by Chris Butler, directed by Travis Knight and based on the 2011 book of the same name by Colin Meloy and Carson Ellis.

Met with rave reviews since its premiere earlier this month at the London Film Festival, it’s scored a perfect 100% from critics on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes and has been garlanded repeatedly with such words as ‘masterpiece’ and ‘extraordinary’.

And I agree that’s it a visually stunning film, clearly made with love and a lot of patience over its 15-year development.

Its refreshingly spiky script is also admirable, setting it apart from any other animated movies looking for simple and safe to appeal to the family audience.

Wildwood is not, strictly speaking, really a kids’ film, and certainly not one for the smallest or most sensitive – note that 12A rating. There is swearing and stabbing.

However, some of this extreme hype is in danger of slightly dulling the impact of the film on audiences being inundated with its lavish praise, which I also appreciate is not the fault of the film itself (and rather ironic coming from a critic).

This film is not going to change your life, although it may very well change your opinion on the limits of animation and who it can be for.

Wildwood has an intriguing set-up at its heart, straddling both the real, recognisable-to-us world of Portland, Oregon and its coffee shops and local weirdos, with that of a hidden enchanted forest on its outskirts, complete with its own magical creatures and way of life.

Into this unchartered territory heads teenager Prue (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee) when her infant brother Mac is kidnapped by a flock of crows, in the presence of her nerdy classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) – the type of person who can’t help but point out that it’s a ‘murder’ of crows and the singular of dice is ‘die’. Not particularly helpful words, given the circumstances.

The pair head into the woods, encountering uniform-clad and gun-toting coyotes, led by the enigmatic Dowager Governess (Carey Mulligan), as well as giant birds and all manner of other beasts, embarking on a perilous mission.

The rest of the voice cast is impressively starry as well: Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, New Girl’s Jake Johnson, Richard E. Grant, Tom Waits, Jermaine Clement and Awkwafina, who is a standout as an adorably mangy rat.

At its heart Wildwood has a complex, emotional story that easily could have been a live-action fantasy adaptation, but of course the charm of Laika’s models is an extra thrill, with gorgeous textures from handmade costumes and a fascinating technical skill on show, in particular, with how its characters cry.

At two hours and 11 minutes, the film does sag a little in its third act with back and forth between the ‘real’ and enchanted worlds, as well as a drawn-out (however impressive) battle sequence.

But as a film it offers that welcome reassurance that human-made dedication is still evident on screen – and that hard-to-define magic alongside it.

Wildwood is in cinemas now.

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