{"id":15254,"date":"2026-10-31T16:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T20:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=15254"},"modified":"2026-10-31T16:11:34","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T20:11:34","slug":"wildwood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2026\/10\/31\/wildwood\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildwood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Wildwood<\/strong> (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fathom\/Fantasy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 130 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (strong fantasy violence\/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Travis Knight\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dario Marianelli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 23, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Arthur Knight, Angela Bassett, Richard E. Grant, Jake Johnson, Maya Erskine, Tantoo Cardinal, Blythe Danner, Rob Delaney, Jemaine Clement, Marc Evan Jackson, Olafur Darri Olafsson, Len Cariou, Colleen O\u2019Shaughnessy.<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ****<\/p>\n

\u00a0Not all animated films are for children. Case in point: Wildwood<\/strong>; the brilliant new stop-motion animated film from Laika, the studio behind Coraline and Kubo and the Two Strings. It\u2019s PG-13 and for good reason. It\u2019s dark and very violent. People die horrible (non-bloody) deaths. The villain isn\u2019t just a harmless meanie; she\u2019s truly malevolent. She means to kill a baby. It deals with serious themes that the little ones wouldn\u2019t understand. For them, it\u2019s just nightmare fuel. You might want to choose something else for family movie night.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Last month, I raved about Forgotten Island, a wonderfully whacked-out animated comedy-adventure that undeservedly bombed at the box office. I stand by my review of it, but I now think that Wildwood<\/strong> deserves to take home the coveted gold statuette for Best Animated Feature. It is the end result of 15 years of hard work on the part of Team Laika. The fantasy-adventure required 136 sets, 231 puppets and thousands of shots. Its meticulous attention to detail is breathtakingly beautiful, especially in how it captures the unique beauty and oddity of the Pacific Northwest. Best of all, the stop-motion animation is just that with minimal touch-up use of VFX. It gives the animation a smoother feel. It\u2019s a visual feast for the eyes. And that\u2019s just the tip of the iceberg.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings), Wildwood<\/strong> has an awesome story to tell, one as dense as the enchanted woods in which it takes place. Painted in shades of Coraline and Lord of the Rings, it has as much plot substance in its 130-minute run time as any given season of Game of Thrones. It centers on Prue (Lee, Andi Mack), a rebellious Portland teen tired of her hippie parents cautionary tales about the Impassable Wilderness on the edge of town and their rule about never allowing her baby brother Mac outside. When left in her care, it\u2019s the first thing Prue does.<\/p>\n

\u00a0While at the local playground, Mac is abducted by a murder of crows. Prue gives chase accompanied by annoying but well-meaning classmate Curtis (Tremblay, Wonder), a bespectacled gamer who loves fantasy role-playing games. They\u2019re led right to the edge of the Impassable Wilderness and find it\u2019s not so impassable, at least not for Prue. Once inside, they discover an unbelievable world of magic and anthropomorphic animals. It\u2019s ruled by the evil dowager governess Alexandra (Mulligan, The Great Gatsby) who\u2019s also behind Mac\u2019s abduction. A terrible tragedy in her past turned her into a vengeful figure determined to get back what she lost even at the expense of destroying the fabric of Wildwood.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Prue\u2019s initial goal is to rescue her brother, but she discovers that her presence in Wildwood might not be all that random. She has a connection to the place. Also, she appears to be the only one capable of uniting the warring factions of Wildwood in the fight against the real enemy, Alexandra.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wildwood<\/strong> isn\u2019t just the best animated movie of the year; it\u2019s one of the best of all time. I know it sounds like I\u2019m overstating, but I assure you it\u2019s really that great. It\u2019s that rare film that gets every single thing absolutely right. I can\u2019t praise the visuals enough. It is an astonishing sight to behold. The effort that went into it is evident in every single frame. The fluidity of movement brings the characters and settings to tactile life. The movie practically has a heartbeat.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The roster of voice talents assembled by Knight is mighty impressive. Lee is outstanding as Prue, a teen dealing with more than the usual growing pains. Sure, she and her parents don\u2019t see eye to eye on most things and she\u2019s annoyed by her existence. That\u2019s every teen girl. What\u2019s not so usual is having to deal with the realization that all the stories her parents told her and Mac aren\u2019t just stories. Magic is real and it\u2019s right there in front of her. It basically upends her world as she thought she knew it, but Prue doesn\u2019t fall apart. This young lady has pluck. She steps up in a big way. Lee nails it perfectly.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Mulligan positively oozes malice tinged with sadness as the villain of the piece. Shaped by a tragedy no mother should have to endure, she wants to set her world right with no thought as to how it will affect those who live in her orbit. Tremblay is similarly great as the nervous teen who learns what it truly means to be a warrior. He comes through for Prue in the way only a true friend would even if she finds him annoying.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The cast also includes Mahershala Ali (Moonlight) as the brave leader of the Bandits, Angela Bassett (Black Panther) as giant golden eagle General, Amandla Stenberg (The Hate U Give) as a female Bandit, Tantoo Cardinal (Killers of the Flower Moon) as the elderly leader of the Mystics, Richard E. Grant (Wicker) as a wise old owl and in another comic gem of a voice performance, Awkwafina (Raya and the Last Dragon) as helpful rat Septima. What a lineup!<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wildwood<\/strong> has a dark comic edge as well. It\u2019s unusually sharp for an animated film. Take the governor (Jackson, The Good Place). He\u2019s an ineffectual buffoon who has no idea what he\u2019s actually doing. Tell me that\u2019s not a pot shot at most politicians. Then there\u2019s Awkwafina. Her natural energy comes through even when she\u2019s only heard and not seen.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Wildwood<\/strong> is epic in every sense of the world. The climactic battle is every bit as awesome as any you would see in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Even better, it\u2019s not overedited to the point of confusion. You know exactly what\u2019s going on and everybody\u2019s physical position at all times. Knight and his team of artists take great care in every little movement.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I cannot heap enough praise on Wildwood<\/strong>. It is truly a modern masterpiece. It is a new standard of excellence to be used for all future stop-motion movies.\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wildwood (2026)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fathom\/Fantasy-Adventure\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 130 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (strong fantasy violence\/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Travis Knight\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Chris Butler\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Dario Marianelli\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: October 23, 2026 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15255,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-now-playing"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Wildwood-POSTER.jpg?fit=620%2C1102&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15254"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15254\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15259,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15254\/revisions\/15259"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}