Familiar story elements abound in Travis Knight's film, adapted from Colin Meloy's popular 2011 children's novel, but lavish stop-motion spectacle makes it feel fresh and alive.
By Guy Lodge
Plus IconGuy Lodge
Film Critic
@guylodge See All
Courtesy of Laika “Enjoy handmade art before it’s gone forever.” Keen-eyed viewers may read these words fleetingly on screen in the early stages of “Wildwood,” amid a wealth of fast-passing sights and sight gags as its young heroine cycles furiously through the homey, bustling streets of Portland, Oregon. Printed on a sign next to the craggly wares of a local ceramicist, the line gently pokes fun at the city’s wholesome, hippy-dippy spirit — but it’s also a sincere advertisement for the predominantly handcrafted virtues of “Wildwood” itself. If the in-joke sounds a little self-congratulatory, director Travis Knight and his team have a right to brag: The sixth feature from independent animation studio Laika is a stunner, a lovingly tactile and thumbprinted feat of stop-motion artistry on a scale rarely seen in the medium, that stands out by a mile in a cartoon marketplace ruled by sheeny, uncanny digital graphics.
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