There is magic in the world. Something many of us were told from a young age. Some of us were told this by parents, others by teachers and most of all the children’s books we grew up reading that shaped our imagination. But there is magic in the world. An idea that Laika Studios has taken and buried deep in their core allowing it to permeate through every piece of art they create. Laika films since 2009’s “Coraline” have brought us into magical worlds that can be off world while others feel familiar just maybe turned on its head. But the studio wants us to know that whether we live in the suburbs, the city or the middle of nowhere there is magic all around us. Sometimes it is waiting to be discovered other times it has be hidden for a reason. WILDWOOD the latest outing from Laika is a call to arms for all its creators to stand behind their magic. A stop-motion film with no usage of A.I. in a time where the technology destroys anything it touches, WILDWOOD feels almost like an army taking a last stance and thankfully with the confidence that it will succeed. But while the human made film will rightfully be discussed in terms of its people over machine creation there is still a two hour film that deserves the attention and criticism. WILDWOOD is by no means the masterpiece of art that defines its artists. In fact it’s a film that argues that its bonus features and behind the scenes may be far more intriguing than the actual finished product. A film where it is clear as day where its weak chain lies, and this time around it is in its adaptation of the novel by Colin Meloy. An acclaimed book that is most likely impossible to fully adapt but through WILDWOOD’s screenwriter Chris Butler feels like a world sprinkled with ideas but nothing too deeply grasp onto. This is not to say that magic does not exist in WILDWOOD but sometimes the it dies out quickly once you leave the forest.
Prue is ready to grow up. A young teenager (voiced by Peyton-Elizabeth Lee) living in Portland Oregon, Prue is ready to no longer be interested in childish things. We know this because we are told this. From early on (including an emotional prologue) WILDWOOD loves to tell us things. A storybook adaptation, the film feels extremely focused on sitting us down and handing everything to us instead of fully utilizing its animated art form. But more on that in a little. For now Prue is tired of seeing her baby brother Mac be held back by her mother (Maya Erksine) and especially her father (Jake Johnson) who refuses to let Mac outside. So what does Prue do? She does what any teenager would and waits for her parents to leave the house before taking Mac on a wagon-attached to a bike joy ride through Portland. Directed by Steve Knight guided by an army of artists, WILDWOOD is visually jaw dropping from the first frame and while it is clear a more fantastical storyline will occur the scenes through Prue’s home city as just as delightful. Portland with its extensive artistic approach is both celebrated and playfully mocked from all the outdated hipster clothes to the fact that it takes less than ten minutes for a song from The Decemberists to play. But to see Portland through these artists’ eyes makes you want to jump on a unicycle and take a pottery lesson. But Prue’s troubles start soon first there is the pesky classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) who wants to hang out with Prue and play fantasy card games (sounds so fun) until Prue tells him she’s too old for that stuff (a lot less fun), but more is the murder of crows that has scooped her brother from the playground and have flown him into the mysterious woods every parent warns their kids about. WILDWOOD has a lot of ground to cover (and so does this review) but director Steve Knight does a great job at letting us know that obviously the woods hold magic and fantasy but the worlds have already blended long ago. It makes for exciting possibility even early on.
But these woods hold danger most of all. Prue and Curtis find themselves being hunted down by an army of coyotes led by the dowager governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan). A woman who once ruled the South Wood until personal tragedy befell her. In order to find Mac, Prue must venture through the South Wood seeking help from the unreliable and possibly dangerous Lars Svik (Marc Evan Jackson) who has turned the woods into a government run faction where all creatures both human and animal act according to a law not so unfamiliar from the world outside the woods. Again it cannot be overstated how striking every frame is, even a monotonous government agency waiting run is stunning. So when Prue finds herself being helped by the woods’ creatures including the giant eagle known as General (Angela Bassett) its impossible to catch your breath because it has been taken away a half hour ago. But WILDWOOD much like its source material holds an endless supply of characters and storylines. There are the bandits of the woods, outlaws according to Alexandra and the rules of South Wood but those indigenous to the land living underground fighting to reclaim what was once theirs. Led by Brendan the Bandit king (voiced by Mahershala Ali), the bandits as characters are the first victims of an underdeveloped screenplay. The film takes on the ideas and emotions of colonialism at such a breakneck speed that it barely gives its bandits a voice before saddling them with stereotypical roles of being victims without allowing their own character development. Its uncomfortable and bleeds into the concept of patronizing its own creations because the one writing them doesn’t have enough insight themselves.
Even as WILDWOOD expands and the story finds itself at larger concepts including grief, parenthood and just the familiar coming of age far too much is told rather shown. It is as if they understand their own visuals are so striking that they can speak for everything. The irony being that this may be true so its more peculiar that the film keeps going back to tell us everything. Fantasy books often have narration of some form but by the time a great, wise owl retells the story of Alexandra’s deceased son it feels so exhausting to yet again sit by the fire and be told every facet of how we should feel and react. All this retelling to distract you from the idea that WILLDWOOD doesn’t have a great level of depth in any of its characters. Prue wants to grow up because we are told she wants to, the coyotes are bad because we are told so, and Curtis (who finds himself in both Alexandra’s and the bandits army) wants to be a hero because we are told so. Every character in WILDWOOD eventually reaches a goal or a demise but everything in between these events feel unearned because there is little that they actually do.
It may seem like this is not the case and in fact every character is given great life breathe into them, but that is due to its terrific voice cast doing the heavy lifting of its lackluster script. Peyton Elizabeth Lee brings a wide sense of fear to Prue believing she is the source of all the bad things occurring and that her brother’s life is on her hands. On the opposite Carey Mulligan’s Alexandra is a villain because of her reaction to a horrible tragedy but it is her performance not the script that brings the anger deep within her. Mulligan’s voice work is wonderful display of a veteran actress continuously pushing themselves to adapt to a medium they may be unfamiliar with. But all of WILDWOOD’s themes rely on these performers and perhaps that is why the most emotional moment comes not from fantasy but through just a dad telling his daughter a family secret. Jake Johnson has mastered voice acting delivering the charm in the “Spider-Verse” movies but as the dad in a small but powerful supporting role he allows the limited page to grow beyond words as Johnson fights through actual tars delivering his lines with such weight that you wish you could sprinkle this throughout the rest of the story.
If WILDWOOD is Laika’s crowning achievement than so be it, but for a studio that brought the dangers of predatory strangers in “Coraline” to the difficulties of a post-divorce childhood in “Kubo and the Two Strings” it is a shame that the film seems to ignore its own lack of depth. But while success doesn’t excuse another area of failure it would be criminal to deny the Laika artists the immaculate visuals they have created. There lies the real magic while the rest sort of scurries back into the woods.
C+
WILDWOOD IS NOW PLAYING IN THEATERS
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