Compared to the popcorn-friendly delights of Pixar or the Minions' home at Illumination, the independent Laika studio has always been a left-field maverick, a bespoke operation eschewing computer-based wizardry for more intricate, time-consuming stop-motion animated thrills.
Consequently, its output is not as prolific, and each new film is greeted as an "event" release; seven years have passed since the adventure yarn Missing Link reached cinemas, making Wildwood one of 2026’s most eagerly anticipated titles.
It does not disappoint, serving up an enchanting smorgasbord of gob-smacking creativity in its fashioning of story that referentially bows to traditional fairy tales while lacing them with thoroughly modern motifs.
Headstrong teen Prue (voiced by Disney Channel mainstay Peyton Elizabeth Lee) lives in the Pacific Northwest of America with her unbearably hipster parents and baby brother Mac, and inadvertently leaves suburban home life behind when, tasked with looking after her young sibling, he is kidnapped by a murder of crows.
Thus begins a journey into the Impassable Wilderness, a mythical forest presided over by sad-eyed dowager Alexandra (Carey Mulligan) and her pack of military-attired coyotes.
Grief-stricken over the loss of her own son and banishment from the more genteel South Wood due to her supposed links to dark magic, Alexandra sees Mac as the perfect replacement, having had little luck with the mechanical boy with whom she first tried to fill the hole in her heart.
Prue is aided in her rescue operation by schoolfriend Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), awkward but good-intentioned, who only adds to the youngsters' woes when he is imprisoned by Wildwood’s resident bandits; fresh help is at hand, however, when she saddles up with a kinder collective of animals, led by Angela Bassett’s charismatic golden eagle.
To say any more here would be to deny viewers the full benefit of a captivating voyage into wonderment, the weaving of a story rich in visual splendour and disarming emotional power.
Based on a 2011 book by Colin Molloy (frontman of the acclaimed Americana band The Decemberists) and illustrator Carson Ellis, Wildwood touches upon the themes of loss and family dynamics prevalent in Laika’s screen adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s novella Coraline.
View Green Video on the source websiteWhere it differs is in scope, in its determination to paint on as wide and as fantastical a canvas as possible, without losing sight of the everyday human element that propels the narrative.
It’s perhaps a slightly more grown-up story than those Laika have previously told, evidenced by the film’s 12A certificate, no doubt bestowed upon it due to the candour with how it approaches darker subject matters; in addition to Mac’s kidnapping, there are excursions into death, war and violence – including a surprisingly bloody battle scene.
The paradox between brightly-coloured, faux chocolate box imagery and the lack of sugar-coating in the themes the film covers is intriguing; director Travis Knight and his screenwriter, Laika semi-regular Chris Butler, never talk down to their audience, and instead tap into the viewer’s inner child while reminding them that the world isn’t always a nice place.
Confidently keeping all the ducks in the requisite row, the voice cast is tremendous, with Lee a winning blend of steeliness and vulnerability, Mulligan a ferocious but fragile villainess, and perfectly pitched animal character work not just by Bassett, but also Richard E Grant and Tom Waits, the latter as highest-ranked soldier in Alexander’s coyote army.
It all adds up to a feast for the eyes, mind and heart, which even with a running time past two hours never drags or overstays its welcome, to deliver an intelligent fable that’s also a paean to the innate dignity of outsiders everywhere.
Wildwood is released in UK cinemas on Friday 23 October 2026.
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