In an industry that’s being rapidly taken over by computer-animated projects and various forms of AI slop, the work of Laika Studios still feels like a breath of fresh air. Probably best known for its (excellent) adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s Coraline, the studio has had a remarkable run of success in recent years, earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Feature for each of its feature films released to date. That the humans behind the scenes deeply love and respect their craft is more than evident, and each movie, from Coraline and ParaNorman to The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings, feels like nothing so much is a labor of love.
The studio has finally released a teaser for its long-awaited next project, and if the clip is anything to go by, the studio’s sixth feature may be its most impressive effort yet. Wildwood is Laika’s first stop-motion animated film since 2018’s The Missing Link, and is based on the 2011 children’s fantasy book of the same name written by The Decemberists’ Colin Meloy and illustrated by his wife, Carson Ellis.
A modern-day fairy tale,Wildwoodfollows the story of a headstrong seventh-grader whose baby brother is abducted by a murder of crows and taken into the Impossible Wilderness, a magical forest located just outsidePortland, Oregon. With a little help from one of her classmates, Prue will have to navigate a world of magical creatures, dangerous bandits, and talking animals to get him back. (If this all has some vague Labyrinth vibes, well, that’s probably on purpose.)
The animation is positively stunning throughout, effortlessly capturing the moody light of the Pacific Northwest and the rich colors of its woodland fantasy world. Both the various magical creatures and the characters at the story’s center are delicately and meticulously crafted, a fact that Laika unabashedly leans into in its promotional material. The teaser boasts a “from the same hands that brought you Coraline” tag, and they’ve already released a short that chronicles the extraordinary effort that went into crafting one of the film’s giant eagles, known as the General. (Spoiler alert: There are 9,000 handcrafted feathers!) In short, it’s positively beautiful from start to finish — the detail on a quick glimpse of a pair of bloody knuckles is stunning! — and we can only imagine what the finished product will ultimately look like.
Travis Knight directedWildwood, from a screenplay written by hisMasters of the Universeand Kubo and the Two Stringscollaborator Chris Butler.The film’svoice cast is full of heavy hitters, including as Carey Mulligan, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Blythe Danner, Arthur Knight, Angela Bassett, and Mahershala Ali.
Wildwood is set to hit theaters on October 23 through Fathom Entertainment.
