"Wildwood" REVIEW

The blood of a child conceived of magic and born of the nature…

That’s wildwood. 

When Prue decides to take her baby out into the world to explore what she doesn’t realize is the danger lurking. It’s a danger that her parents have kept secret as to the promise that was made before either child was born and that secret that would take either child to fully defeat the evil inside the woods.  What she first must do is discover the real magic in herself from the nature that she is automatically drawn to.  Once she does that, she is unstoppable against any force of evil that comes her way.

LAIKA’s latest stop motion animation is bringing fans to the theater and creating a story just as powerful and timeless as any of their other stories. Displaying stunning animation, the studio certainly has a knack of using a type of animation that very few studios can master. As good as Coraline it’s sure to be an instant classic and one that may certainly earn Oscar worthy recognition. 

Wildwood stars a the powerful voice talents including Carey Mulligan who plays the witch Alexandra that equally has her own secret that lead to the deal made with the mortal parents, it’s that sense of grief that will make anyone do what needs to be done to aid that pain even if it means the ultimate sacrifice and though its only the voice that we hear, Mulligan conveys so much emotion in her voice that will have audiences grieving alongside her.

Additionally the film stars Peyton Elizabeth Lee who coming off some smaller Disney plus originals, she steps into the center stage and really shines in her voice acting talent, equally conveying very convincing emotion for a powerful driven film.

Finally the film wouldn’t be complete without well known voice acting talents including Richard E Grant as Owl Rex, Jacob Tremblay as Curtis, Blythe Danner as the seer, Charlie Day as Dmitri, Awkwafina as Septima, and Angela Bassett as the general.

All in all, at 2 hour 12 minute runtime, Wildwood is a film for an older more mature audience.  Given its animated nature, the storyline and mild language definitely calls for that PG 13 rating.  Like other Laika films, it’s packed with a story that one truly has to unpack in order to truly understand the heart of the message in side as we all long to discover secrets that we only experience when the time is right and we are ready.

Wildwood came out in theaters October 22 and is currently playing in a theater near you.