Wildwood Review: Laika’s Biggest Stop-Motion Epic Is Also Its Most Emotional

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Wildwood (2026) Review: Laika's Stop-Motion Epic

Some films take years to make. Wildwood took the better part of two decades. Travis Knight, the president and CEO of the Portland-based stop-motion studio Laika, first read Colin Meloy’s manuscript before it was published in 2011. He knew almost immediately that he wanted to adapt it, since the story takes place in his hometown of Portland, Oregon. But he also knew the studio wasn’t ready. So he waited. Over the next sixteen years, Laika made other films, invented new techniques, and slowly became capable of bringing Wildwood to the screen.

Pre-production began just weeks before the world shut down in 2020, and cameras finally rolled in 2021. The result opens in US theaters on October 23, 2026, and it’s the longest stop-motion animated feature ever made, at 131 minutes. Chris Butler, who wrote ParaNorman, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Missing Link for the studio, wrote his first adapted screenplay for it.

The Story: A Girl, a Flock of Crows, and a Forest Full of Secrets

The movie opens on a beautiful spring day in Portland. Prue McKeel, voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee, is a headstrong teenager looking after her baby brother, Mac. She takes him to the park, and everything seems perfectly ordinary. Then a murder of crows swoops down, grabs Mac, and carries him into the Impassable Wilderness, a forbidden forest just beyond the city that outsiders can’t normally enter.

Prue chases them in. Her classmate Curtis Mehlberg, voiced by Jacob Tremblay, tags along. He has a quiet crush on her, and she finds him annoying. Inside, they discover that the forest is more than wilderness. It’s an ancient society of talking animals, bandits, bureaucrats, and mystics, divided into factions and close to war.

The troublemaker is the Dowager Governess Alexandra, voiced by Carey Mulligan. She’s a grieving mother who commands an army of coyotes, and she’s pushing the forest toward conflict because she wants to replace her dead son. Along the way, Prue finds allies, including the Bandit King Brendan (Mahershala Ali), a mighty eagle called the General (Angela Bassett), and a scrappy rat named Septima (Awkwafina). Saving Mac might cost Prue everything, and the film asks a question that stays with you: how far would you go for the people you love?

Characters Who Grow Instead of Following a Formula

What sets Wildwood apart from many fantasy adventures is that it doesn’t treat its heroes as perfect. Prue is a teenager who has outgrown fairy tales, even though she’s now living inside one. She’s so focused on rescuing her brother that she barely notices the wonders around her. She also treats Curtis as a nuisance and doesn’t seem especially likable at first. That’s a bold choice, and it gives her room to grow. Lee gives Prue wit, fierceness, and surprising comic timing, which helps lighten some of the film’s darker moments.

Curtis is the opposite. He’s a bookish kid who is happier reading about quests than going on one, and he embraces the fantasy world right away. Then he finds out how dangerous heroism can be. His journey shows that bravery doesn’t always mean swinging a sword. Sometimes it means kindness and empathy. Tremblay’s voice suits him well, with an earnest, slightly awkward tone that makes Curtis easy to root for.

The villain is just as interesting. Alexandra looks like the evil queen from a fairy tale, but her motives are tragic, not cruel. Her love for her lost son has turned into obsession, and she’ll do terrible things to overcome death itself. She works as a darker reflection of Prue, because both will risk everything for someone they love. Mulligan gives her real menace and real sorrow. Tom Waits adds to the threat as Maksim, her fiercely loyal servant coyote, while Charlie Day voices Dmitri, an unlucky rogue coyote who provides comic relief. Maya Erskine and Jake Johnson voice Prue’s parents, and their scenes help show how complex adulthood can look to a teenager.

Underneath the adventure, the film is about grief, and about learning when to let go. Prue believes growing up means becoming self-sufficient, but she learns that courage means acting despite fear. The story also touches on power and control, since Alexandra’s mission threatens the entire forest.

The Craft Behind Every Frame

The numbers alone are staggering. The production took 231 weeks, or more than 1,155 days. It involved 2,804 shots, 233 handcrafted puppets, 132 practical sets, more than 142,000 replacement faces, and 49 animators. Every second of the film required 24 photographs, and the whole thing was moved by hand, frame by frame.

But the real achievement is in the small details. The human characters have delicate, natural expressions. The film includes tears in 67 shots, more than ten times Laika’s previous record, and each one serves an emotional moment instead of showing off. The animal characters are just as impressive. The coyotes move with the weight of real predators, and the General has the largest puppet in the film, with a 64-inch wingspan. Her wings open and collapse like a real bird’s, which is a first for the studio. The sequence where Prue rides on her back is a highlight.

Then there’s the climax. The battle runs nearly 12 minutes and includes 411 shots, making it the largest battle ever created for a stop-motion feature. The bandits are badly outnumbered by the coyote army, and cannons and explosions fill the screen. The action stays clear, with a strong sense of space, and it carries real violence. That’s part of why the film is rated PG-13.

The look is strong throughout. Wētā FX worked with Laika to extend the handcrafted sets with digital environments, crowds, fire, smoke, and waterfalls, and they blend seamlessly with the miniatures. Cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, a six-time Oscar nominee working in stop-motion for the first time, gives the film a lush, shifting look, from sunny Portland streets to the warm autumn colors of the forest. Production designer Nelson Lowry, an Oregon native, mixes the city’s quirks with the illustrations of Carson Ellis. Costume designer Deb Cook dressed more than 200 puppets with meaningful details, such as Prue’s oversized blue peacoat, which she grows into over the course of the film. Dario Marianelli’s score swells during the flight and battle scenes and softens for quieter moments.

Is Wildwood Right for Your Family?

The film is rated PG-13, and it earns that rating early. It includes a significant amount of violence for an animated feature, including character deaths, suicide, bloodshed, and mass destruction. Younger children may find it too intense. Preteens and teens, along with adults, will find much more to enjoy.

There are a few weaknesses. Some characters and storylines follow familiar fairy tale patterns, even though the script subverts several genre tropes. The editing can feel uneven at times across the long 131-minute runtime. These are small complaints next to the scale of what the film achieves.

The Verdict

Wildwood is a rare animated film that combines technical ambition with real emotional depth. The voice cast is excellent, the world feels lived in, and the stop-motion work reaches a new level of scale and detail. It’s dark, but it’s also warm, and it never forgets the human heart at its center. If you love animation, fantasy, or great filmmaking, see it on the biggest screen you can find.

Rating: 4.5/5

Watch the Trailer

Quick Facts

Title: Wildwood
Director: Travis Knight
Writer: Chris Butler, based on Colin Meloy’s novel
Studio: Laika
Genre: Stop-Motion Animated Fantasy
Runtime: 2h 11m (131 minutes), the longest stop-motion feature ever made
Rated: PG-13
Voice cast: Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Maya Erskine, Charlie Day, Tom Waits, Amandla Stenberg, Jemaine Clement, Tantoo Cardinal, Richard E. Grant
Cinematographer: Caleb Deschanel
Composer: Dario Marianelli
Visual effects partner: Wētā FX
Distributor: Fathom Entertainment
Release date: October 23, 2026 (US theaters)