"Wildwood" (2026) Review: LAIKA Studios' Latest Is One of the Most Important Animated Films Of Our Time
In 2026, where there is ever-growing concern around artificial intelligence and its implications for creativity, LAIKA Studios' latest Wildwood is a reminder of what human imagination, effort and creativity can achieve.
It is a crying shame that Wildwood has opened to disappointing box office numbers, and a further shame that many outside of filmic circles seem to have no idea that it even exists, despite the excitement it has generated within the industry and among its keen observers.
Here at Outside the Spotlight, it's all about creativity, whether from a small independent film or a big-budget production. Whilst the latter isn't something that I regularly cover on this website (see social media), occasionally a project comes along that fits the spirit of what this platform was created for.
Directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings, Masters of the Universe, Bumblebee), the story follows grieving and vengeful sorceress Alexandra (Carey Mulligan), whose relentless ambition to bring her son back becomes intertwined with the life of teenage girl Prue (Peyton Elizabeth Lee), whose baby brother Mac (voiced by two-year-old Arthur Knight) is taken by a murder of crows. Armed with her own relentless ambition, a whole lot of curiosity and her bumbling classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay), who is reluctantly taken along for the ride, they venture into the "impassable wilderness", shrouded in ivy, to retrieve him (despite her father's warnings, voiced by Jake Johnson, never to go there). The magical ivy that surrounds Wildwood isn't supposed to let any outsiders in, but Prue and Mac have a connection to the mysterious woods that she has yet to discover.
Rounding it all out is the impressive supporting voice cast featuring Carey Mulligan, Mahershala Ali, Angela Bassett and Awkwafina, alongside Tom Waits, Richard E. Grant, Charlie Day and Amandla Stenberg- each bringing a distinct personality and importance to their characters.
What follows is a fantastical euphoria of anthropomorphic animals, folkloric landscapes and an enchanting, old-world fantasy aesthetic with huge-scale battles that could rival The Lord of the Rings. There are also genuine high stakes and devastation- the kind that one might not expect in what looks like a family-friendly affair (this is a 12A, mind you, or a PG-13 for our brothers and sisters across the pond). Similar to LAIKA's first effort, 2009's fantasy-horror Coraline, Wildwood perhaps has more to offer older kids and adults than your regular animated feature.
LAIKA are a Portland-based studio that has persisted with traditional forms of animation, even as the rise of CGI did away with much of what animation used to be. Whilst we cannot argue with the artistry that still goes into modern forms of the medium, there is something special about knowing that an artist drew thousands of individual frames to achieve movement, just as, in this case, artists intricately create, design and move physical models and miniature environments.
As for their latest, the scope, ambition, detail and sheer physical labour are astounding: 230 puppets across 132 sets, 142,000 3D-printed replacement faces (one per frame per second for each character), and an enormous number of intricately hand-stitched miniature outfits. The film was also shot by six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer Caleb Deschanel (The Patriot, The Passion of the Christ, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Jack Reacher).
Academy Award-winning composer Dario Marianelli provides the score, having previously worked on LAIKA's The Boxtrolls and Kubo and the Two Strings, as well as Pride and Prejudice and V for Vendetta. Along with contributions from The Decemberists, the fittingly Portland, Oregon-based indie rock band (where the film is also partially set), whose frontman Colin Meloy provided the film's source material through his 2011 novel of the same name, the music beautifully completes Wildwood's immersive world.
At 130 minutes, Wildwood is the longest stop-motion film of all time. Created over the course of 16 years, its fluidity and scale make it a truly monumental achievement, and one that we may never see again in our lifetimes. I can only imagine that this might be comparable to what moviegoers experienced upon seeing 1937's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs for the first time, or the original Toy Story in 1995, or even, more recently, James Cameron's Avatar (2009)- all groundbreaking achievements in their own right, albeit in very different ways.
Perhaps Wildwood's technical feat is too great for its own good, overshadowing the film's actual substance. But it's one of those films that reminds us that cinema is not only about stories, but also about feeling, experience and, at times, an indescribable euphoria that transcends mere storytelling.
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