Don’t let the gorgeous stop-motion animation trick you into thinking of “Wildwood” as a typical children’s film, even though it will undoubtedly satisfy viewers of all ages.
Death is not just present in “Wildwood,” it’s the central force that drives the characters to action. Villains are motivated by grief from what they’ve lost, heroes by fear of what they stand to lose. The film is consequently an artfully layered achievement with fantasy adventure aplenty for the kids and poignant themes for the adults.
Prue McKeel is your standard teenager: annoyed by her parents’ alarmist tales of the supposedly dangerous “Impassable Wilderness,” a forbidden forest on the edge of town, and desperate to break free from her dull, humdrum life in quirky Portland, Oregon. When they go to work at an artisans’ market, Prue’s parents task her with watching her baby brother, Mac, with only one explicit instruction: stay in the house.
Like any rebellious teenager, Prue ignores her parents’ wishes and takes Mac on a citywide adventure. By bike and wagon, the sister and brother explore the city, running into Prue’s socially awkward schoolmate, Curtis, who doesn’t take a hint and tags along to a playground. While Prue and Curtis make teenage banter, a murder of crows descends on the playground and, to the shock and horror of the teenagers, steals Mac from a slide and carries him away into the “Impassable Wilderness.”
Desperate to rescue her brother, Prue gives chase and enters these ominous woods, with the skittish Curtis as a reluctant companion. There, they uncover a magical world filled with violence and disorder that Prue must overcome in order to rescue her brother and return to the comfort of their home.
The set-up is very “Alice in Wonderland,” and the world Prue encounters is morally complex and politically fractured. There is an ineffective central seat of government, a renegade monarchy led by the Dowager Governess, a group of rebellious bandits who are really the woods’ original inhabitants now being forced from their homes, and numerous other subcultures, each with their own values and belief systems.
The darker elements of “Wildwood” manifest in morally ambiguous characters haunted by trauma. The film opens with a mysterious suicide, and the spectre of death abounds from there, sometimes predictable but often shocking. Main characters are not spared from this violence and, while none of the death scenes are particularly graphic, they nonetheless leave a visceral impact, heightening the dramatic stakes.
“Wildwood” is a modern fairy tale that will delight children in search of adventure as well as adults who will appreciate its mature, nuanced themes. This film explores many dramatic questions, but perhaps none more so than the idea of whether “happily ever after” is possible. In lieu of “ever after,” “Wildwood” is a celebration of being happy “right now,” imploring its viewers to appreciate what, and who, they have in the present moment.
A version of this review was posted at Curt On The Movies.
“Wildwood” Directed by Travis Knight. Written by Chris Butler. Starring Carey Mulligan, Peyton Elizabeth Lee, Jacob Tremblay, Richard E. Grant, Awkwafina, Amandla Stenberg, Tom Waits, Charlie Day, Blythe Danner, Arthur Knight, Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali. Running Time: 131 Minutes. Genres: Animation, Adventure, Fantasy. Rated PG-13 for strong fantasy violence/bloody images, thematic material, suicide-related material, brief partial nudity and language.
