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Critics praise Laika's Wildwood at London Film Festival; one finds its story wanting

Laika's stop-motion fantasy Wildwood, directed by Travis Knight, premiered at the London Film Festival and drew reviews from five US outlets. All praise the craftsmanship and scale; they differ on whether the story matches it.

7 outlets · 4L · 3C · 0R First reported Account updated
Image: Deadline
Image: Variety
Image: Collider
Image: The Hollywood Reporter
Image: Screen Rant
Image: The Guardian

1 / 6

The story, neutrally told

Centre · 1Wildwood, the latest stop-motion feature from the Oregon studio Laika, had its world premiere at the London Film Festival, and Deadline says it will open AFI Fest later this month for its North American premiere. Centre · 2Directed by Travis Knight, who is also Laika's CEO, it adapts Colin Meloy's 2011 children's novel, with Chris Butler as screenwriter. It is set for release on 23 October 2026. Mixed · 2The story follows Prue McKeel (voiced by Peyton Elizabeth Lee), a girl in Portland, Oregon, whose baby brother Mac is carried off by a murder of crows into a forbidden forest, the Impassable Wilderness. She pursues him with her classmate Curtis (Jacob Tremblay) and meets talking animals, bandits and the grieving Dowager Governess Alexandra (Carey Mulligan).

Mixed · 2The wider voice cast includes Angela Bassett, Mahershala Ali, Awkwafina, Jake Johnson, Maya Erskine, Richard E. Grant and Tom Waits. Caleb Deschanel, a six-time Oscar-nominated cinematographer, shot his first animated film. Left · 3All five reviews call it Laika's most ambitious film. Three call it the longest stop-motion movie ever made. Reported running times differ slightly: 130 minutes (Variety), 132 minutes (The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline) and "nearly two-and-a-half hours" (Collider). Left · 2Reviewers highlight the scale of the production. The Hollywood Reporter cites about 200 puppets and 130 sets. IndieWire cites 142,000 3D-printed face models, 728 hand-molded trees and 1,155 days of production.

Left · 3Four reviews say the film's PG-13 rating is deserved and warn parents about its darkness. Variety points to a frightening opening and bloodshed, and Collider calls it "unequivocally on the violent side". Left · 3Verdicts differ on how it ranks among Laika's films. Collider headlines it as the studio's masterpiece, and The Hollywood Reporter says it "may also be the company’s masterpiece". Deadline calls it "yet another Laika stop-motion gem" and says it could extend the studio's Oscar-nomination streak. Variety calls it "a spectacular success" but notes some longtime fans may prefer Laika's smaller, quirkier films. Left · 1IndieWire is the dissenting review. It praises the craft as "almost unfathomably well-crafted" but calls Wildwood "the least enchanting of Laika’s films". It says the writing is "tropey" and the characters feel "two-dimensional".

Mixed · 2Other reviews also note story weaknesses. Variety calls the story "somewhat more generic" than usual for Laika and says the runtime is not "altogether necessary". Collider says the film is "a hair too long" and slips into cliché at points.

Every sentence links to the reporting it rests on. The pill in front of each says where its sources sit: Left, Centre or Right when one side supplies at least half of them, Mixed when they are evenly split. The number is how many outlets it cites.

Left4 outlets

Framing
Variety and The Hollywood Reporter treat the film as a major achievement. IndieWire gives a mixed verdict, admiring the craft while faulting the storytelling and the studio's finances.
Emphasis
Handmade craft set against digital animation, production statistics, and the emotional depth of the villain. IndieWire adds Laika's rising costs and falling grosses and the Knight family's wealth.
Leaves out or plays down
None of the three mentions the AFI Fest premiere or the Oscar-streak angle that Deadline raises.
Charged language
“staggering achievement”“Technical and Emotional Triumph”“mad feat of muchness”“nepo babies”
For example
“representing a staggering achievement from the company” — The Hollywood Reporter
“a stunner, a lovingly tactile and thumbprinted feat of stop-motion artistry” — Variety
“It’s a mad feat of muchness.” — IndieWire

Centre3 outlets

Framing
Deadline and Collider are enthusiastic. Deadline looks at awards prospects and Knight's Portland roots, and Collider ranks the film above Coraline.
Emphasis
Visual spectacle, scale and the climactic battle. Deadline stresses the Oscar-nomination record. Collider stresses the violence and age suitability.
Leaves out or plays down
Neither dwells on the story weaknesses or the studio's financial risk that IndieWire raises. Deadline does not mention the PG-13 content.
Charged language
“visually stunning”“breathtaking”“instant cult classic”“Masterpiece”
For example
“The painstaking stop-motion animation process applied to a tale on a scale rarely seen on this level is a visual knockout” — Deadline
“its status as an instant cult classic is all but guaranteed” — Collider

Right0 outlets

No right outlet in our sources has covered this story yet.